Mobile Wifi via SIM card slot

First you need the proper hardward - a network adapter and antenna. I see in the specs that you provided, your computer does in fact have the network adapter to connect to the Internet using a SIM card. I will assume the antenna has been installed at the factory,

The radio that connects your computer to the provider's data tower is the Integrated Mobile Broadband (Gobi 2000 3G with GPS).
You should see that show up in your Device manager under Network Adapters, or maybe Modems.

I think the SIM slot is under the battery.

I don't know how to get it connected to your data plan. Maybe call your data plan provider for help.

 

Nice shot of the Device Manager. How did you do that?

Yes, only capable of 3G.

If you reinstall the OS, you’ll have to go to Lenovo for those missing drivers. However if you reinstall from a recovery partition on the drive, the drivers should be included.

 

I think your computer came with Windows 7 and then you installed Windows 10. That driver on Lenovo's site will probably work. Give it a try.

If your provider doesn't allow unlimited data, then it sounds like you won't be using the SIM card in your Lenovo either.

 

If you want to use the Linux laptop as a hotspot, it would need a Network Adapter capable of picking up the data carrier's signal. The Network Adapter would have to be Linux compatible. There are several flavors of Linux out there. You'd have to find an adapter that works with your flavor.

Then you'd need to set up your Linux machine as a hotspot.

Also, you'll need a new plan that provides unlimited 4G data.

With all that, it would be easier to contact a carrier and ask for a mobile hotspot device with a new 4G plan. It would be easy. Once the hotspot device is set up, you can connect to it wirelessly with your laptops.

 

Let’s clear out some basics. To connect to a network, be it wired Ethernet, home/office WiFi, dial-up, or cellular, you need the proper hardware and software to connect the hardware to your operating system. The hardware is referred to as a Network Adapter. Each type of connection (Ethernet, WiFi, dial-up, cellular) will have its own specific adapter. In the case of wireless connections you also need an antenna. The appropriate antenna will be built into your laptop. The other networks will connect via a physical connector. The software is referred to as a driver. Drivers are specific to the hardware and operating system.

The spec sheet you provided lists several options which may or may not have been installed. You need to look at the sheet for your specific machine or the Device Manager to see exactly what hardware was installed. The HP Elitebook may have a cellular network adapter. Most laptops I see don’t have a mobile network adapter. It may also have adapters for Ethernet, WiFi, and BlueTooth. At this point, I don’t know what’s installed.

Let’s assume your Elitebook has a cellular network adapter. The spec sheet you provided says the Elitebook came with Windows 10. If it did come with W10, then it would have come with the software (driver) needed to connect the network adapter to Windows. If the computer now has Linux, you’ll need to find the appropriate driver to allow Linux to communicate with the mobile network adapter.

Once you get the Linux laptop connected to your carrier, it will have Internet access. Great! If you then want to share the Internet with your Lenovo laptop, you need to set up Internet sharing in the Linux machine. This would make your Elitebook a hotspot.

 

I didn't see a mobile adapter in that list either. I did however see the WiFi and Ethernet network adapters. That's typical of what I see in laptops.

A USB device such as the one you found on Amazon will work to get Internet access to your Windows machine as long as the device is compatible with your carrier. The spec doesn't show that it's compatible with Linux.

 

Well, that's not true. For each piece of hardware, there is a piece of software that connects it to the Operating System. The software needs to talk to both the hardware and to the Operating System. Each Operating System has its own language. So as I said a few posts ago:

Windows provides drivers for many devices. If a manufacturer manufactures a device for which Windows does not provide a Driver for, the manufacturer needs to provide one with the device. For the USB dongle you mentioned, here is the page to download the Driver. https://huawei-drivers.ru/huawei-e3372-driver-windows-download.html

You can see, Drivers are only available for Windows machines.

Yes, however, the dongle needs to communicate with the Operating System. That's where the Driver comes in.

 

Forgot to mention, if you want to use a device with Linux, the same holds true. You need a Driver that will connect the device to the Linux Operating System. Linux, as Windows, provides Drivers for many devices. That's why you can plug in a keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. The Drivers for those devices came with the Operating System.

 

I’m not familiar with Linux enough to advise you on this matter. I don’t know for sure if you can use the Windows as a hotspot. I’ll have to do some checking. In the ‘old days’ we could employ Internet Connection Sharing.

I found an article for you on Microsoft’s site https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027762/windows-use-your-pc-as-a-mobile-hotspot

Use your PC as a mobile hotspot
Applies to: Windows 10
Turn your Windows 10 PC into a mobile hotspot by sharing your Internet connection with other devices over Wi-Fi. You can share a Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or cellular data connection. If your PC has a cellular data connection and you share it, it will use data from your data plan.

• Select the Start button, then select Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile hotspot.
  
  
• For Share my Internet connection from, choose the Internet connection you want to share.
  
  
• Select Edit > enter a new network name and password > Save.
  
  
• Turn on Share my Internet connection with other devices.
  
  
• To connect on the other device, go to the Wi-Fi settings on that device, find your network name, select it, enter the password, and then connect.
  

 

You’re on your way.