Are you experiencing performance problems with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your Retina MacBook Pro? The culprit could be the speedy new USB 3.0 hard drive you bought to use with it.
The issue is that USB 3.0 hard drives can emit radio frequencies that interfere with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmissions on the 2.4 GHz band, especially when placed near the antennas in your laptop. You can minimize the problem by keeping USB 3.0 hard drives away from the screen hinges on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, and don’t set the drives behind the screen, either.
USB 3.o connectors and cables can radiate interference in the 2.4GHz spectrum that causes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals to drop out when they’re near the antenna. The antennas in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air happens to be near the screen hinges one the back of the computer.
Bottom line here; Wi-Fi network connections may slow down or drop off completely, and Bluetooth keyboards and mice may become sluggish or lose their connections.
In addition to keeping the USB 3.0 devices away from your computer’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas, you can also minimize their effect by using well shielded cables and USB connectors.
Apple now includes USB 3.0 ports on the MacBook Pro, Retina Display MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini, so if you’re experiencing Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity issues and have the latest model of any of the above computers, your new USB 3.0 peripheral could be the bad guy.
