Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why no built-in cellular connectivity?
- Thread starter slartib
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm guessing because most people have no need for it in a notebook. You need somewhere to place an Air on a table or something, and that means you're less likely to need LTE/3G and more likely to be near WiFi. The iPad is much more use-portable, for instance reading outdoors. Therefore people are more likely to use the built-in cellular.
Honestly, I wouldn't even bother if I were Apple. Use your phone or iPad as a mobile hot spot. If you don't have either, I'm not sure there are enough of you for Apple to even notice. I just don't think it's that much of a thing on computers, especially when it will add at least $130.
Honestly, I wouldn't even bother if I were Apple. Use your phone or iPad as a mobile hot spot. If you don't have either, I'm not sure there are enough of you for Apple to even notice. I just don't think it's that much of a thing on computers, especially when it will add at least $130.
So why did Apple recently include it in its iPads? Why is WLAN included in laptops, if the latter can be tethered via USB or Bluetooth to a smartphone, that offers WLAN as well as GSM/UMTS/LTE? (LTE on other manufacturers than Apple, of course, since LTE is a dying requirement too and Apple is smart enough to not bother wasting effort and space on it in its smartphones
)If cost was a problem (which is hard to believe, since Apple has always been in the premium sector, not the cheap one), why does Apple not offer a cellular data connection at least as an option in its latest top of the line machine, the rMBP, whose ultimate version costs about 3000$?
There is a market also outside the USA. E.g. in Europe one can get a twin SIM card for a standard combined voice/data contract, in order to put a SIM card in the mobile phone and the other in a USB cellular modem or directly in the laptop/iPad if it has its own modem.
Last edited:
If I always had a table, tethering with my iPhone would be easier. I commute to work by train, one hour each direction. It is a regional train which does not offer WiFi nor tables. It is full of other professionals commuting to work typing on their laptops, which they keep on their knees. Very few iPads, if any. A USB key sticking out from a side risks bending or breaking by bumping into something. A tethered iPhone becomes hot and there is no proper place where to put it (no table).
The point seems to be that if Apple decides you don't need it, then you don't need it; when Apple will decide the opposite, of course everybody will need and buy it
so I wonder why Apple does not offer this feature in order to make about 100$ more that right now are made by the makers of USB modems like Huawei.
So why did Apple recently include it in its iPads? Why is WLAN included in laptops, if the latter can be tethered via USB or Bluetooth to a smartphone, that offers WLAN as well as GSM/UMTS/LTE? (LTE on other manufacturers than Apple, of course, since LTE is a dying requirement too and Apple is smart enough to not bother wasting effort and space on it in its smartphones
If cost was a problem (which is hard to believe, since Apple has always been in the premium sector, not the cheap one), why does Apple not offer a cellular data connection at least as an option in its latest top of the line machine, the rMBP, whose ultimate version costs about 3000$?
There is a market also outside the USA. E.g. in Europe one can get a twin SIM card for a standard combined voice/data contract, in order to put a SIM card in the mobile phone and the other in a USB cellular modem or directly in the laptop/iPad if it has its own modem.
Nice try, but this thread is about about laptops, not tablets or iPhones...
Great arguments for yesterday's technology to be honest, and to a certain degree I do see how some people would find it useful, but ultimately not enough people for Apple to see the advantage in installing them in their laptops and lets face it, I don't expect many people would say
"hey you know what, that Acer has a mobile sim card in it, i'll buy that over the Macbook Air in that case"
----------
If I always had a table, tethering with my iPhone would be easier. I commute to work by train, one hour each direction. It is a regional train which does not offer WiFi nor tables. It is full of other professionals commuting to work typing on their laptops, which they keep on their knees. Very few iPads, if any. A USB key sticking out from a side risks bending or breaking by bumping into something. A tethered iPhone becomes hot and there is no proper place where to put it (no table).
