Upgrading Macbook (Core Duo) wireless to 802.11(n)

[Mr.Gadget]

Fastmac has a 802.11(n) card for $89 that I can use to upgrade my wife's Macbook 2GHz Core Duo machine. That will allow me to bump up the Airport Extreme settings to (n).

Has anyone done this? Is it tough?

I have replaced harddrives in the Macbook Pro but that is the extent. Any tougher?

Thanks!

 

[ATMB]

There shouldn't be problems, in case. Just take care when opening the MacBook not to break any piece of it...the airport is really easy both to locate and substitute.

Drivers are embedded into OS X, of course, but maybe you should run "802.11n enabler" to take full advantage of the Airport Extreme card...

Hope this helps
bye

 

[pjarvi]

iFixIt.com has guides for installing many of the parts in a MacBook: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook/86/, including the AirPort card: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook/Airport-Card/86/10/

Note: I do not work for iFixIt, nor am I affiliated with them in anyway. I just did a Google search and found them.

 

[Mr.Gadget]

Thank you! I'm going to go for it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Jim82]

Upgraded

Fastmac has a 802.11(n) card for $89 that I can use to upgrade my wife's Macbook 2GHz Core Duo machine. That will allow me to bump up the Airport Extreme settings to (n).

Has anyone done this? Is it tough?

I have replaced harddrives in the Macbook Pro but that is the extent. Any tougher?

Thanks!

I just upgraded my MBP Core Duo 2.0ghz lastnight. And it's super fast. I bought the Airport Extreme Upgrade Kit for the Mac Pro at the Apple store. I had some trouble buying it at one of the Apple Stores, but 3 of the 4 would sell it to me, so it worked out. It's not a DIY part, so you might have problems getting it. Just call ahead and tell them what you want and tell them to just put it on hold, then just go in and ask a random employee to go get it. I found that worked best. It was only 43.00USD. However you can buy it on PowerMax for 49.00USD the model/Part number a-ma688z/b.. Try to get the /b instead of the /a that way you don't have to pay for the 1.99USD enabler.

http://www.powermax.com/parts/show/a-ma688z__b


I followed the ifixit instructions until I got to page six, then followed xlr8yourmac.com.
Links below:
1st Link- http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-Duo/85

2nd Link- http://xlr8yourmac.com/systems/macbookpro_wireless_N_upgrade/macbookpro_N_card_install.html#storytop


This really was super easy to do, it took me about 1hour, but I went slow. I used a medicine day/evening pill holder to hold the screws and not get them mixed up.
No problems in doing this. As soon as I find the best option to migrate my data over, I'm going to install a 250 or 320 internal HDD.

Good Luck,
if you have questions hit be back.