Hey everyone... long time no talk. Umm, I've been using this setup for a few years now. This isn't my daily os, there are some weeks where I don't boot into OSX at all. That being said, it was always a goal to get this closer to a perfect setup.
As a quick recap: This laptop was shipped with an Intel AC7265 network card which has no chance of working with OSX. I got an external usb dongle and that allowed me to have wireless internet but I hated sacrificing a usb port for terrible and non-native internet. I bought a Dell DW1560 and installed it in my laptop (BCM94352Z) and that card worked on OSX but not on Windows or Linux no matter what I tried. The card was recognized but no networks would ever appear. (I even found the wifi disable pins and taped them!) I also tried the Lenovo version of the BCM94352Z (Lenovo P/N: 20-200480) and it demonstrated the same behavior.
I gave up on getting those cards to work, but a new found motivation hit me recently to try again. I ordered a Dell DW1830. The 1830 is a lot bigger than the 7265 and the DW1560. The NVME drive must be removed before installing the 1830 and it's a very tight squeeze. I'm happy to report that for the past couple of hours, I have had wifi on both Windows and OSX with the Dell DW1830! Linux is not working yet, it freezes when connecting to networks. I've had to disable and re-enable the network adapter in Windows upon reboot a couple of times.
There are a few quirks that I will find workarounds for but the 1830 is definitely a step in the right direction for this laptop.
I am going to continue messing around over the next few days and will likely attempt a High Sierra install, if/when I get to that point I will write a new guide for everyone!
Best,
JC