Maybe I should send Steve an email, and see if he's planning for one to be added?
OK, so you're going to hang around. What's the reason for needing the physical switch?
Better not be one of these "oooh, wifi hurts you" people...
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Macbook Pro's have a wifi switch?
- Thread starter Skuman
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OK, so you're going to hang around. What's the reason for needing the physical switch?
Better not be one of these "oooh, wifi hurts you" people...
Yes, but you have to boot into the OS with it activated to shut it off first ;-) It is a small but decidedly non-zero window. If there were a switch, it would not be present at initial boot up.
I'm not saying I disagree with your point of view but I'm not writing the HW specs for OP (or his company) either.
Geez, people! If he wants/needs a physical switch, so be it. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation.
My father used to work in a highly secure data environment (in a division of Lucent Technologies) which had mandates like these because of the highly sensitive nature of the facility. Whether a physical switch could be circumvented or not isn't the point. Besides - even if it isn't work related and the guy has a fixation on physical wifi switches - it's none of our business. Calm down.
My father used to work in a highly secure data environment (in a division of Lucent Technologies) which had mandates like these because of the highly sensitive nature of the facility. Whether a physical switch could be circumvented or not isn't the point. Besides - even if it isn't work related and the guy has a fixation on physical wifi switches - it's none of our business. Calm down.
nah unlike some windows pcs, the mac doesnt have a button to activate/disable the wireless adapter
Power trace? Wouldn't the power just run through the PCB? Or am I missing something?
LOL
I don't think it's that difficult to modify the case to include a button like the ones currently used to check the battery charge status...
Slick, minimal, and smart (perhaps I should file a patent for this invention )
I would not be surprised if it did have to do with physical security. I still am amazed at how some rules defy logic. I think I saw a post here about a flight attendant telling someone to turn off their iPhone even though the airplane mode was enabled.
On my older MBP the WiFi card is easily accessed. I found this document about a newer model and it seems a little more difficult to access.
http://www.ifixit.com/pdf/guide_519_en.pdf
You could, at time of purchase, ask the people in the Apple store to remove the WiFi card for you. Make sure they put a cap on the cable and tie it down so that it won't accidentally short something later.
After removing the card you could, as pointed out above, use an external device for WiFi and this should comply with your need for a physical switch.
Just curious, does any laptop have this? I've never seen one but then I've never really looked for one.
Sure he doesn't owe it, but folks here were nice enough to answer his question, it would be nice if the OP could return the favor. Besides, folks like me are just curious why this would be a deal breaker.
I never switch off my iPhone inflight, though technically I think the flight attendant is correct. They ask you to power down everything at certain times of the flight, not just turn off the radios. However, they seem to accept that sleep mode is as good as off.
I'm not sure how useful this is anymore. In rare cases there might be a problem. On the other hand, if it prevents one plane crash a decade I guess I'm willing to turn off my equipment at the start and end of the flight.
Some years back things were a lot noisier. There were cases of things like portable CD players and such that were electrically quite noisy, and the headphone wire made a nice antenna to broadcast that.
DOH. That's what a trace is
A track on the PCB. Mind you, these things are multilayer PCB anyway, so the track might be on the underside, topside or somewhere in-between.It would run across the surface of the PCB, probably (hopefully not in an inner layer). You could cut the copper trance on the surface and solder in wires and a switch. It would be rather difficult, though.
Well anything can be hacked if a person has physical possession of the computer. But if your airport is off, and you don't have an ethernet cable connected--then there is no way to get to your computer unless it is stolen.
I have worked in one company that needed a physical switch. The question of "why" is not important, if it is company policy, so be it. I also have worked for a different company that did not allow cameras on corporate cell phones, thus an iphone was just not possible to be used for corporate reasons. I dont know the % of MR readers who work in large enterprise, but there are all sorts of rules, which can govern dress codes, electronics, installation of programs on corporate computers, etc etc etc.
You'd never be able to actually do it. The PCBs are so jam packed, that you would end up damaging something else from the heat of a standard soldering iron.
Also, an external switch can be used to show someone that wifi is disabled even when the computer is turned off. No need to power on the computer to show someone.
Of course, in either case, it is easy to enable wifi. Unless it has been disabled by an administrator, and you don't have that access
Of course, in either case, it is easy to enable wifi. Unless it has been disabled by an administrator, and you don't have that access
Also, an external switch can be used to show someone that wifi is disabled even when the computer is turned off. No need to power on the computer to show someone.
Of course, in either case, it is easy to enable wifi. Unless it has been disabled by an administrator, and you don't have that access
Hi Kevin....just wanna know that since theres no physical button to actually turn it off, cant the mac be hacked using wifi since the card wud be physcally active and thus receptive to hacking?
Thanks!
A search of the forum shows more threads than I can count asking when a new Macbook/MacbookPro/MacBookAir is coming. No one outside of apple knows for sure. Estimates run from March 1 to July.