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Repair guides for the MacBook Air, Apple's current line of consumer laptops.

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Can I install the MBA '13s AirPort card in the '12 model?

Regarding the 802.11ac-enabled AirPort card in the 2013 MacBook Air: As this card is 2-channel MIMO -and the 2012 model, like the 2013 model, only has 2 antennas- it is the ideal card to use in replacing the 2012 Airs AirPort-card.

Is there any chance we could get a short yes/no answer (or longer of course) regarding whether this is possible or not? Bear in mind that I am a hacky guy and don't mind getting my hands (very) dirty in attempting this. I want 802.11ac!

I'm thinking something like removing the existing cards screw mount and either cutting it a bit and gluing it on further away from the socket, or just gluing the new card to a spacer of some kind. Is the screw mount "easily" removable?

Would I need to extend the antenna cables in attempting this or can they safely stretch to fit the ac-enabled card?

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This question was migrated from http://meta.ifixit.com/Answers.

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You need to correct the device from here; I did all I can being I don't know the screen size

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Because of how often Apple makes slight changes to force you to buy new hardware you don't need I have my doubts, but there have also been many cases it worked.

Wait for the parts to come out and then compare the connections and see. If they are, it likely will but keep the old one around just in case. There may also be issues with some old versions of MacOS, so you may need to upgrade the OS to the OS the new ones come with for it to work right.

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I'm not sure about the logic board connector but the antenna config remains the same. One 2.4G and one 5G. On older models the shorter one is for 2.4G. No MIMO support. So it gives you 150 Mbps on either band. I haven't got a detailed look on the 2013 model. But It seems that you will get 450Mbps on 5G 802.11ac as apple claimed to be 3x faster. On 2.4G bands it's still 150M max.

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I was able to install the mid 2013-early 2014 wifi/bluetooth board into a late 2010 13" Macbook air. Bluetooth and Wifi are still working. I have yet to see what the performance gains are.

I was encouraged by the fellow who tried it here:

How can extend airport antennas

Some snipping of things is required to make the cables just barely reach. Cannot screw the card into the motherboard.

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