The point seems to be that if Apple decides you don't need it, then you don't need it; when Apple will decide the opposite, of course everybody will need and buy it
I do exactly that on the train to work (also an hour each way), I tether with my iPhone (it shouldn't get that hot?!) wirelessly so it stays in my bag or pocket or wherever. It really is that easy, and the best thing is I don't have any extra bills or contracts or top-ups to worry about because my phone contract gives me unlimited data.
Not really, you are not in the minority. My company uses a few hundred ThinkPads with this feature.
My ThinkPad T series laptops of the last few years have come with broadband built in. It's so much better than tethering. The built in antenna is terrific, it assures excellent connectivity. In addition, the amount of battery drain is very minimal.
Here's a copy & paste reflecting the three broadband choices, from the current T430S configurator.
ThinkPad T430S Option List
Integrated Mobile Broadband
[add $125.00] Qualcomm Gobi 3000
[add $250.00] Integrated Mobile Broadband (Sierra Wireless MC7700 - Gobi 4000 for AT&T LTE and HSPA+)
[add $250.00] Integrated Mobile Broadband (Sierra Wireless MC7750 - Gobi 4000 for Verizon LTE and EV-DO)
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...003359:&smid=625170B995934B6EFED1F0FA956B4E9A
Cool, thats only $125 more expensive than having it included for free in your iphone contract...
It'll happen eventually but we need a couple of revisions of new hardware first.
The problems are
1. Cost.
2. Cellular fragmentation. Just because you put a qualcomm chip in doesn't mean that you'll have adequate coverage of all necessary frequencies
3. More radios to buy
4. Support by carriers
There is no single chip that makes it all easy along with a radio bundle that connects to everything today so you'd end up balkanizing your laptop lineup with a Verizon MBA and ATT MBA.
In a few years we'll likely have the integration that we need and with carriers moving to a "share everything" model rather than tether people will simply put their notebook on their plan.
The problems are
1. Cost.
2. Cellular fragmentation. Just because you put a qualcomm chip in doesn't mean that you'll have adequate coverage of all necessary frequencies
3. More radios to buy
4. Support by carriers
There is no single chip that makes it all easy along with a radio bundle that connects to everything today so you'd end up balkanizing your laptop lineup with a Verizon MBA and ATT MBA.
In a few years we'll likely have the integration that we need and with carriers moving to a "share everything" model rather than tether people will simply put their notebook on their plan.
The company I'm with is a multi-national operation. We have none of the issues you've listed, nor do any of the vast number of large scale enterprises that have issued ThinkPads as the defacto std business laptop.
We realize that to date Apple hasn't taken an interest of any significance in the business sector. I'd chalk it up to that rather than over thinking it, as the post above reflects.
If Apple sold an MBA's with cellular Internet, they'd sell a lot fewer iPads. Instead of opting for a $650 iPad, people would put that money towards a new MBA. Apple knows this.
Similar to the reason they never put Blu-Ray in MBP's. Apple could have made a 9.5 mm Blu-Ray, but they chose to nix the optical drive so users would be forced into downloadable content, where they have made [and will continue to make] inroads. Then they pass Blu-Ray off as an obsolete technology that prevented design progress [read: thinness].
I've been following Apple religiously for a long time. I know their game.
So a company would rather sell more $650 devices than $1000+ devices and would do this on purpose? I have to say I don't see your logic. It's like saying Porsche won't add sports seats to a Cayenne because it would cannibalise the sales of the 911 (they do by the way). It's preposterous. A Cayenne isn't a 911 and a tablet isn't a notebook. Tablets have cannibalised the sales of computers, but that's mainly because many people don't need the functionality of a full computer. A feature like 3G connectivity does not have anything to do with this.
My Vodafone smartphone contract gives me unlimited data too (with a speed limit after a monthly threshold volume), and it includes a free twin SIM card for my laptop, iPad or USB modem stick. Since I do not like iPads, my laptop is a MacBook Air, and tethering my iPhone has inconveniences, I ended up buying a USB modem. However, the solution of built-in cellular internet adopted by other notebook manufacturers is superior.
