Jimmy,
Yeti's the E guy but I'll try to do my best to explain.
Basically, this card fits in the PC slot of a laptop. The card is essentially a cellphone for data. It runs off the computer's power. The laptop has onboard batteries to power it and the PC card for the cellular internet connection.
Laptops can run from their onboard battery packs, which are removeable like a M-14 magazine (I know you know how that works), so you can have spares. Or, you can plug a laptop into a wallsocket for power and recharging the battery. You can also purchase aftermarket devices to power the laptop from a cigarette lighter plug.
With this setup, you can be completely cordless for the duration of the battery power which is usually a couple hours or more depending on a lot of things. The cellular PC card internet connection is the piece that makes the laptop truly wireless. You can be traveling in a new city and look up phone numbers, addresses, businesses, hook a GPS moving map talking system to it, and never have to look for a phone booth with a phonebook in it again.
Now don't go throwing that Zip drive out, I hear the Smithsonian is looking for one for their computer section.
