An article over at Hardmac.com provides a step by step guide as to how to upgrade a MacBook and MacBook Pro Core Duo laptop beyond its built-in 802.11g standard to the current 802.11n standard.
The first obstacle to overcome is how to install an 802.11n card in these laptops. The MacBook Core 2 Duo’s 802.11n-compatible card features three antennas as opposed to the two found in Apple’s previous laptop models. The authors discovered that the MacBook Pro’s 802.11n-compatible AirPort card had only two antennas but also the same PCI Express 1x size and connections.
The article then moves into a full step by step guide as to how to disassemble the MacBook, what tools are needed and how to proceed gently given that you’re working with a plastic casing. Upon completion, the author installed the new AirPort driver from the CD that came with Apple’s 802.11n-compatible AirPort Extreme Base Station and ran speed tests.
Click the jump for the full story…
An article over at Hardmac.com provides a step by step guide as to how to upgrade a MacBook and MacBook Pro Core Duo laptop beyond its built-in 802.11g standard to the current 802.11n standard.
The first obstacle to overcome is how to install an 802.11n card in these laptops. The MacBook Core 2 Duo’s 802.11n-compatible card features three antennas as opposed to the two found in Apple’s previous laptop models. The authors discovered that the MacBook Pro’s 802.11n-compatible AirPort card had only two antennas but also the same PCI Express 1x size and connections.
The article then moves into a full step by step guide as to how to disassemble the MacBook, what tools are needed and how to proceed gently given that you’re working with a plastic casing. Upon completion, the author installed the new AirPort driver from the CD that came with Apple’s 802.11n-compatible AirPort Extreme Base Station and ran speed tests.
Provided results demonstrated that the laptop had no problem reaching a maximum speed of 8.9 megabytes per second when connected to the router by Ethernet. The laptop was also able to come out at 3.6 megabytes per second on speed tests where a wireless-enabled Mac Pro came in at only 450 kilobytes per second.
For the full article and details, click the link to the guide.
And if you’ve performed the upgrade and have had good or bad results, let us know.