Why not Apple offer 3G in laptops?

Apple aluminum MacBooks are definitely cool–until you want 3G in a laptop. Then they’re not.

I’ve said this before. But I’ll say it again. There are consumers–including those potentially opting for laptops from Hewlett-Packard or Dell–who would like to buy a MacBook with 3G built in. Let’s hope Apple laptop battery sees the light with the expected upgrade to the MacBook Pro line.

Yes, there are ways to bootstrap a MacBook to get 3G. I’ve done tethering with my BlackBerry Storm. And then there’s Verizon’s tiny MiFi portable hotspot–which I use now.

But it would be nice if Apple offered one laptop in its MacBook lineup with a built-in 3G option. Like Wi-Fi and Ethernet, 3G should be part of the standard connectivity mix on a laptop.

And it wouldn’t have to be an AT&T-only deal, like the iPhone. HP offers, across its consumer and business laptop lines, the Qualcomm Gobi 3G modem, which works on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint networks. Dell, too, offers plenty of 3G options on its notebooks, including an AT&T wireless option on its new ultrathin toshiba pa3465u-1brs battery.

And visit a Verizon or AT&T store and you’ll see a growing collection of Netbooks (including a couple from HP), all with built-in 3G.

Those very big PC and carrier companies offer 3G because customers demand it. I don’t see Apple meeting this market need. HP ad copy is accurate when it states that “mobile broadband is typically more protected than Wi-Fi hotspots…Because of its popularity, most HP laptops now offer a built-in HP mobile broadband card or it can be added as an option.”

It’s–let me put it gently–strange that in 2010 when everyone is using an iPhone 3GS that Apple doesn’t offer the MacBook Air (which I use everyday) with a 3G option. After all, the Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro are both take-with-you-anywhere toshiba pa3634u-1bas battery that cry out for 3G.

Let me repeat: yes, technically inclined consumers can go with tethering or a mobile hotspot. But–and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here–more than a few consumers would prefer it built into the laptop.

A couple of additional thoughts. Though the credit card-size MIFi portable hotspot is definitely handy, in my experience it’s not as reliable as a 3G card attached to a laptop’s antenna. (Whether it’s related to a hiccup in the MiFI’s Wi-Fi network or the MiFi’s occasional inability to pick up a 3G signal, I don’t know.) I’ve used an dell inspiron 6400 battery ultraportable laptop with a built-in 3G modem and it was rock-solid reliable.

Also, it’s nice to have as an option. Let’s say you don’t have a portable 3G modem or don’t do tethering but are caught somewhere without a Wi-Fi connection. Verizon offers 3G day passes that allow you to connect quickly. Though it’s pricey at $15 for 24 hours, it’s there if you need it. And, in the past, before I signed up for MiFi, I needed it desperately a few times.

Oh, and one more thing. It would be unthinkable to write about Apple without mentioning the rumored Apple tablet–since it is expected to have 3G. Maybe Apple is waiting to wow consumers with 3G/4G on the tablet and then follow with laptops later. But it’s been a long, long wait.

When contacted about MacBooks and 3G, Apple would not comment.

Note: Why 3G in a laptop? Not all Wi-Fi hotspots are created equal (and, to state the obvious, they simply don’t exist in many areas). Here’s just one recent example, though I could give many more. I recently drove from Southern California to Las Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show. After I left the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Wi-Fi hotspots were few and far between. The point? If you’re a businessperson and need reliable connectivity on the road, 3G delivers. And at CES I used 3G constantly. The hotel Wi-Fi was often slower than my Verizon 3G connection and getting Wi-Fi on the show floor was impossible dell inspiron e1505 battery. In short, 3G was a godsend at CES.

Ten cheap and easy ways to upgrades for your old PC

In response to a submission on digg.com entitled “10 cheap and easy upgrades for your old PC”, user gaqua posted a “better” list in the comments.

Here’s a better list.

1 - Clean up your shit, dad. I’m tired of coming over and finding a new toolbar on IE or Firefox every time. I’m tired of thirty icons in the systray, half of which have some bizarre relevance to programs that are no longer installed. Go to add/remove programs, and remove anything you don’t use in your dell inspiron 6400 battery.

2 - Defrag that shit. 74% fragmented. SERIOUSLY? How is that even possible? I’m scheduling this for every Wednesday night at 10pm dad. I know it’s going to freak you out when it starts doing this all on its own but just leave it alone and let it do its magic.

3 - 512MB of RAM? Do you know how cheap RAM of vgp-bps8 battery? PC2700 DDR1? Oh my God…I think I might throw up. For $50 I can get you to 2GB of RAM. $50.

