MacBook Air, 3g, air, diy, ev-do, evdo, gadgets, hacks, macbook, wireless

Hacked MacBook Air With Built-In 3G Wireless

This is what every MacBook Air needs: built-in 3G wireless. In order to get this goodness into the MBA, Jordan Bunnell busted up a Verizon USB727 Air Card and soldered it up with the MBA's unused USB controllers on the motherboard and used a little bit of voodoo to get power flowing to the card. There's a little bit more elbow grease to get the antenna ports situated and the card crammed in there nice and properly, but as you can see, it pays off. Check out the whole nerdy process in detail over at his site, though our heart's a little too faint to attempt the feat. [Get Listed Locally via engadget]

4:50 PM on Tue Apr 29 2008
By matt buchanan
7,524 views
12 comments

Comments

DaOtter at 04:57 PM on 04/29/08
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Win and awesome. It takes some balls to mod a laptop, especially when you have to hack and solder. Props for the EE skills.
innout3x3 at 05:02 PM on 04/29/08
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@Matt "the card crammed in their nice." This there.

Good post. I would love mod my notebook.
blackwand at 05:04 PM on 04/29/08
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even more so when you just paid about an arm and 1/4 of a leg for a laptop, which you could screw up pretty easily, when everything is shoved in there all nice and tight...
Jesustron at 05:05 PM on 04/29/08
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@innout3x3:

Grammar police on patrol. Public misuse of Their, there and they're.
Hiphopopotamus at 05:11 PM on 04/29/08
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That's kinda genius... when will Apple be teaming up with ATT to make this standard?
cloudnine at 05:14 PM on 04/29/08
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that is absolutely fucking amazing. i'm always amazed at those people who have the balls and the know-how to rip apart their computer to add what's missing. good job! :)
Xenocide at 05:24 PM on 04/29/08
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Take that subspace!
archercc at 05:44 PM on 04/29/08
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Nice, little warranty destruction and soldering to get what came in my 12", 3lb dell from the factory.

Cellular broadband is awesome, secure internet anywheres.
AndyMac at 06:00 PM on 04/29/08
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I love built-in EVDO on my Dell M1330. I find I use it alot more now that it's always there instead of plugging in the card.

When I go out I configure the card to connect at boot time so it's like having wi-fi everywhere. No fuss, no muss.
tnkgrl at 07:21 PM on 04/29/08
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It's unfortunate about the WiFi and BT - but really, kudos on this mod!

I don't have the guts do to something like this to my MBA despite doing some crazy mods myself: [tnkgrl.wordpress.com]
imTheKing at 09:58 PM on 04/29/08
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@archercc: the fact you even mention that you own a dell is funny enough that you should never speak again. hah.
Mandatory_Field at 10:18 PM on 04/29/08
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@tnkgrl: Yes, he did a good job; and I'm a real fan of your Eee (and other) mods as well. I guess the Air is a different kettle of fish where modding is concerned, due to the much more severe consequences ($$$) of failure....