The printed piece is almost done being designed and the antenna and camera wires fit nicely in the cavity between the optical drive and chassis!
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802.11ac and BT 4.2 are here for unibody MBPs and A1342 MB!
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Fits indeed nicely! But is appears that the PCI connectors float freely?The printed piece is almost done being designed and the antenna and camera wires fit nicely in the cavity between the optical drive and chassis!
Update: For the A1278 - 13" MBPs, some easy modification of the bottom lid is necessary. Trust me, there is no way around it, unfortunately.
The 'raised lip/edge' on the lid that contacts the EMF foam on the optical drive needs to be removed, as this interferes and pushes on the black PCB on the WiFi card, preventing the lid from being closed by a large amount.
The raised lip on the first three vent openings needs to be removed (from the right side when looking at the first three attached photos). I did a plunge cut and that is all it really took.
It only took me 2 minutes to do the mod with an abrasive disc. I used a 3" disc, but a Dremel with a smaller disc would give you more precision. You virtually can't even tell that the mod was performed when looking at the vent holes from the rear of the computer.
A sanding drum on the Dremel may be even better than an abrasive disc, as it would prevent you from cutting into the flat part of the lid.
The 'raised lip/edge' on the lid that contacts the EMF foam on the optical drive needs to be removed, as this interferes and pushes on the black PCB on the WiFi card, preventing the lid from being closed by a large amount.
The raised lip on the first three vent openings needs to be removed (from the right side when looking at the first three attached photos). I did a plunge cut and that is all it really took.
It only took me 2 minutes to do the mod with an abrasive disc. I used a 3" disc, but a Dremel with a smaller disc would give you more precision. You virtually can't even tell that the mod was performed when looking at the vent holes from the rear of the computer.
A sanding drum on the Dremel may be even better than an abrasive disc, as it would prevent you from cutting into the flat part of the lid.
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I'm still waiting for @troop231 to get ahold of an a1286 but from what I can tell with mine, it's a tight fit and may require the same modifications.
[doublepost=1551649637][/doublepost]Update, I installed the 2015/17 card into the a1286 and the lid fits without issues. The corner antenna fits very snug, but without issues.
[doublepost=1551649637][/doublepost]Update, I installed the 2015/17 card into the a1286 and the lid fits without issues. The corner antenna fits very snug, but without issues.
Attachments
perfect - as most owners of a1286 I know (me included) changed optical drive for second hdd 
ps. maybe to fit it better it would be possible to cut the end of broadcom card (area behind antennas, as it looks like it act just as extension for mounting holes) ? but ofc it would be more hardcore option and over complicating whole mod
ps. maybe to fit it better it would be possible to cut the end of broadcom card (area behind antennas, as it looks like it act just as extension for mounting holes) ? but ofc it would be more hardcore option and over complicating whole mod
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I have a 17" mid-2010 that I would be willing to try this with when you have some adapters available. The internal arrangement in that area on mine looks pretty similar to the 15". How do the 2 Airport antennas and 1 Bluetooth antenna on the mid-2010 models attach to the 4 ports on the newer card? I see J0-J1-J2-J3 labels, so would you just shift them over and ignore J0?
Me and @troop231 were talking about this and 2010 computers. You could run the card with just 2 wifi antennas and bluetooth. Or take your LCD off your 17", remove the clutch cover and swap the wifi assembly underneath. Just separate your webcam cable from the 2010 assembly and install on the 2011 assembly.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/WiFi-iSigh...cBook-Pro-17-A1297-2011-818-2019/321142849636
Your suggestion was my first guess too, as the 2 existing wifi antennas would probably work fine in most situations for me (my house is pretty small). I would be inclined to just ignore J0 on the first hookup and have a go to see what happens. Anyway, I'm excited! Let us know when this part is available and I will be happy to test it out in the 17".
ps. maybe to fit it better it would be possible to cut the end of broadcom card (area behind antennas, as it looks like it act just as extension for mounting holes) ? but ofc it would be more hardcore option and over complicating whole mod
I have already trimmed the broadcom card as my photos have shown. @highvoltage12v has not trimmed his card in the photos he has posted.
Wireless cards will be supplied trimmed, soldered with PCI adapter, and tested before shipment.
While I've visited this site many times in the past for many of my apple needs I have never decided to post until now. I wanted to say thanks to those guys involved for all your hard work! I think I can speak for those who still love the older MBP we all appreciate your efforts. I hope you guys move forward and get everything worked out, if so I would gladly purchase one of your mods!!! I will check back often, I hope your able to make a few extras to sell.
Well my curiosity about the 2 vs. 3 antenna question got the better of me so I did some experimenting. I followed the account given by another experimenter at https://remonpel.nl/2014/11/enable-continuity-macbookpro-a1297-late-2011/ who installed a 2011 airport/BT card assembly in his 2010 along with a very specific model of Broadcom card that has 802.11n with Bluetooth 4.0 in order to get Continuity working.
