Dan

It’s called Port Bonding. Its an old trick to gain more performance.

I agree, Apple missed it by taking away the dual drive support internally.But I don’t think its a killer issue. Putting everything inside also puts your data at risk if the system fails and you need to finish a job. So how are you going to get to the files now?

Just keep in mind the coming Mac Pro will be the first model to have internal dual drive support within a T2 based system! The MacBook Pro’s also have this failing.

You are limited to what Apple shipped for CPU’s in this series. The best you can go to is a I7-8700B

Yes, it will! You killed the MIMO function.

The new mini offers MIMO (two antenna’s), basically you halved your WiFi performance!

Per Apples specs: IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible

Remember! MIMO is part of the IEEE 802.11ac spec.

Given the time point of the engineering of the system I’m not sure if Murata was allowed to sell the WiFi module with the Qualcomm logic. Apple may have been forced to use the Cypress logic. The cypress logic is not as good as the Qualcomm logic for ac. So if you look at the Murata parts listing Murata RF Modules: WiFi-Bluetooth We can see the last three are the likely units. The first is just 802.11a/b/g/n whereas the last two are 802.11a/b/g/n/ac They all use two WiFi antennas either discreet 2.4 GHz/5.0 GHz or in 2x2 MIMO configuration. The third antenna is for Bluetooth alone.

Now the question is the specs on Apple’s page wrong? Is the WiFi ac or not?

Are you sure you are looking at the correct guide? There is the older 17” MacBook Pro 17" Models A1151 A1212 A1229 and A1261 Optical Drive Replacement.

There are a few differences between the Core 2 Duo and the newer i5/i7 series. but the guide is close enough to get you through it.

Getting an RV AC converter is a lot cheaper and besides the power supply is a custom unit so you would need to have the chops to design the circuit get it made into the needed encapsulation so it would fit inside. If you won the PowerBall then you would have the needed bucks to get it done! ;-}

It’s soldered

The plastic dome covers the contacts so you can’t really blow air into the gap. The covers are glued down to the base 360 degrees.