Seth Weintraub at Computerworld has assembled a compendium of the best information available and surmises that the new i5/i7 MacBook Pros may well include 3G. Now that the ice is broken with iPad data plans, the MacBooks could well be next.

First, Mr, Weintraub collected all the available information about possible MacBook Pros getting the new i5 and i7 chips. Then he surmised that a Mac as powerful and data hungry as a MacBook Pro might have to have data plans that cost a little more.

"So it seems like a MacBook Pro update is coming -- maybe even in time for Macworld -- and Apple's been negotiating data contracts with the telcos. Put those two together and you may have another reason to get an update," Mr. Weintraub wrote. "Perhaps they'll finally build 3G capability into their MacBook Pros, so that their power users don't have to carry unwieldy, inelegant 3G dongles with them to get the same 3G access that Dell and HP users have had built-in for three years."

Given the evidence presented, it all seems reasonable. But, so far, it has to remain simply intriguing speculation.