Basic Macbook Question

[Pericynthion]

Sorry if this is a really, really n00b questions - but how can I tell what the capabilities are for the embedded Airport Extreme in my 2010 Macbook pro?

Particularly curious about how many streams it supports, 20/40Mhz channels etc.

Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x93)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.42.4)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: US
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Is there anyway to tell from the card info, or is it purely down to looking at the Apple spec sheets for that particular model / year?

 

[thiggins]

What "capabilities" in particular are you looking for?

"Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n" means that both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are supported for both legacy (a=5 GHz, b/g=2.4 GHz)

 

[Pericynthion]

I guess my question is specifically around the 40mhz support on 2Ghz ( I believe this is disabled on most Apple devices) and how many streams it supports (whether its a 2x2 or 3x3 etc) - primarily so I dont waste money on a new wireless device that I wont be able to take advantage of

Its also a general question as I've got 2 or 3 Apple devices of varying ages, and I can't seem to find a definitive place to answer this (the definitive place, may be in your head!)

 

[thiggins]

No Apple products support 40 MHz bandwidth in 2.4 GHz. This is an Apple decision. The Broadcom chipset is certainly capable of the support.

As far as 2x2, 3x3, the best way is to check the FCC ID documents for the product you have. Somewhere in the internal photo document should be a picture of the antennas and WiFi module and you can count the antennas.

 

[Pericynthion]

Aha! Thanks Tim, that was the key info I was missing

Looking at the ifixit teardown, there are 3 antenna connections in my Macbook pro so I'm guessing its a 3x3 in this case. The old 2010 Macbook air only has 2 connections, and the 'how is it still running' 2007 Mac mini only has 1.

From what I can see, it looks like all the IOS devices are mainly a single antenna, with the newer AppleTV / iPad having two.

Bottom line is I was thinking about replacing my 2x2 WNDR3700 with a 3x3 'something' to try and get a better wireless throughput around the house, but it sounds like I'd only be helping my laptop and no other devices (purely based on the # of streams).

I am now addicted to the teardowns on ifixit thanks to this insight. I just found out the PS3 slim (which only does 802.11b/g) only has 2 antennas as well


Maybe I'll take a look at the ASUS RT-N66U just to boost some wireless range (as your review makes it pretty clear the RT-AC66U just isn't ready for prime time yet).

 

[thiggins]

Good detective work. I forgot about the iFixit tear downs.

Mobile devices in general are single stream for power and physical space reasons (one antenna takes less space).

 

[sfx2000]

Macbook Pro 2010 - if I recall correctly - it's a 2 stream A/B/G/N dual-band card - supports wide channels in 5GHz, standard channels in 2.4Ghz (20MHz only) - Apple does this to minimize bluetooth interference. Three stream support on the MacBook Pro came in with the Early 2011 hardware release with the BCM4331 chipset.

You can always set the 2.4GHz to wide channels, the MacBook won't use them, but other devices might.

One thing to note however, Apple does set the 40-MHz intolerant bit in 2.4GHz, so some newer routers will honor that bit and use 20MHz channels only when the MacBook is attached.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro