Any way to use MBA 2011? Run Linux? Throw in garbage?

[ToniCH]

Is there any way to use an Air 2011 for any thing at all? ...

Intel Core i7 1.8 Ghz, 4 Gb

Here is a MBA 2012 i5 1.8GHz 4GB running Mint and compared to couple of other Macs. Single core performance is higher than my Mac Pro 5.1 running also Linux (with MacOS the Pro is even slower). Note that in a confusing way Geekbench lists MacOS-machines with core clock speed but Linux-machines with Turboboost speeds.

But, anyways: yes, the MBA is still very usable in most daily purposes. Yours is the i7 so, its quite capable and in no means the cheapest and crappiest of 2011 Macs.

With Linux it even beats some newer machines running MacOS. For example it probably beats the 2012 13" MBP running the i5 2.5GHz and its actually quite close in performance to the famous 2012 MBP 13" i7 2.9GHz! In both single core and multicore! (Disclaimer: used Everymacs geekbench 5 scores as reference, for example).

Second pic shows a little benchmark comparison of mine. In multicore performance obviously more cores is more performance but single core is in normal daily use still an important factor as most software run mainly in the first core.

 

[unrigestered]

Linux is a valid option, but as it has been said, you can be fine with just an up to date web browser.
i'm still using Windows 7 online on one of my laptops for everything that doesn't require sensitive user data or monetary transactions and Windows' malware scanner never found or alerted anything, nor did i have any other signs of malicious behavior on that system.

i probably still could do online banking on it and would be fine too if i had to, but why should i when i'm having contemporary systems at hand.

i don't have experience with stuff like torrents though

 

[cupcakes2000]

On the one hand this looks great, maybe a way to rescue old computers. On the other hand they don't actually say that or tell you want Elementary is. I dug through the entire site, at length, and there's literally not a single word explaning what it is, so you have to conclude it's some sort of insidery tech bro-y god-knows-what but whatever it is they're apparently not interested in having people like me use it and so I'll have to find my solution elsewhere.

What do you mean by what it is? It’s a Linux distro, which looks a little like macOS. Otherwise the site explains in detail what to expect from the OS. What information are you missing?

 

[makes]

Ugh cancel everything, I just got the Mac Air in question (wasn't in my possession until now) and it's stuck at the plain grey screen when you turn it on. Surely this is due to the fact that my husband did the "before you sell or give away" procedure because absolutely everything was working 100% fine until he did that. In other words when I said this was a healthy working MBA, that was based on the last time it had been turned on. He didn't know I wanted it and did the procedure because he was planning to send it to Apple for recycling or whatever they do with it.

Just spent half a day reading instructions and trying to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery and it fails with the "Mac recovery server could not be contacted" error or it gets farther but then there are no volumes listed in the dialog "Choose Volume" where you want to install the OS (so you can't click Next). So now everything seems to have exploded into a big quagmire with many possible things causing the problem(s) and I'll start a new thread because it's a whole different topic. (Short version, before trying to reinstall I did First Aid in Disk Utility, reset time and date, and reset SMC. Internet definitely works because you can use Safari within the Disk Utility).

 

[ToniCH]

Just spent half a day reading instructions and trying to reinstall macOS

Make a bootable USB-thumbdrive, boot from it and install OS that way. You can do it for MacOS or Linux, your choice.

With MacOs you need to format (erase) the (Mac internal) drive before installation, Linux installers usually format it automatically (they ask first and give you an option to do it manually too).

You obviously need an another Mac to download and make the bootable USB-drive installer. Linux bootable installers you can make with any computer.

Download OS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
Make USB-drive: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

To make one for Linux: 1. download Linux ISO-file (for example Mint). 2. Download program to make the bootable drive (for example Raspberry Imager or Balena Etcher). 3. choose source file (the ISO) and destination (your USB-drive) and commit. Wait. BTW. I use the Rpi Imager as it works in my opinion more often than others. With Rpi imager you need to choose "Use Custom" for image type. Then choose the ISO-file.

Ps. Edited for clarity.

 

[makes]

Make a bootable USB-thumbdrive, boot from it and install OS that way. You can do it for MacOS or Linux, your choice. With MacOs you need to format (erase) the drive before installation, Linux installers usually format it automatically (they ask first and give you an option to do it manually too). You obviously need an another Mac to download and make the bootable USB-drive installer. Linux bootable installers you can make with any computer.

