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210

offer a laptop that has a sim slot

210 points posted to Laptops by skippydaroo 04/24/07

Some other manufacturers offer laptops that have 3G support built in. Unfortunatly these are usually tied to one network. It would be better if you offered the slot for the sim but allowed the customer to chose what network it will go on

soneil
04/24/07		 Latitude D620 and D820 have sim slot
hjwasson
04/24/07		 XPS M1210 have a SIM slot too. More importantly, If you get the A/V Communications Module option when you configure your notebook - you get an internal loop antenna built into the display (along with a nifty 1.3 MP Logitech web cam & microphone). You can then purchase a mini-PCI cellular broadband modem compatible with the provider of your choice. In the United States, that would HSDPA/HSUPA/3G for Cingular, or EVDO for Sprint or Verizon). NOTE: The EVDO modem does not use SIM - that's a GSM/3G technology.

Yes, you can get ExpressCard or PC Card based cellular broadband modems that will work with the provider of your choice, but those have stubby little antenna. The internal loop antenna should offer better reception, plus free up the ExpressCard slot for other uses (such as GPS). So, Dell is already implementing your solution on select notebook models - just do some research before buying.

Sadly, your idea of including a SIM slot in every laptop model won't work. It's the cellular broadband modem that you need - and unlike 802.11 WiFi, there are competing standards. It doesn't make sense for Dell to include one or both cellular modems in every notebook, since that would raise the cost a couple hundred dollars when very few people actually want to spring for an (expensive) cellular data account right now. Having the antenna wiring (& SIM chip slot) pre-installed wouldn't cost all that much, and consumers who do decide they want cellular broadband could then go out and buy the cellular modem compatible with their provider of choice (in my case, Cingular/AT&T).
skippydaroo
04/24/07		 One of the issues I have with Dell Is that they are very insular. The number of model offered in the US is muche greater than those offer abbroad. I live in australia, and the feature sets offered on the dell's I can but here is fairly limited.
soneil
04/25/07		 You are right it seem you can't have sim slot in D620 and D820 in Australia. I think you should give them a call I ask why
hjwasson
04/25/07		 Wow, skippydaroo - I had no idea that people outside the United States had fewer options! I think that's totally bogus! I knew some companies seem to arbitrarily rename their models for different markets (Canon sells their cameras under different model numbers in the US versus Europe), but I didn't realize that companies would actually reduce the models available as well. We live in such a globalized world these days, I don't understand why any consumer couldn't get any model offered by a company! It's not like they're made locally, and it would be too costly to ship them elsewhere! Most of Dell's products seem to be made in Malaysia, so shipping to Australia would be even less expensive! I've created a new post to address that:

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/66396/All_Dell_products_should_be_avail...
moiety
04/25/07		 The D620 and D820 have a sim slot which is actually separate from the minicard itself -- note, a minicard, NOT a minipci card. You can buy whatever card you want, and swap them out as needed if you're on different networks.
hjwasson
04/25/07		 My apologies - moiety is correct on the nomenclature. Mini-Card is about the same size as mini-PCI, but the contacts are on the short edge rather than the long edge. These internal cellular broadband cards are just as expensive as the ExpressCard versions, but they don't take up the ExpressCard slot, and don't stick out. The notebook computer must be designed to accept them & have the internal loop antenna to connect to them. From scouring Dell's website, it looks like the following Dell models do support their use:

Latitude D820
Latitude D620
Latitude D420
Inspiron M1210 (only models with the A/V Communications Module option)
 
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