Gaming laptops and mobile broadband?

[Hagroth]

Hey,

I'm looking into getting a laptop that'll be capable of playing new games at high settings, so I'll need something equipped with a GPU like 570M. But I'll be using it for surfing and so on as well while on the road, and my problem is that these gaming laptops never seem to have support for 3G or mobile broadband.

So my question is, if I'm right about the above statement, is there any way to implement support for mobile broadband? Perhaps swapping network cards? I've been looking into the following laptops:

Asus G74SX
MSI GT780DXR-429NE (Skip the part after the dash since I believe it's unique to Northern Europe.)

If not, are there any other solutions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jaguarskx]

If you want mobile broadband then you need to buy a specific USB modem from whichever broadband service you wish to get wireless service from. For example, if you want to use Verizon 4G LTE then you need to buy Verizon's Pantech® 4G LTE USB Modem UML290 for $99.99 with a 2 year contract. Then it's just a matter of choosing the the 5GB monthly plan for $50 per month or the 10GB monthly plan $80.

Each carrier has specific specs for USB modems so that they can be used on their networks. There is no "universal standard" for broadband wireless service. This is purposefully done so AT&T customers cannot leach off wireless broadband services from T-Mobile, or other carriers.

 

[WR2]

So my question is, if I'm right about the above statement, is there any way to implement support for mobile broadband? Perhaps swapping network cards? I've been looking into the following laptops

Other options might be tethering to a phone or a mobile hotspot.

Which company is going to be your mobile broadband provider? You'll need confirm they offer a service and solution you can use.

Keep an eye out for the new Asus G75/G55 due out shortly.
MSI are pushing out new models too: MSI GT70/GT60.

 

[Hagroth]

The downside is that these USB-dongels are rather clumsy. My current laptop is a Lenovo X100e whose network card supports 3G and it's very neat whenever you're not at home. I'm not going to be using it exclusively as a gaming laptop, so I was wondering whether it is possible to perhaps change the network card?

Thanks for the heads-up!