Chosen Solution
So at WWDC this year, they announced 802.11ac wireless for the new 2013 MacBook Airs. Is it possible to replace the 802.11g card in my 2012 Macbook Air? I assume the wireless cards are not off the shelf products so I would have to buy it from a third party manufacturer or parts from a broken 2013 MacBook Air, both of which seem unlikely. Thanks!
Until Apple ships a system and iFixIt tears it apart no one knows what Apple did on the inside (needed changes or if the WiFi connector is the same). So, sit back grab another brew out of the icebox and watch a good movie or two. I’m sure within a week or two someone will have had a chance to see whats inside and tell us all about it.
I managed to extend the wires in my mid-2012 MacBook. It is necessary to remove the left side I/O board to access the two screws securing the antenna wires on the left hinge. I then used scissors to cut the wire from the thin metal plate (bend away the two narrow metal legs from the wire and cut the legs but not the antenna). I guess one could also desolder the antenna wire from the metal plate in lieu of cutting. After doing this, the wires will have just enough length to reach the antenna connectors on the 802.11ac card.
Yes! I did it and it works! Thanks to Kevin Ko’s idea, I tried to modify the antenna wire and connect to the new ac wifi card, and it works!
Check the red arrow, I cut off this little metal plate, in order to elongate the antenna wire.
Connect the antenna. The new wifi card(94360cs2) is a little longer. So thanks to John Pr’s advice, electrical tape is highly recommended for it.
It appears that the slot is the same but the length of the antenna wires in the 2012 may prevent it. Only way to know is to open a 2012 and try to stretch the antenna wires to where they would be with a 2013 card installed. The 2013 “ac” card has the connections in a different spot than the 2012 card, which may prevent it from hooking up to the antennas.
Hi I have just completed this install as documented above. Used the wifi card 94360cs2 as mentioned previously (attached photo showing difference in length). It works great, have now got AC wifi and can unlock with apple watch on my Mid 2012 Macbook Air. I had to follow Kevin Ko’s guide to lengthening the cables (not for the faint hearted) Hope this helps
Hi Guys, im struggling to find out which AC airport to buy, which one have the same size of the 2012 mba? Update (12/30/2018)
So I used a 94360cs2 which is few millimiters longer. It hits a component on the bottom, so i added some electrical tape under. Now I can successfully unlocked the air with my watch now :)
So is it possible to do this “swap/upgrade“
Could someone please clarify what the best replacement card is to carry out this upgrade?
So what’is result? Is it possible?
What about a wireless card that does not need these modifications? Just a straight swap?
After hesitating quite a bit, I opted to make this modification with the BCM94360CS2 module. It took me quite some time to get some extra cable length, for which I needed to slightly lift the mainboard first. After that the cables were just long enough to fit the connectors. I thought about the loose ground connector, and I guess the soldered piece of the cable can be extended with a wire, and connected to ground on the original location. However after the mod the WiFi signals seem strong enough, so I left this ground loose. Most likely the other end of the wire is grounded. The wires are not the ‘clean Apple’ way anymore, and the fact that the module is not secured by a screw is also not ideal, but for normal home use, this should be sufficient. Most happy about the AC chipset which now support WPA3.
