Challenge! Converting the WiFi/Bluetooth to external
Hi everyone! I come to you today with a very difficult mission, or at least for those of you who are kind, brave, curious, defiant or just bored enough to help me out.
As many owners of Late 2012 Mac minis may know, Apple did a terrible job of shielding the wifi/bluetooth card from the interference from the USB 3.0 ports. Thus creating poor signal quality and interference. I know many people have had different degrees of success by improving the shielding around the module, but I was thinking: what if I could make the module external?
That would be awesome, but when I look at the connection between the card and the computer's main board I see it is a flat ribbon cable with strange (at least to me) internal connectors. I guess what I need is some sort of extension cable, but I never seen one in existence. Here is an image from the iFixIt guide where I have highlighted the connection:
I can 3D print a case and deal with the antennae, but any info on this connectors/cables?
I know it's not as easy as making a USB ir receiver from a MacBook Pro part, but there has to be a way :^)
Update (07/17/2015)
Hi Dan!
I appreciate you taking the time to help me out here.
As for your first suggestion, my mini has already been modded with a second SSD kit. Also I was hoping since it is a flat cable I could somehow get it out of the case through the ventilation holes. Starting to sound like a Mission Impossible movie here. This way I can put it back in if I need to. No comment on how that part sounded.
Also I had considered going for an external bluetooth module (mi Mac mini is connected through ethernet so I don't use WiFi at all, not even for AirDrop). The problem with this route is that the Handoff and Continuity features don't work out of the box so I would end up having to install some untrusted 3rd party Activator, which I know exists but I would prefer to avoid. The idea is to have native support.
Now the repair kit you mention I was hoping to avoid. It will probably fix my problem but I wanted to seize the opportunity not only to fix but to improve. My mini's placement is not optimal for wireless signals, it sits on a TV rack under the TV and a row of electronics. Every division in the rack is optimal for each device (hand built it myself) so rearranging them is not an option. But if my approach is not possible then I guess I'll end up going this way.
Thanks again for your time and effort.
Is this a good question?