Photos of a Prototype MacBook Pro with Integrated 3G Cellular Data

[OrangeSVTguy]

Should have done a 3 day listing

The last Macbook Air prototype went on ebay and they did a 10 day listing. Took so long all the steam and hype quickly went out and it didn't sell for very much if I recall and Apple never requested to want it back.

This does sound kinda promising since Apple is still interested in this hardware...

I am rather curious how this even got out in the wild and who's liable?

 

[Dandu]

Wow, I must admit I really didn't expect so much insanity over this listing and I almost don't want to post in this thread!

But I can't resist so I guess I will, heh. I'm the seller. Reading through the thread the antenna seems to be the hottest topic, mostly how "ugly" it is. Really in person it seems quite well designed, and not out of place with the rest of Apple's look. Also after reading the post earlier about the patent application I was surprised to find that the antenna actually follows that exact description: it is attached with a magnet and snaps off! Here are a few more pictures:


I'll answer questions if anybody has them, just please don't go too crazy. Tomorrow it goes into a safe deposit box and likely stays there until the auction is over.

You say that the SIM slot was connected to the motherboard on the eBay auction. Have you a screen of the connection ?

 

[evilroot]

I do have a question about the location of the radio components. The J1300 connector AFAIK is an Extended Debug Port. What plugs into J4327? J4XXX seems to be in the same series as other USB devices, which would support the fact that it is a USB Modem.

J4327 goes to the SIM card connector board. My assumption is that the actual modem radio board is in the display assembly (likely in the hinge cover area with the inverter) and uses the same USB line as the iSight camera. This would make sense given the location of the antenna.

Should have done a 3 day listing

It was only up for a day and a half, heh.

 

[DeeEss]

Can't believe they pulled the listing. Well I hope the bidder/s who were bidding so high finds you!

 

[MacTech68]

J4327 goes to the SIM card connector board. My assumption is that the actual modem radio board is in the display assembly (likely in the hinge cover area with the inverter) and uses the same USB line as the iSight camera. This would make sense given the location of the antenna.

Thanks for clarifying that.

If I'm not mistaken, the cable to connector J4731 doesn't use all the pins in the production model and that carries USB to the iSight camera in the display housing so that makes sense to me.

Would love to see a take apart of the display housing!

Any chance of getting the USB Product ID and Vendor ID for the radio?

I'm guessing Apple will want it back. Bummer.

 

[evilroot]

Would love to see a take apart of the display housing!

I was VERY tempted, even before I posted the listing. I've done it quite a few times before to replace broken LCD panels on Santa Rosa machines. The problem is the aluminum front bezel is very thin and flexible, and when separating the back cover no matter HOW careful you are there is going to be some degree of flex . . . . high possibility of cracking the crystal. There's a reason why Apple and their service centers won't replace a panel, only the entire assembly. Obviously if its broken to start with that's not a problem, but when it was already in great condition I didn't think it was worth it. Where's my spirit of adventure, heh.

If I'm not mistaken, the cable to connector J4731 doesn't use all the pins in the production model and that carries USB to the iSight camera in the display housing so that makes sense to me.

Indeed, it appears there are several extra wires going from J4731 into the display on this machine, from looking at closeups of the pictures I posted in higher resolution. They're also different colors than the stock model.

 

[MacTech68]

I was VERY tempted...Where's my spirit of adventure, heh.

Indeed!

...it appears there are several extra wires going from J4731 into the display on this machine, from looking at closeups of the pictures I posted in higher resolution. They're also different colors than the stock model.

So there is at least one more USB port on J4731 and the other pins loop from J4731 to J4732 for the SIM connection.

I wonder if the recessed area in the battery bay (under the memory cover) still exists in the production model under the adhesive label.

I did notice a 4pin DIP missing on the other side of the MLB (a USB power switch?) so I wonder how much of the USB port on J4731 is missing?

Anyhow, thanks for satisfying the curiosity of a fellow hardware tech.

 

[kbfr08]

Indeed!



So there is at least one more USB port on J4731 and the other pins loop from J4731 to J4732 for the SIM connection.

I wonder if the recessed area in the battery bay (under the memory cover) still exists in the production model under the adhesive label.

I did notice a 4pin DIP missing on the other side of the MLB (a USB power switch?) so I wonder how much of the USB port on J4731 is missing?

Anyhow, thanks for satisfying the curiosity of a fellow hardware tech.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your board P/N is: 820-2132 model: M76

If so, then pins (on J4732) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 & 12 are routed to GND
Pin 2 is: SIM DATA = Pin 22 on J4731
Pin 4 is: SIM RESET = Pin 21 on J4731
Pin 6 is: Voltage +3.3V = Pin 19 on J4731
Pin 8 is: SIM CLOCK = Pin 18 on J4731

That's all of the info I could dig up about that connector, I wasn't able to find out anything about the other boards, or what chips those signals go to.

 

[Niico]

In before people who don't read say it's ugly

This is a prototype from 2007, before 3g was in like...any laptops

Edit: I lost, first post is just that

Nope I had carbon fibre Sony laptops years before this with 3G - without any visible antenna.

My guess is the antenna was required due to the chassis being metal.

 

[vfr800]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A5288d)

I personally wouldn't buy one. I can't afford ANOTHER data plan hah. Though that is really neat. If they ever produce MacBooks with 3G capabilities, I don't see there being an antenna like that one.

The trend in the near future will be to have multiple devices using one subscription, so your ipad, phone and laptop will share the one you are paying for, of course only one is voice but all share data.

So, actually , it would make sense to have this now (LTE or faster, nowadays of course..).

Yes, I know you can create a WiFi hotspot from your one smartphone, but there's a limit how many devices you can share the connection to (IoT etc..) and (if my experience is anything to go by) they didn't design the battery of my smartphone to do this for long..

The model is that you'll buy a pre-configured sim card and just add that to your account. (if we insist in continuing to use hardware sim cards..)

 

[SkippyThorson]

Nope I had carbon fibre Sony laptops years before this with 3G - without any visible antenna.

My guess is the antenna was required due to the chassis being metal.

This thread was nearly 5 years old. I was surprised to receive a notification because I remember this from back when it was actually news.