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MacBook Pro 802.11ac upgrade

troop231 said:
Sorry guys, I've unfortunately come to realize that the antenna connectors on the cMBP are too large to be used with the new rMBP 802.11ac cards. I feel like I got so close to finishing the project, yet failed. This would've been an excellent Kickstarter. I even spent the time on developing an adapter board. :( Feel free to chime in.

Photos:

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I'd be interested in getting one of those boards from you - I've got a 17" late 2011, I'd be *very* interested in making this happen (even if it means new antenna)
 
Doward said:
I'd be interested in getting one of those boards from you - I've got a 17" late 2011, I'd be *very* interested in making this happen (even if it means new antenna)
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Hey, thanks for the interest. To make this truly successful, I would need to find somone else willing to help/share resources and pull together on a joint Kickstarter effort. It's just unfortunate that it costs too much without making hundreds or even thousands of them. :) Would be nice if MacRumors did a story.
 
Ok so can I get 3 antenna stream 802.11ac on my early 2013 15" rMBP?! Based on the posts it looks like a 1:1 swap but if more can confirm that would be great. 1.3Gbps or even 850Mbps would be epic for situations where you want speed but don't want to use gigabit ethernet...although I doubt youll get anywhere near 1.3Gbps outside gigabit ethernet.
 
nateo200 said:
Ok so can I get 3 antenna stream 802.11ac on my early 2013 15" rMBP?! Based on the posts it looks like a 1:1 swap but if more can confirm that would be great. 1.3Gbps or even 850Mbps would be epic for situations where you want speed but don't want to use gigabit ethernet...although I doubt youll get anywhere near 1.3Gbps outside gigabit ethernet.
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Yes, you'll get 3 stream 802.11ac since your rMBP came with 3 antennas. :) Shouldn't be too much longer before the WiFi cards start becoming more available.

Part of me thinks that my adapter board could live on if I can bundle short lengths of the newer smaller antennas. This would raise the cost however, and would make the Kickstarter more difficult.
 
KSUWizard said:
A buddy of mine with an older MBP told me that Apple released some update that "unlocked" the 802.11n band on his machine. Wonder if that's the case with the newer models. Without researching I'm going to guess no, but who knows.
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HornetOSX said:
Wrong..
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Actually, it's true. My 06 C2D BlackBook got a $1.99 "Airport Extreme Enabler" update straight from Apple, and it enabled the N band on my laptop's WiFi card. It happened.

Doward said:
I'd be interested in getting one of those boards from you - I've got a 17" late 2011, I'd be *very* interested in making this happen (even if it means new antenna)
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I currently have a 17" early 2011, and I'd love to get AC on this thing too! I already have native USB3 with a Fresco ExpressCard adapter, so WiFi AC would be the icing on the cake for me. I'm always writing to / reading from my NAS.
 
troop231 said:
Yes, you'll get 3 stream 802.11ac since your rMBP came with 3 antennas. :) Shouldn't be too much longer before the WiFi cards start becoming more available.

Part of me thinks that my adapter board could live on if I can bundle short lengths of the newer smaller antennas. This would raise the cost however, and would make the Kickstarter more difficult.
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Sweet! Thanks man! I'll probably wait it out now that I think about it. I bought the laptop myself but my aunt paid a good amount for warranty and accident protection and I'd hate to void that....of course if its as easy as swapping an Optibay out and as untrackable then I might do it since if I need to go in for repairs I can just switch them...I feel like 802.11ac is a WiFi standard worth looking at, Wireless N was a great improvement but AC looks like it'll provide pretty beefy bandwidth. I'd be curious to see how it stacks up for things like accessing NAS/SAN's for video editing, streaming 1080p and 4K, etc.
 
Swap?

So can i buy a Bcm94331csax wifi AC card on ebay and swap it with the one in my Macbook 2012 Retina?

Will that work?
 
b0rg said:
So can i buy a Bcm94331csax wifi AC card on ebay and swap it with the one in my Macbook 2012 Retina?

Will that work?
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I'm very curious about the performance and compatibility with the late 2013 rMBP AC WiFi's chip on the mid 2012/early 2013 rMBP.
 
bugout said:
yeah that's crazy talk!

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Korea's had faster speeds than that for years. If you want to be amazed you should get familiar with Canada's speeds. Only 1 month ago did my ISP finally upgrade the neighbourhood from 1mbit speeds. Yes, 1mbit was my FASTEST speed until 1 month ago and am now getting an incredible 5mbit. For $45/month, plus tax. In Canada. In city of 500,000 people. In an urban area. With 2 universites, 1 college and Blackberry global headquarters employing 10,000 people.

When I see people getting anything more than 5mbit I get pretty jealous, still.
 
Dunno of the card fits in a Macbook Retina 2012 model and if it works correctly..

Was hoping here somebody already tested it.
 
b0rg said:
So can i buy a Bcm94331csax wifi AC card on ebay and swap it with the one in my Macbook 2012 Retina?

Will that work?
Click to expand...

That model is the model you already have in your 2012 machine.

I believe the correct model is BCM94360CSAX for the latest rMBP.
 
I'd be interested in putting together this triangular bit in Sketchup to provide it as a base for your adapter, so that it could be a drop-in solution. I'd just need to find the size of the "snap-in" connectors, and see if I could source them anywhere...

MBP%2520WiFi.jpg


Actually - it looks like those RF coaxial connections are soldered on 2 contacts on the board - likely ground and TX. or TX/RX? Anyhow, I bet they could be easily removed and you could solder some of the old sized contacts on the new AC board.

I'm browsing the lot of them at Mouser, and it seems totally doable. I know the new contacts are smaller, but I bet the proper solder connections can still be made. Better yet you could splice the three wires' snap-contacts and replace them with the proper-sized smaller contacts.
 
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caseyfriday said:
I'd be interested in putting together this triangular bit in Sketchup to provide it as a base for your adapter, so that it could be a drop-in solution. I'd just need to find the size of the "snap-in" connectors, and see if I could source them anywhere...

Image

Actually - it looks like those RF coaxial connections are soldered on 2 contacts on the board - likely ground and TX. or TX/RX? Anyhow, I bet they could be easily removed and you could solder some of the old sized contacts on the new AC board.

I'm browsing the lot of them at Mouser, and it seems totally doable. I know the new contacts are smaller, but I bet the proper solder connections can still be made. Better yet you could splice the three wires' snap-contacts and replace them with the proper-sized smaller contacts.
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I totally agree. I'd happily buy one.
 
I am also really curious because I can't seem to find any good source for the card.
 
Reading these stories, I wonder if this hack is even worthwhile at the moment?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1693460/
If anybody gets the ac card working on older Mac, please report back if you experience any connectivity problems?
Also, should Apple release a firmware update for bcm436x card, would we need the late 2013 machine to get it installed?
 
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