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Apple Says Latest 13-Inch MacBook Air Now Supports Bluetooth 5.3

Slightly off-topic but the screenshot reminds me how great a marketing tool for Apple the Dock is. I’ve unpinned most of the stock apps but it’s a great way to demo how much software comes with it and how good it (generally) looks.
 
Can "System Information" tell you which Bluetooth?

PS. Option-click on Apple Menu to see System Information now. I don't look often, but has then been that way since Ventura? Used to be able to get there via About This Mac.
1688404899133.png
 
FWIW, my M1 Max Studio:

Bluetooth Controller:
State: On
Chipset: BCM_4387
Discoverable: Off
Firmware Version: 20.5.529.8131
Product ID: 0x4A07
 
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danielsutton said:
Customers are rightfully upset when Apple is not forthcoming about what they are buying

Single NAND chips instead of two, leading to much slower SSD speeds…

Wi-Fi 6, rather than 6E, when ALL other Mac computers have the newer improved version…

BlueTooth 5, rather then the newer 5.3, without any mention of this in product materials…
Click to expand...
The Bluetooth and Wi-Fi version support is very specifically called out in the tech specs links on each product page.
 
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I ordered the aforementioned 13" M2 Air the day the 15" was announced.
MY BCM_4387 is FW 20.5.529.8128
 
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EugW said:
I'm still on WiFi 5 / 802.11ac, using a bunch of Apple AirPort Extremes connected via a wired Gigabit Ethernet backbone. I think I'll stick with this as long as realistically possible. Current Apple devices still work beautifully with these, even roaming from AirPort Extreme to AirPort Extreme. For most home use I have not seen the need to go beyond a few hundred Mbps over WiFi, and furthermore, my home internet access maxes out at 500 Mbps anyway. (However, my main work machine is a desktop which is hardwired via Ethernet.)
Click to expand...
This, I truly wish Apple refreshed that AirTime Capsule, maybe with a newer multihub mesh style setup.

Mine I bought 10 years ago (along other things like two TB displays) the 2TB one. Those drives are meant to last forever, the thing has been working and providing wifi forever, setup was basically non existent at that time (I guess today it would be even more so, like when pairing new AirPods), etc

Would get the 2023 version of that, apple tax included no qualms about it, for the next 10 years.
 
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danielsutton said:
Customers are rightfully upset when Apple is not forthcoming about what they are buying

Single NAND chips instead of two, leading to much slower SSD speeds…

Wi-Fi 6, rather than 6E, when ALL other Mac computers have the newer improved version…

BlueTooth 5, rather then the newer 5.3, without any mention of this in product materials…
Click to expand...

Both the Bluetooth version and Wifi version are part of the technical specification Apple provides on their website.
 
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dannyyankou said:
Cool. Now it would be great if we had a pair of AirPods that are capable of lossless audio to take advantage of it.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, Lossless audio is snake oil. I'm an audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist with perfect pitch, pro audio gear, and I really can't tell the difference between a lossless file and a high quality MP3 or AAC file. People around me who thought they could tell the difference always failed in blind tests. If you can tell the difference in a blind test, I'd be curious to know.
 
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Imory said:
Lol. So even though the M1 generation has the same Broadcom chip and is capable of 5.3, Apple decided to solely provide the new FW to the M2 Air?
Click to expand...

BCM4387 may not be BCM4387. There are different steppings of the same chip. The certification report shows BT 5.3 was certified with step C1 of the chip. M1 products may have used older steppings of BCM4387.
 
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JPack said:
BCM4387 may not be BCM4387. There are different steppings of the same chip. The certification report shows BT 5.3 was certified with step C1 of the chip. M1 products may have used older steppings of BCM4387.
Click to expand...
How do you determine the stepping of the chip?
 
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Hardware revision in Oct 2022:

broadcom corp BCM4387

The Broadcom® BCM4387 system-on-a-chip contains a real-simultaneous dual-band (RSDB) 2 x 2 IEEE 802.11ax Release 1-compliant radio and a dual-core Bluetooth 5.2 radio. The BCM4387 Bluetooth subsystem includes a low-power GFSK demodulator for LE and BDR. Through the combination of the low-power...
device.report device.report
 
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dannyyankou said:
Cool. Now it would be great if we had a pair of AirPods that are capable of lossless audio to take advantage of it.
Click to expand...
If you want totally uncompressed audio, you're barking up the wrong tree using AirPods in the first place. Treat yourself to a pair of good wired headphones and save the AirPods for times when convenience trumps chasing that tippy-top bit of quality.
 
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macos9rules said:
In my opinion, Lossless audio is snake oil. I'm an audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist with perfect pitch, a very good audition, pro audio gear, and I really can't tell the difference between a lossless file and a high quality MP3 or AAC file. People around me who thought they could tell the difference always failed in blind tests. If you can tell the difference in a blind test, I'd be curious to know.
Click to expand...

That 'audition' term must be a typo. I would imagine it's Audio technician? But that doesn't really add up either in context. Hmm. But the prefect pitch thing is commendable. Must help :)
 
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EugW said:
I'm still on WiFi 5 / 802.11ac, using a bunch of Apple AirPort Extremes connected via a wired Gigabit Ethernet backbone. I think I'll stick with this as long as realistically possible. Current Apple devices still work beautifully with these, even roaming from AirPort Extreme to AirPort Extreme. For most home use I have not seen the need to go beyond a few hundred Mbps over WiFi, and furthermore, my home internet access maxes out at 500 Mbps anyway. (However, my main work machine is a desktop which is hardwired via Ethernet.)
Click to expand...
This reads like I wrote it. Same setup.
 
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macos9rules said:
In my opinion, Lossless audio is snake oil.
Click to expand...
I'm still trying to understand why someone would need hi-res audio files to listen to on the go, ESPECIALLY when using NYC transit: While the noise cancellation on my AirPod Pros are pretty damn great, it still isn't killing the squelching noises from the trains on the rails or the garbled mess of spoken "alerts" over the in-car speakers. My lossless library has been down-converted to 320kbps AAC and it sounds just great!

Now if I am sitting at home in a perfectly dampened sound booth, then hells yes give that sweet lossless but for most applications in my life, I'll take minimum file size any day of the week.
 
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deebinem said:
I'm still trying to understand why someone would need hi-res audio files to listen to on the go, ESPECIALLY when using NYC transit: While the noise cancellation on my AirPod Pros are pretty damn great, it still isn't killing the squelching noises from the trains on the rails or the garbled mess of spoken "alerts" over the in-car speakers. My lossless library has been down-converted to 320kbps AAC and it sounds just great!

Now if I am sitting at home in a perfectly dampened sound booth, then hells yes give that sweet lossless but for most applications in my life, I'll take minimum file size any day of the week.
Click to expand...
Well, if it did take lossless files, you wouldn't have to down convert, if you have enough storage that is. More about convenience for some people.

I don't use lossless audio files, but I can sort of understand. Back in the day, I used to rip my DVDs to high bitrate h.264 video files. People told me it was stupid because a lot of portable hardware wouldn't be able to play back those files, and even many Macs had problems (since hardware h.264 decode was a new thing). Well, I said I'd just wanted to have it one and done. Rip it in excellent quality and let the technology and storage capacities improve to compensate... which happened pretty quickly. That was in the DVD era. Now nobody thinks twice about downloading 4K movies to their iPads.
 
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