Upgrade to Bluetooth 4.0?

[Richdmoore]

Hello, I have been reading some about the new Yosemite OS, and it sounds like bluetooth 4.0 might be needed for some of the new features involving connectivity with ios. I currently have a 2011 imac, and it only has bluetooth 2.1.

I can buy a dongle with bluetooth 4.0, but I am unsure if I can simply plug the new usb bluetooth in, or if it is more involved than that. Can both bluetooth devices work at the same time, or do I have to turn the internal one off and repair all my devices.

Also, would this disable the keyboard commands used at startup (I use an apple bluetooth keyboard), such as the option or recovery partition?

I may just have to purchase a dongle and experiment, but any one who has already tried to do this would save me a bunch of time trying to figure out how easy or hard it is to upgrade to the latest usb using a usb dongle.

 

[gforce216]

Would love to know this as well

 

[macsforever]

They are backward compatible.

 

[iMacBooked]

I believe you can use both at the same time. I'm not 100% sure though.

 

[Richdmoore]

Experiments

I received the USB dongle today, and ran some quick experiments.

1. It looks like only one bluetooth (active or USB) can be active at any one time. I was able to switch them using both the bluetooth explorer app (Xcode developer tools), and also by simply removing all the pairings and turning off the internal bluetooth. Rebooted with the USB bluetooth in place, and when I turned it back on it used the USB dongle instead of the internal bluetooth.

2. I was able to use System information to easily check to see which bluetooth was active. Got to system report. Go to the bluetooth tab, and look under LPM version. Bluetooth 2.1 is 0x4. Bluetooth 4.0 is 0x6.

3. Bad news on one front however. Once I got the bluetooth 4.0 dongle working, I lost the ability to use the keyboard boot commands with the apple wireless keyboard. I don't have an apple wired keyboard to test, but if bluetooth 4.0 is required for compatibility with the new features of Yosemite, then I may have to invest in a new wired keyboard.

 

[bensimpsy]

Can anyone comment on the possibility of upgrading the internal Bluetooth module?

 

[crsh1976]

Can anyone comment on the possibility of upgrading the internal Bluetooth module?

iFixIt has some BT upgrade guides, not sure if all models are covered tho; here's an example : https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2309+and+2374+Bluetooth+Board+Replacement/1638

 

[Richdmoore]

I forgot to mention, I used this bluetooth USB for testing (as it has native apple Maverick support)

http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Bluetooth-Micro-Adapter-GBU521/dp/B007GFX0PY