Classic Mac Pro 5,1 (also 4,1 upgraded to 5,1) features only Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1. Here’re main reasons why you want to upgrade Wi-Fi to 802.11ac and Bluetooth to 4.0:

• Mac Pro Wifi Card
• Wifi Usb Card For Macbook Air
• Mac Compatible Usb Wifi Adapter

Hi Dan, My English is not perfect, but the question was 'Can I swap out the original wifi card for an Intel 7260 card that gets 802.11ac?' For me that sounds like Paul would try to replace his existing original 802.11n Wifi card by an Intel 7260 802.11ac card. Is this misunderstood? USB, ethernet, PCI, and other WiFi hardware more suitable for desktop use is covered in WiFi Hardware Compatible with Desktop Macs Running OS X. This information is adapted from Mac OS Wireless Adapter Compatibility List by permission of the author, who gives a “nod to the linux-wlan.org Adapter List for doing the heavy lifting.”.

• You get Continuity, Handoff and new AirDrop working natively
• Wi-Fi 802.11ac is insanely fast, Bluetooth 4.0 is more reliable, secure and way quicker
• macOS 10.15 Catalina no longer supports old BCM94322MC Wi-Fi card so Wi-Fi will not work there

Disclamer: this website is by no means associated with any of ebay sellers mentioned here. Links are provided for your convenience. We take zero responsibility if you damage your computer somehow (highly unlikely but you never know).

1. USB WiFi Wireless Card for Apple Mac Airport G3 G4 G5 Intel Mac Macbook Pro Air. 4.5 out of 5 stars (24) 24 product ratings - USB WiFi Wireless Card for Apple Mac Airport G3 G4 G5 Intel Mac Macbook Pro Air. Guaranteed by Fri, Jul 24. 4 new & refurbished from $14.96.
2. Set Up Wifi on a Raspberry Pi Zero From Your Mac and Nothing Else: The Raspberry Pi Zero is an impressive piece of kit.Weighing in at just 9g and small enough to fit in your pocket it has a 1GHz Arm processor, 512MB of RAM, a micro-SD card slot, input/output pins a mini HDMI socket for 1080p video and can be connec.
3. These WiFi adapters may well cost less than an AirPort Card, which tends to sell in the US$50-100 range nowadays. This page covers USB, ethernet, PCI, and other WiFi hardware that is compatible with the Classic Mac.

The upgrade kit described here is 100% native, doesn’t include any external cards, antennas and doesn’t require any additional software installation. The Broadcom card mentioned in the kit is used in many iMac models thus natively supported by macOS. Some smart guy sells similar kit for around 215 USD + shipping but normally you get it for less than a quarter of the price (and free shipping from China)

The kit:

• Broadcom BCM94360CD + mPCIe adapter. Ebay
• Bluetooth antenna extension cable. Ebay
• JST GH 1.25MM 4Pin connectors (3). Ebay

Mac Pro Wifi Card

UPDATE September 2019! There’s a version of the mPCIe adapter that doesn’t require soldering! Amazon, Ebay. In this case you can skip Step 1.

1. Solder Bluetooth data cable to the mPCIe adapter

The original Bluetooth card will be removed because the BCM94360CD has both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on board. D+ and D- connectors on the mPCIe adapter must be connected to the motherboard instead of the old Bluetooth card.

• You will need THREE JST cables where you remove yellow and green wires (only black and red are used).
• Connect them to each other so you have enough length for Bluetooth data cable:

• Solder (or ask someone who has a soldering machine) D+ and D- contacts on the adapter to black and red wires correspondily (not quite neatly on the photo).

2. Remove CPU/RAM tray

Open your Mac Pro and remove the CPU/RAM tray.

Wifi Usb Card For Macbook Air

With the tray removed your computer should look as on the photo below. Wi-Fi card is highlighted on the left and the small Bluetooth card on the right. Later we will be passing wires behind the area highlighted in the center.

3. Remove old Wi-Fi & Bluetooth cards

• Unscrew two small screws holding the old AirPort Wifi card and disconnect 2 or 3 antennas by lightly pulling them towards you (depending on the model, one antenna can be unused and hidden below the card), remove the card by sliding it to the left.

• Unscrew 1 screw holding the old Bluetooth card, disconnect data cable and gold antenna connector, remove the card by pulling it towards you, it’s slightly glued with adhesive.

4. Installing new Wi-Fi & Bluetooth card

The new card with adapter goes in the PCIe slot where your old Wifi card was. Connect three existing Wi-Fi antennas and one Bluetooth antenna extension cable to the card exactly as shown below:

Slide the card with all 4 antennas attached into the mPCIe adapter then slide the adapter into the mPCIe slot. Tighten the adapter in place with one of two screws holding the old card.

The loose end of our Bluetooth antenna extension cable should be connected to the existing Bluetooth antenna cable (disconnected previously from the old Bluetooth card).

Mac Compatible Usb Wifi Adapter

The loose end of our Bluetooth data cable must be connected to the motherboard:

When possible use small pieces of tape to fix wires to ensure they stay securely connected and don’t move much.

The guide is based on this MacRumors thread.

Older Macs may not have a slot for Apple’s AirPort Card, and even if yours does, you may want higher throughput than 802.11b WiFi offers – 802.11g will give you nearly five times as much bandwidth.

These WiFi adapters may well cost less than an AirPort Card, which tends to sell in the US$50-100 range nowadays.

This page covers USB, ethernet, PCI, and other WiFi hardware that is compatible with the Classic Mac OS. A few of these devices are compatible with Mac OS 8.6; all of them are reported to work with Mac OS 9, and most also have drivers available for some versions of Mac OS X.

PCMCIA/PC Card WiFi adapters compatible with Mac notebooks are covered in WiFi PC Cards for PowerBooks Running Mac OS 9.

This information is adapted from Mac OS Wireless Adapter Compatibility List by permission of the author, who gives a “nod to the linux-wlan.org Adapter List for doing the heavy lifting.”

Short link: http://goo.gl/WxIoBD

searchword: os9wifi