I performed this same operation to put a 2011 card and assembly into my 2010 17”.
So the 2011 AirPort/BT card assembly and ribbon cable are the same size as the 2010 - they are a perfect swap-out as far as the size, screw holes, and ribbon cable. The ribbon cable is just a slightly different length because it travels farther across the assembly and actually passes through a slit in the top in order to connect to the card.
The antenna wire guides on the 2011 assembly are more open and forgiving. It was a bit difficult to pop the antenna wires out of the guides on the 2010 because the channels were very snug and I was worried about damaging them. I used the pointed end of a spudger and that worked well.
I installed the replacement card in the assembly, and I chose to connect the 2 WiFi antenna wires to J1 and J2. The 2010 only has J1 and J2 for WiFi, but the 2011 also has a J0.
I was able to fire up the 2010 17” and it recognizes as 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. CAT did it’s magic and Continuity and Handoff are working.
With the WiFi antennas connected to J1 and J2 (with J0 empty), I cannot see or connect to 5gHz wireless networks. Regular 802.11n is fine but the connection speeds seem like they might be low when I option click on the menu bar to check the WiFi connection details. I’m getting 80-120 Mbps, but it has been a long time since I used 802.11n and can’t remember if that is normal or not. I’m used to my Mac Pro that is getting 800+ via ac.
I ran out of time this AM but I might crack open the 2010 17” again soon and try connecting my 2 WiFi antenna wires to a different combination of J0, J1, and J2 to see if anything changes.
I performed this same operation to put a 2011 card and assembly into my 2010 17”.
So the 2011 AirPort/BT card assembly and ribbon cable are the same size as the 2010 - they are a perfect swap-out as far as the size, screw holes, and ribbon cable. The ribbon cable is just a slightly different length because it travels farther across the assembly and actually passes through a slit in the top in order to connect to the card.
The antenna wire guides on the 2011 assembly are more open and forgiving. It was a bit difficult to pop the antenna wires out of the guides on the 2010 because the channels were very snug and I was worried about damaging them. I used the pointed end of a spudger and that worked well.
I installed the replacement card in the assembly, and I chose to connect the 2 WiFi antenna wires to J1 and J2. The 2010 only has J1 and J2 for WiFi, but the 2011 also has a J0.
I was able to fire up the 2010 17” and it recognizes as 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. CAT did it’s magic and Continuity and Handoff are working.
With the WiFi antennas connected to J1 and J2 (with J0 empty), I cannot see or connect to 5gHz wireless networks. Regular 802.11n is fine but the connection speeds seem like they might be low when I option click on the menu bar to check the WiFi connection details. I’m getting 80-120 Mbps, but it has been a long time since I used 802.11n and can’t remember if that is normal or not. I’m used to my Mac Pro that is getting 800+ via ac.
I ran out of time this AM but I might crack open the 2010 17” again soon and try connecting my 2 WiFi antenna wires to a different combination of J0, J1, and J2 to see if anything changes.
Here are the results of some additional surgery on my 2010 MacBook Pro 17".
I purchased a wifi antenna assembly for the 2011 MacBook Pro 17" (see post #36 above), figuring that maybe I might be able to swap it out with the existing assembly in order to get 3 wifi antennas. The stock 2010 models only have 2 wifi (J1 and J2) + 1 bluetooth, whereas the airport/bluetooth card for the 2011 model has 3 wifi (J0, J1, J2) + 1 bluetooth.
I was able to find 1 useful YouTube video showing how to disassemble the laptop to the point where you can get at the wifi antenna assembly. It was in German and the person was working on a 13" 2011. A YouTube search for "MacBook Pro Unibody 13" 2011 wifi antenna replacement" found it for me.
Unfortunately, once I had the antenna assembly exposed it was pretty clear a swap-out would not work. The assembly from the 2011 is substantially longer than the 2010. I could have trimmed some of the material to still make it fit in the cavity, but another problem that became apparent is that the screw holes were in very different locations. I would not have been able to secure the assembly with more than 1 screw. I considered adhesive in place of screws, but the final problem I encountered is that the 2011 assembly has additional protrusions on the bottom that 1) prevent it from sitting flush against the screw holes; and 2) will probably prevent the assembly from fitting inside the available space in the narrow channel between the LCD hinges when you try to put the hinge/channel cover back on. It did not seem like a good idea to leave the antenna assembly hanging loose or to try to force down the hinge cover, so the 2010 wifi antennas went back in.
On the way out, I did some more experiments to figure out what might be the best way to connect the 2010 model's 2 wifi antenna wires to the 2011 card's 3 antenna ports.
On my original install, I had connected the J1 and J2 wires to the same locations on the 2011 airport card and left J0 empty. I found that wifi worked, but the laptop could not recognize or join 5 gHz networks and the connection speed was pretty lousy when option-clicking on the wifi menubar icon - something on the order of 80-100 Mbps.