4 - I’m installing Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy - your system has over 200 known spyware problems. I’m fixing them. I’m making this dell inspiron e1505 Battery bulletproof. Don’t fuck with it anymore. I’m installing AVG anti-virus. It’s going to ask you to update it - UPDATE IT WHEN IT ASKS.

5 - Holy shit I can’t believe this - you’re running XP without even SP1 installed. I’m installing SP3 for sony vgp-bps9 battery, It’s a lot more secure. Jesus christ this is like the dark ages of computing.

6 - Oh fucking shit - 3 hours to download? What the fuck - you’re still on that 512k DSL? Mom is paying for Cable! She’s paying for Cable internet, Dad. I’m going to unplug this wire from the DSL modem and plug it into the cable modem of sony vgp-bps8 battery. Yeah. No it’s very easy. And I’m calling AT&T and canceling DSL. There, I just saved you $50 a month. And yeah, the internet is faster.

7 - Oh look 360tyj.com, you have a cutesy animated desktop background. Yeah, your celeron 1.6 GHz probably doesn’t like that, especially with the 16MB integrated graphics. I’m going to turn that off. I know, I know. But it’s best for everyone.

HOLY SHIT YOUR COMPUTER IS FASTER NOW DAD. Please, tell everyone in the family that you “don’t know what he did but the computer is so much better, you should call him and have him come take a look, I’m sure he’d be happy to toshiba pa3465u-1brs battery!”

There’s nothing I love more than that, dad. I love fixing Uncle Butch’s disgusting laptop with the inexplicably stained keys and I love playing around with the disgusting beige eMachine that Aunt Patsy uses to send all those cool inspirational email forwards with pictures of kittens or penguins or koalas or pandas.

No, I understand. As the oldest and most computer knowledgeable of hp pavilion dv9000 battery , it’s my responsibility. Just like Uncle Mason would help us all out if we got into legal trouble right? Well, if he weren’t disbarred for fraud, I mean.

To Create an Instant Battery

Simply coating a sheet of paper with ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires makes a highl0y dell inspiron 6400 battery conductive storage device, said Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering.

“Society really needs a low-cost, high-performance energy storage device, such as batteries and simple supercapacitors,” he said.

Like batteries, capacitors hold an electric charge, but for a shorter period of time. However, capacitors can store and discharge electricity much more rapidly than a toshiba pa3634u-1bas battery.

Cui’s work is reported in the paper “Highly Conductive Paper for Energy Storage Devices,” published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“These nanomaterials are special,” Cui said. “They’re a one-dimensional structure with very small diameters.” The small diameter helps the nanomaterial ink stick strongly to the fibrous paper, making the dell laptop battery and supercapacitor very durable. The paper supercapacitor may last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles — at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. The nanomaterials also make ideal conductors because they move electricity along much more efficiently than ordinary conductors, Cui said.

Bing Hu, a post-doctoral fellow, prepares a small square of ordinary paper to with an ink that will deposit nanotubes on the surface that can then be charged with energy to create a hp pavilion dv9000 battery.

Cui had previously created nanomaterial energy storage devices using plastics. His new research shows that a paper dell inspiron e1505 battery is more durable because the ink adheres more strongly to paper (answering the question, “Paper or plastic?”). What’s more, you can crumple or fold the paper battery, or even soak it in acidic or basic solutions, and the performance does not degrade. “We just haven’t tested what happens when you burn it,” he said.

The flexibility of paper allows for many clever applications. “If I want to paint my wall with a conducting energy storage device,” Cui said, “I can use a brush.” In his lab, he demonstrated the sony vgp-bps8 battery to a visitor by connecting it to an LED (light-emitting diode), which glowed brightly.

A paper supercapacitor may be especially useful for applications like electric or hybrid cars, which depend on the quick transfer of electricity. The paper supercapacitor’s high surface-to-volume ratio gives it an advantage.

“This technology has potential to be commercialized within a short time,” said Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley. “I don’t think it will be limited to just energy storage devices,” he said. “This is potentially a very nice, low-cost, flexible hp pavilion dv3000 battery electrode for any electrical device.”

Cui predicts the biggest impact may be in large-scale storage of electricity on the distribution grid. Excess electricity generated at night, for example, could be saved for peak-use periods during the day. Wind farms and solar energy systems also may require storage.

“The most important part of this paper is how a simple thing in daily life — paper — can be used as a substrate to make functional conductive electrodes by a simple process,” Yang said. “It’s nanotechnology related to daily life, essentially.”

Cui’s research team includes postdoctoral scholars sony vgp-bps9 battery,and graduate student Yuan Yang.