I've always wished that apple would offer this in the macbook pros. A laptop that doesn't have to tether, but just carries its own internet connection with it would be really nice.
I think this will make more sense once 5G is adopted. But even then carriers will either charge a lot for these data plans and/or severely underdeliver.
LTE is already faster in theory and in practice than most people's home connection. My parents just got a brand new internet connection thanks to the Australian Government, that costs about 2500$ per premises, that maxes out at 25mbps and will never go faster due to being DSL. 4G however can hit 100mbps easily. Mine tests at 130mbps.
The limiting factor for 4G on a laptop is data caps, not speed.
Many Thinkpads have LTE modems from the factory, with a SIM tray on the side. It is not even just a Thinkpad thing, many manufacturers of enterprise laptops ship plenty of devices with SIM card slots. I've had HPs and Dells come with GSM modems since 3G was a shiny new thing. It is not that its ugly, it is probably not something most consumers have demanded, so they haven't bothered including. Or, the OEMs use it as a differentiator from their consumer tier devices to their enterprise devices.
Because a tiny portion of people would use it. Who wants to pay an extra monthly cost on their machine? The only people who would really do this are ones where it is covered by work.
Do you mean the monthly cost of the data? I would totally do this, it's a few dollars to add on to my verizon plan, and something I already pay for for my hotspot.
