All known component upgrades for Early Intel Macs, 2006–2012 (and select 2013s)

[B S Magnet]

All known component upgrades for Early Intel Macs, 2006–2012 (and select 2013s)
WikiPost created: 25 January 2022
Last updated: 19 June 2023

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OVERVIEW

Some time back, I started a WikiPost for ExpressCard/34 expansion items one can, feasibly, use in their early Intel Macs equipped with an ExpressCard/34 slot — namely, all of the early aluminium MacBook Pros and several of the larger unibody MacBook Pros.

This time, I figured it was time to start a new WikiPost to compile known hardware upgrade components for all Early Intel Macs.

What comes to mind, particularly, is bringing notice to components Apple neither intended nor foresaw could be upgraded or upgradeable, but actually can be — which in turn can enable certain models to continue working with macOS versions well beyond what Apple intended officially.

These include LCD upgrades, CPU and GPU upgrades, AirPort card upgrades, and upgrades one can make to internal optical drive bays (including swapping in a supplemental hard drive bay or a Blu-ray upgrade). This is a road map to help maintain and improve Early Intel Macs over time and to help reduce how the number of Macs to end up in e-waste streams. This is what we do here in the Early Intel Macs community!

I started this list with main categories I can think of for each class of Early Intel Macs — seven in all* — and their relevant sub-sections. These initial categories are a guesswork of what could be possible, not what actually is out there.

NOTE: MacBook Air excepted, I’m omitting hard drive upgrades as a sub-section because this is, usually speaking, fairly straightforward and universal. As exceptions apply, we can add in sections with links to cover those situations.

What I hope is you all here, over time, will locate, post known MR forum threads, external threads, and external how-to guides with verified methods for hardware upgrades which stubborn determined users have done successfully on their own — followed by providing the steps they followed to make those upgrades a success.

* MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Xserve, Mac Pro, and MacBook Air


WHO MAY EDIT THIS?

As with all WikiPosts on the MR forums, any MR forum member may update the WikiPost.

But if you’re not up for messing with that, that’s OK. Just post in a reply below with your known upgrades info (and related links), and I can add them to the WikiPost.

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GENERAL

m.2 form-factor SSDs
SATA/AHCI

The small world of AHCI PCIe blades: bootable speedy SSDs for (some) Early Intel Macs


NVMe (on selected 2012 and later models)

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iMac

CPU
on models with non-BGA sockets

iMac 21.5" Late 2009 (10,1) CPU Upgrade (E8600)


AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH

iMac late-2009 to late 2011 IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 internal upgrade


OPTICAL DRIVE BAY
on models equipped with one, 2006–2011



GPU
on models with non-BGA sockets

iMac vertical lines repair kits
[external link] (service and info about the issue from same external source)

Late-2009 to late-2011 iMac graphics card upgrade

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MacBook

LOGIC BOARDS

How to upgrade a MacBook4,1 to a MacBook5,2 logic board


DISPLAYS



AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH

uCard 4: IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE for Unibody MacBook
[external link]

OPTICAL DRIVE BAY

2.5-inch form factor (SSD or HDD) SATA caddies for PATA/EIDE SuperDrive bay on early 2006 to 2010 MBPs
[external generic link to current listings, if available]

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MacBook Air

AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH



APPLE SSD BLADE

Upgrading steps from Apple AHCI to NVMe (macOS 10.13+)
[external link]

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MacBook Pro

CPU
note: requires special equipment and skills



DISPLAYS



AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH

IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.2 for Unibody MacBook Pros
[external link]

mCard: IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE for pre-unibody MacBook Pros
[external link]

uCard 4: IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE for Unibody MacBook Pros
[external link]

OPTICAL DRIVE BAY

2.5-inch form factor (SSD or HDD) SATA caddies for SATA SuperDrive bay on late 2008 to mid 2012 MBPs
[note: many of these exist cheaply and post’s links may be old]

2.5-inch form factor (SSD or HDD) SATA caddies for PATA/EIDE SuperDrive bay on early 2006 to aluminium 2008 MBPs
[external generic link to current listings, if available]

DISCRETE GPU DISABLE
on A1286 & A1297 models

Software patch method by @dosdude1 [external link] or command-line method [external link]; alternate method


EXPRESSCARD/34
on equipped models, 2006–2011

ExpressCard/34 expansion upgrades


APPLE SSD BLADE
on Retina models, 2012–2015

Upgrading steps from Apple AHCI to NVMe (macOS 10.13+)
[external link]

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Mac mini

Guide for replacing 32-bit Core Solo/Core Duo with faster 64-bit Core 2 Duo on Macmini1,1 (or Macmini2,1)
[external link: iFixit]

Maxing out the Mini: Macmini1,1 & 2,1 CPU upgrade guide


AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH



OPTICAL DRIVE BAY
on models equipped with one

2.5-inch form factor (SSD or HDD) SATA caddies for PATA/EIDE SuperDrive bay on early 2006 to 2009 Mac minis
[external generic link to current listings, if available]


HARD DISK DRIVE
on supporting more than one internal drive

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Mac Pro

CPU(s)

MacPro1,1; 2,1; 3,1; 4,1; and 5,1 CPU upgrade compatibility list


AIRPORT/BLUETOOTH

IEEE802.11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 upgrade instructions for MacPro5,1 (and MacPro4,1 firmware-upgraded to 5,1)
[external link]

mCard: IEEE 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 LE for 2007–2012 Mac Pros
[external link]


OPTICAL DRIVE BAYS

Adding SATA ODD/SuperDrive (in lieu of ATAPI/PATA) in MacPro1,1; 2,1; 3,1
[external link]


GPU



WIRED NETWORKING



SPECIAL EXPANSION CARDS

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Xserve

CPU(s)

Xserve1,1; 2,1; and 3,1 CPU upgrade compatibility list


OPTICAL DRIVE BAYS



GPU



WIRED NETWORKING



SPECIAL EXPANSION CARDS

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[philgxxd]

These great posts deserve a occasionally bump...