True, LTE/4G comes with more worldwide frequencies (6) than UMTS/3G (4), and I do not know of any device that covers them all, while most UMTS phones and modems are quad band. However, 3G data connections are fast enough for my purposes (while 2G/Edge is horribly slow to the point of being useless), and the iPhone is 3G, so Apple could start offering built-in 3G internet in MacBooks using iPhone technology. I wonder why they haven't so far and whether they'll do soon.
GPRS PC data cards were installed inside Powerbooks in 2005..
New Zealand Vodafone.
Nothing new
Personally I use a Sierra Wireless T Stick for the Air or Pro. which clips onto the screen frame or goes into a NetComm travel Router.
New Zealand Vodafone.
Nothing new
Personally I use a Sierra Wireless T Stick for the Air or Pro. which clips onto the screen frame or goes into a NetComm travel Router.
I'd love 3G on the MacBook Air. I'm dying to have one. And text messaging too. Nice additional feature. While we're on it, why not add calling too? It's perfect with FaceTime.
An LTE module with 3G fallback will cost at least $100 even in the volumes that Apple probably would buy. Another issue is that it's going to be at least another year, and probably two, before LTE coverage is on par with 3G coverage in major countries such as the U.S. And even if it were available everywhere today, the rate plans are not friendly to notebooks, which can burn through a lot of data very quickly.
Yet another hurdle is SKUs. LTE can be used in 40-plus bands. Even if you stick with the dozen or so most widely used bands, that's a lot of antennas: not just one per band, but two because of LTE antenna system requirements. So Apple and other notebook vendors would either have to have a SKU for each country or region to reduce the number of antennas or have one SKU with a lot of unnecessary antennas and wasted space, which is limited in MBs. Like phones and tablets, the battery and display call the shots. Every other component -- including modules and antennas -- scrounges for whatever space is left.
Yet another hurdle is SKUs. LTE can be used in 40-plus bands. Even if you stick with the dozen or so most widely used bands, that's a lot of antennas: not just one per band, but two because of LTE antenna system requirements. So Apple and other notebook vendors would either have to have a SKU for each country or region to reduce the number of antennas or have one SKU with a lot of unnecessary antennas and wasted space, which is limited in MBs. Like phones and tablets, the battery and display call the shots. Every other component -- including modules and antennas -- scrounges for whatever space is left.
This is true, but privates have a strong interest in cellular connectivity too.
Yes, for instance the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon, with carbon fiber body. It has 3G, which is ok for the time being, given the troubles that LTE seems to make because of the multiple frequencies used worldwide. I wonder how the iPhone 5 will solve the LTE issue in one month.
The notebook already has wireless technology on board: wifi and bluetooth. Those work fine. The notebook has a clear plastic Apple logo on the back of the display as well as a plastic hinge area. I think you need to ask if there is still enough room to put yet another set of antennae.
We're talking about a notebook that is able to run for 7 hrs on battery with wifi and bluetooth turned on. Upping the brightness of the display has a much more dramatic influence on battery life than a 3G/4G modem will have.
This might be the case but nobody using it may also be caused by the mere fact that the current and previous Airs didn't have it on board. Many people dislike carrying additional devices with them so they opt for not using 3G/4G instead. Putting it in the Air may enable lot more people using such things. There are many Apple devices that did something similar. Nobody would ever think of ditching floppy disks, yet Apple did and everybody ditched floppy disk after a while. It did wonders for usb. Apple has the ability to make people want and use features they've never wanted/needed/used before.
So are the iPhone and iPad, yet Apple still manages to put more power and features in them. Same goes for memory: it gets tinier and tinier which enables them to put 8GB of memory on the board whereas 2 or 4GB was the most they could fit previously. Something similar goes for 3G/4G modems.
It is not like it is technologically impossible, they can do it. The problem is that it requires a certain market for it. Apparently Apple doesn't feel like they have a market for it and thus doesn't put it on the Air. I think the different frequencies and maybe even the bandwidth of current 3G technologies might be the culprit. It makes it more challenging and 3G might be too slow for notebook use (it is fine for iPad/iPhone use due to mobile versions of websites).