Reports are surfacing out of the UK that Orange and Apple are in the final stages of negotiations for a deal where Orange would be offering subsidized MacBooks to those willing to sign a two-year mobile broadband contract. The MacBooks wouldn’t be free, but there is speculation that they could be as little as $560. Currently Orange is asking for £350 for a Toshiba laptop on a similar deal, so it is possible.

According to Mobile Today, both parties have been testing Orange’s mobile broadband dongles with the MacBooks, and supposedly Orange has already made a “volume commitment” with Apple.

3G routers aren’t new, even though many of us don’t have one. Those who do own one don’t have any this good looking. Ericsson must have finally seen the light and realized that these devices don’t have to look ugly. The Ericsson W30 Data Router and Ericsson W35 Data and Voice Router just slipped past the FCC, and they do indeed look sexy.

They can get HSPA / UMTS / GSM data and toss it out over WiFi and Ethernet. They can also share a USB printer. The W35 adds voice and fax capability. No word on price or availability. Mostly we’re just excited to see a router this nice looking.

Acer was among the first netbook manufacturers to offer a netbook with a mobile broadband connection at a subsidized price. Its Aspire One was offered over the holidays for $99 with a 2-year agreement on the broadband plan.

Laptop Magazine sat down with Acer’s Product Marketing VP and asked some questions about the company’s plans for 2009. Acer says that it will be offering more subsidized netbooks and laptops with broadband connections this year. The company also says it is negotiating a day rate system with mobile providers for users who only need mobile connectivity on occasion.

Sprint just rolled out the Sierra Wireless Mobile Broadband USB Modem 598U complete with Sprint logo, offering users a compact and reliable mobile solution to connect to the Internet from anywhere. This is a EV-DO Rev. A-compatible device that boasts average download speeds of between 600 kbps and 1.4 Mbps, while upload speeds average 350 to 500 kbps.

The 598U is also compatible with EV-DO Rev. 0 and 1XRTT technology just in case you’re in an area where EV-DO Rev. A is unavailable. Some other features include an integrated GPS receiver and a microSDHC memory card slot (up to 32GB) for expansion. How much does it cost?