Download OS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
Make USB-drive: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Oh that would be great (done similar things in Windows but never Mac) but are you sure there isn't some point where you need a license key? Either something that came on a piece of paper that's now lost, or was somehow in the computer when purchased and would get wiped out by the new OS so you wouldn't actually be able to use it? This is how it works in all the Windows versions I know (up to 8.1, haven't used Win 10). You can freely download and start installing the OS but without the number you got when you bought your own copy or computer, it won't work.

 

[ToniCH]

but are you sure there isn't some point where you need a license key?

Yes, I am sure. No license keys in MacOS or Linux (there are very rare exceptions to this but you won't run into them).

Every Mac was originally delivered with MacOS. So, your MacBook Air has "a built in license" to use MacOS. There is no "activation" like with Windows. And most Linuxes are free to install and use.

 

[JustAnExpat]

[OT] Are you sure? We're led to believe they find vulnerabilities in common things such as browsers and OS and flood essentially the entire internet with malware that will infect everything that doesn't have the latest update, as opposed to people individually spending time hacking into one particular credit agency. I don't know. If that was true then wouldn't 95% of the world's computers would be bricked by now? Because I have a very hard time believing that every person with a computer from Bangladesh to Uruguay to Moldavia has every piece of software updated every week.

I live in a developing country (Thailand). In Thailand, and other developing countries, there's usually a huge gap between the poor and the rich. Here's what I noticed:

1. For machines using Windows XP or Windows 7, they are usually air gapped and not connected to the internet. These are usually machines like Point of Sales machines, or used to run specialized software.

2. The vast majority of computers are Android phones. These phones are usually running the latest, or close to the latest, version of Android. Internet is mouthdroppingly cheap here (Unlimited cell plan, 1MBPs, is about $4 a month, post-paid).

3. For people who can afford Apple products, they keep them up to date. They are almost fashion devices, and they are disposed of when they are about 3 years old.

 

[eicca]

I booted from a flash drive into Linux Mint Cinnamon on my ancient MacBook Pro. Even running off USB it’s orders of magnitude faster than Ubuntu. Not as polished as macOS but much much faster than anything else.

 

[izzy0242mr]

Oh that would be great (done similar things in Windows but never Mac) but are you sure there isn't some point where you need a license key? Either something that came on a piece of paper that's now lost, or was somehow in the computer when purchased and would get wiped out by the new OS so you wouldn't actually be able to use it? This is how it works in all the Windows versions I know (up to 8.1, haven't used Win 10). You can freely download and start installing the OS but without the number you got when you bought your own copy or computer, it won't work.

macOS has no licensing, so you're all clear.

Use DiskMakerX to make a bootable USB from another Mac. Do macOS 10.13. Should be pretty straightforward. Plug in, hold option then turn on the Mac, and select the recovery startup option.

Download DiskMaker X for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of DiskMaker X for Mac for free. Read 141 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.

www.macupdate.com

 

[rampancy]

When you eventually get your Mac up and running, yes, there's a whole lot you can do with it.

For productivity software, LibreOffice and iWork (you can download an older version from the Internet Archive, and then download the latest update for High Sierra through the Mac App Store) are both excellent options.

For the internet, Chromium Legacy (a backported version of Google Chrome for older systems - what's linked is wowfunhappy's automatic updater) is your best bet, in addition to Firefox ESR (a stable version of Firefox which lacks the some of the newer features of the latest releases, but is fully supported with security patches). There's also other great alternative web browsers including Pale Moon, Arctic Fox, and wicknix's own stable of web browsers for legacy hardware.

 

[0423MAC]

Lubuntu/antiX Linux is your answer. Those operating systems make even 2008 models suitable for light tasks

 

[rampancy]

Lubuntu/antiX Linux is your answer. Those operating systems make even 2008 models suitable for light tasks

Lubuntu's pretty good; I also really like Zorin OS Lite and Peppermint OS too.

 

[0423MAC]

Lubuntu's pretty good; I also really like Zorin OS Lite and Peppermint OS too.

Yeah all very solid options. It really depends on just how much you want to squeeze out of your hardware.

Personally for very old systems I think antiX is the way to go, but it requires some tweaking to get the feel just right. Under 200MB RAM utilization at startup is absolutely insane.

It runs well even on those awful netbooks released with 1GB/2GB RAM and Intel ATOM CPUs 🤮