On my next attempt I connected the original J1 wire to J0 and connected the original J2 wire to J1. With this combination, the laptop could see and join 5 gHz networks again, so clearly the J0 antenna connection is instrumental to 5 gHz network connectivity. The connection speeds were still lousy though - still 80-100 Mbps.
Final attempt, I left the original J1 wire connected to J0 as before and connected the original J2 wire to J2. J1 is empty. This has yielded the best results so far and I think I am going to leave it this way. The laptop can still see and join 5 gHz networks, and the speeds are now excellent; option-click shows mostly 300 Mbps (which I think is max for 802.11n?) with occasional dips to 250.
So, for anyone else who swaps a 2011 card into a 2010 to upgrade to BT 4.0 and support for Continuity/Handoff, I can heartily recommend connecting to J0 and J2 and you should see excellent results even with just 2 antenna wires.
Edit: I should add, I hope that 2011 card I have installed at the moment is just a "stopgap" until we are able to get printed adapters and AC cards! I look forward to hearing that the design has been finalized.
I purchased a wifi antenna assembly for the 2011 MacBook Pro 17" (see post #36 above), figuring that maybe I might be able to swap it out with the existing assembly in order to get 3 wifi antennas. The stock 2010 models only have 2 wifi (J1 and J2) + 1 bluetooth, whereas the airport/bluetooth card for the 2011 model has 3 wifi (J0, J1, J2) + 1 bluetooth.
I was able to find 1 useful YouTube video showing how to disassemble the laptop to the point where you can get at the wifi antenna assembly. It was in German and the person was working on a 13" 2011. A YouTube search for "MacBook Pro Unibody 13" 2011 wifi antenna replacement" found it for me.
Unfortunately, once I had the antenna assembly exposed it was pretty clear a swap-out would not work. The assembly from the 2011 is substantially longer than the 2010. I could have trimmed some of the material to still make it fit in the cavity, but another problem that became apparent is that the screw holes were in very different locations. I would not have been able to secure the assembly with more than 1 screw. I considered adhesive in place of screws, but the final problem I encountered is that the 2011 assembly has additional protrusions on the bottom that 1) prevent it from sitting flush against the screw holes; and 2) will probably prevent the assembly from fitting inside the available space in the narrow channel between the LCD hinges when you try to put the hinge/channel cover back on. It did not seem like a good idea to leave the antenna assembly hanging loose or to try to force down the hinge cover, so the 2010 wifi antennas went back in.
On the way out, I did some more experiments to figure out what might be the best way to connect the 2010 model's 2 wifi antenna wires to the 2011 card's 3 antenna ports.
On my original install, I had connected the J1 and J2 wires to the same locations on the 2011 airport card and left J0 empty. I found that wifi worked, but the laptop could not recognize or join 5 gHz networks and the connection speed was pretty lousy when option-clicking on the wifi menubar icon - something on the order of 80-100 Mbps.
On my next attempt I connected the original J1 wire to J0 and connected the original J2 wire to J1. With this combination, the laptop could see and join 5 gHz networks again, so clearly the J0 antenna connection is instrumental to 5 gHz network connectivity. The connection speeds were still lousy though - still 80-100 Mbps.
Final attempt, I left the original J1 wire connected to J0 as before and connected the original J2 wire to J2. J1 is empty. This has yielded the best results so far and I think I am going to leave it this way. The laptop can still see and join 5 gHz networks, and the speeds are now excellent; option-click shows mostly 300 Mbps (which I think is max for 802.11n?) with occasional dips to 250.
So, for anyone else who swaps a 2011 card into a 2010 to upgrade to BT 4.0 and support for Continuity/Handoff, I can heartily recommend connecting to J0 and J2 and you should see excellent results even with just 2 antenna wires.
Edit: I should add, I hope that 2011 card I have installed at the moment is just a "stopgap" until we are able to get printed adapters and AC cards! I look forward to hearing that the design has been finalized.
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A thought - OWC might be into buying/marketing/mass producing this, they're all about upgrades for old macs
Is this 802.11ac solution MIMO compatible ? Because MIMO has been a huge advantage in WiFi innovation and has flown under the radar and under appreciated.
I converted all my Routers to 802.11ac MIMO compliant last year and devices. Now everything shares happily.
I converted all my Routers to 802.11ac MIMO compliant last year and devices. Now everything shares happily.
Oh baby I’ll be downloading, Torrents from TD Bank WiFi from outside now. New TD Bank Cafe has like the fastest public WiFi I’ve ever seen.
If the price is reasonable I am interested in the modified wifi card. I have considered buying a new laptop with the only reason being faster wifi to connect to my NAS. I also am disappointed in the lack of upgradability with the new Apple laptops.