Use 802.11n Airport-card in Macbook 2006?

No, sorry, it's not going to work. Aside from the antenna issue, the newer airport cards very likely have different electrical specs, so you'd probably fry one if you tried putting it in. You'd be lucky if only the airport card was damaged, but there'd be a decent chance of collateral damage.

Yes, you can. I just replaced my Macbook Pro Core Duo 2006's airport card and being able to use 802.11n at 130 mbps. works perfect. ( it seems that I should get 270mbps if I have a wifi router that supports 5ghz / 40mhz dual channel, however my wifi router only has 2.4ghz / 40mhz which limits mac os to use dual channel )

Old card - Atheros AR5BXB6 (802.11 b /g) mini PCI-e Wireless Card
New card - Broadcom BCM4321 (802.11 a/b/g/n) mini PCI-e Wireless Card

Mine is macbook pro but I would guess the macbook has the same wifi card ( or at lest used PCI-e card) easy to replace. for os10.6, the card will automatically recognize to your system.
I bought the card for $26 (including shipment) at http://bit.ly/9K3NNP. once you get the card, you can search for video that explains how to open up your macbook replace wifi card.

The same Broadcom BCM4321 wifi card can be used on Mac Pro which I have tested before installing to Macbook Pro.

I don't find 2 antenna / 3 antenna issue a big deal as I use Atheros AR5BXB72 AR5008 (802.11 a/b/g/n) mini PCI-e Wireless Card on MacPro which has 3 antenna ports ( that should get 300 mbps if you can hook up with dual channel) although the network utility shows constant send and recv packet error that never occurs to Broadcom card ( send / recv error stays 0) with 2 antenna tested either on MacPro or Macbook pro.

I found your post searching a way to make macs to work 802.11n - 270 or 300mbps at 2.4ghz / 40mhz dual channel by installing software or some sort. I see Atheros or Broadcom both card supports dual channel on 5ghz on macs. There is a post by someone who wrote mac ( bootcamp / windows) can get 40mhz dual channel on 2.4ghz 11n, should be a way to make it work...

Anyway, good luck with your 802.11n on your macbook.

sorry, current card on macbooks are lot smaller in size and should not fit on 2006's as Scott Billings wrote. The card I have described in the post should work. I bought it new but I guess they are old kind of card ( labeled-2006 Apple Computer Inc) still sold in a market. hope you got the right one.

Hi-

I'm planning on upgrading my wireless card as well and have found many of the tips here helpful.

However, I have not seen any mention of how replacing the wireless card may effect wireless operation while using Windows XP via Bootcamp. Should it still work or will I have to update drivers? And if so how is that done, just within Windows?

Thanks,
Todd

I can confirm that when I had my Black Core Duo MacBook I performed this same procedure, but I also bought an additional antenna which attached to the middle antenna socket, I laid the cable out and placed the antenna on top of the CD drive ( the antenna was VERY slim). It worked absolutely fine, though if you are using 10.4 you will need to get a hold of the 'n enabler' from the Apple Store to enable wireless n capability - this functionality is included in 10.5 and later.

-Rob

I have had problems with my airport connection for 6 months and I think thewk and ko1972 have the solution. I have been using a USB dongle for a while but have just ordered the AR5BXB72 card on eBay. I'll let you know how it works.

I also had a problem with my original airport card, i changed it this afternoon for the Atheros AR5BXB72
i hadn't seen this post until now but i connected the two cable to the far right and middle terminal, possibily wrong but it works...

the card works fine and hasn't dropped me out of connection yet, however this macbook has slowed right down at loading programs and starting up, quite dramatically in fact.. any body have any ideas why that might be or has similar problems?

thanks

I put a N card in my macbook last week, the macbook recognizes it but i can't get airport to turn after putting in the new card, so this could be an issue some might face. if anyone knows why, please respond to this or the topic i posted called airport still no luck, any help welcome!!!!

I bought and fitted the AR5BXB72 to my MBP A1151 model (I think purchased in 2006) running 10.6.4

Given that the new wifi card had three ports and the old just two, I choose to plug in the outer two and leave the middle alone (those numbered 2 and 0).

On starting up the wifi signal was rock solid (the reason for the replacement in the first place was that I couldn't get a signal if I was even a few yards away from the modem), but the MBP started crashing after a few minutes of use - grey screen telling me to hold down the power button to switch off the machine. I continued to try to use the machine for a few days but got this same problem each time.

I've now reinstalled the old (broken) wifi card and all the crashing problems have disappeared. The issue now is that I am in the same situation I was in before; i.e. no wifi unless Im literally sitting next to the modem!

Have I done something wrong? Perhaps the AR5BXB72 card was not the right one for my machine?
Any help or advice would be great. Thanks

Sounds like either the AirPort card or (less likely) something on the logic board is buggy. I've had endless bugs with a few of the Core Duo models.
Get the card tested in another MacBook (friend or family) then you can find out for sure.

I actually returned the card and obtained a replacement. Today I fitted it to my MBP and again left the middle antenna place empty. Once I booted up the machine I got about 2 minutes of use then a kernel panic!!

Looking at the spare parts area of ifixit.com it seems that the AR5BXB72 is not compatible wih core duo MBPs.

Should I try to plug in the antennas differently or is this card definitely not the correct one?