[mac4theblind] Upgrading old iMac for handoff support

  • From: "Paul Martz" <skewmatrix@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <mac4theblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 4 May 2015 14:06:53 -0600

Hi all. I've got a client with a mid-2010 iMac. It runs the current OSX, but
lacks support for the Bluetooth handoff feature. I wonder if the Bluetooth
on his iMac could be upgraded in such a way as to allow support for handoff?
I'm thinking about something like a USB Bluetooth adapter. We would just
plug it in and disable the internal Bluetooth. Would that work? Or would OSX
still fail to allow Bluetooth handoff over the external USB Bluetooth?

I have, in the past, seen OSX fail to support certain features on older
computers even after upgrading the hardware. As one example, I could never
get updated graphics drivers on my old mid-2008 Mac Pro desktop, even after
I upgraded the graphics cards themselves. Apple's policy was that those
graphics cards were only supported on the mid-2009 or later Mac Pro.

Analogously, if Apple has simply "decided" that Bluetooth handoff is not
available on a mid-2010 iMac, then there's no point is us trying an external
Bluetooth adapter, if you follow my logic.

I realize this isn't technically an accessibility issue, except for the fact
that both he and I are blind.

Thanks for any help.
-Paul

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