 

[Amethyst1]

These great posts deserve a occasionally bump...

They deserve to be stickied!

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Hi everyone, I'm "kind of stupid" so I probably did this wrong, but I added a couple of repairs to the list above that are fixes for known Apple hardware issues that people might not know about. Sorry if it messed up the list but please feel free to "fix" the way I pasted the posts above..

Real Mac Mods - We Fix What Apple Won't.

We provide engineered solutions to common faults and defects in Apple products. Including iMac Vertical Lines, MacBook GPU Failure, and many more.

realmacmods.com

(for the iMac screen upgrade/repairs)

and

802.11ac + BT 4.2 for Unibody Mac Notebooks – Subtle Design

subtle.design

(for adding new Wi-Fi/Bluetooth to Unibody Macs)

 

[B S Magnet]

Hi everyone, I'm "kind of stupid" so I probably did this wrong, but I added a couple of repairs to the list above that are fixes for known Apple hardware issues that people might not know about. Sorry if it messed up the list but please feel free to "fix" the way I pasted the posts above..

Real Mac Mods - We Fix What Apple Won't.

We provide engineered solutions to common faults and defects in Apple products. Including iMac Vertical Lines, MacBook GPU Failure, and many more.

realmacmods.com

(for the iMac screen upgrade/repairs)

and

802.11ac + BT 4.2 for Unibody Mac Notebooks – Subtle Design

subtle.design

(for adding new Wi-Fi/Bluetooth to Unibody Macs)

Nice finds!

I can tidy up the WikiPost, but you got the idea perfectly.

 

[B S Magnet]

Update: tidied up @DouglasCarroll ’s new links (thanks!) and also added new links for upgrading AirPort and BT for MacPro4,1/5,1 to 802.11ac/BT4.2, and for upgrading AHCI-to-NVMe for MBA/rMBPs.

Edit to update: Added in a new, “General” section at the top of the WikiPost and a link to a new discussion by @Amethyst1 on m.2 form factor SSDs (AHCI and NVMe) in use on selected Early Intel Macs.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Thanks for taking care of that! I "think" I have some other good ones for this list. I'll check my "massive" (!) list of bookmarks and try to find them...



EDIT

Here's one that I found very helpful, but I'm not sure it applies to this list or not...

SolderFix - Microsoldering Repair Service

Expert microsoldering repair work on electronic equipment and components. Solder Fix offers component level repair on a wide range of computer and electronic equipment.

www.macupgrades.co.uk

I did this to my classic MacPro and it worked great! Easy to do and only needed an easy to find couple of cheap (free maybe!) cables.

 

[B S Magnet]

Thanks for taking care of that! I "think" I have some other good ones for this list. I'll check my "massive" (!) list of bookmarks and try to find them...



EDIT

Here's one that I found very helpful, but I'm not sure it applies to this list or not...

SolderFix - Microsoldering Repair Service

Expert microsoldering repair work on electronic equipment and components. Solder Fix offers component level repair on a wide range of computer and electronic equipment.

www.macupgrades.co.uk

I did this to my classic MacPro and it worked great! Easy to do and only needed an easy to find couple of cheap (free maybe!) cables.

Added! Cheers!

 

[Amethyst1]

Edit to update: Added [...] a link to a new discussion by @Amethyst1 on m.2 form factor SSDs (AHCI and NVMe) in use on selected Early Intel Macs.

Thanks My thread is only about AHCI SSDs; the SM951-NVMe is mentioned as a warning that there are two versions of this particular SSD, with the NVMe version unsurprisingly being much more common and cheaper than the elusive AHCI version...

 

[theMarble]

Is there any WikiPost so far on Mac mini 1,1/2,1 CPU upgrades? Don't think there is a list of all CPU upgrades as there some lesser known options like the T2700.

If not, I offer to make one as I've found that they are very nice Macs, especially as bridge machines and servers to connect with newer and older Macs and PC's.

 

[Amethyst1]

Don't think there is a list of all CPU upgrades as there some lesser known options like the T2700.

Lesser known options eh? Joking aside, I've got a T2700 in my Macmini1,1 now.

Is there any WikiPost so far on Mac mini 1,1/2,1 CPU upgrades? If not, I offer to make one [...]

Not to my knowledge, so please do

 

[B S Magnet]

Minor updates:

I added a couple of SuperDrive-to-hard drive caddy links; updated the thread’s title to cover the scope of what qualifies as an “Early Intel Mac”; and also sent a nomination to the mods to upgrade this to a pinned/sticky post so that it’s easier for folks to find.

I’m optimistic that with a cohort of fresh MR forum member eyes now using the Early Intel Macs forum more frequently, there may be some new component upgrades available about which we didn’t know when I struck this wikipost last year. In particular, more options for component upgrade kits for upgrading AirPort/BT, more options for ExpressCard expansion (including eGPU kits), and more options for display upgrades, where applicable/possible, would be important things to add to the wikipost.

Cheers.

 

[AphoticD]

Added link to a thread around upgrading the iMac 2009 CPU, which I kicked off in 2017