Best MacOS for MacBook Air 2011 13"

[Al_Capone]

Hello, I'm new here.

I have a MacBook Air 2011 13" with 4GB of RAM, and I would like to know your opinion: Which is the best macOS in terms of performance and GeekBench score?

The highest compatibility for my system is High Sierra. Currently, I am running macOS Ventura because I felt that High Sierra is outdated.

The current system (macOS Ventura) has significantly lower GeekBench scores:

• Single Core: 458 → 351
• Multi Core: 995 → 706

It's not running poorly, but I would like to achieve the best performance by using the most up-to-date system while minimizing the performance loss.

MacBook Air mid 2011 13"
Intel Core I5 Dual Core 1,7 GHz
4 GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB

 

[rm5]

Have you tried Big Sur? That might run a little better!

 

[Al_Capone]

Have you tried Big Sur? That might run a little better!

Not yet. I'm considering installing it; it seems to be good and, at the same time, with updated features.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

So here's the thing.

There was a pretty big performance loss on older systems with Big Sur. So to get back any performance, you'd probably want to go back to at least Catalina.

But Catalina sucked, so at that point you might as well go back one more to Mojave.

But at that point, you might as well go back one more to High Sierra, since Mojave did not introduce many new features, High Sierra is officially supported on your hardware, and an officially supported OS will be more reliable. High Sierra is also a tad snappier than Mojave on old systems in my experience.

But you "felt that High Sierra is outdated", so... 🤷‍♂️

 

[padams35]

Are you comparing Geekbench 5 vs Geekbench 6 results? That could explain the apparent drop.

Otherwise +1 for Big Sur. No promises (I can't remember if Big Sur or Monterey was the tipping point where you really ought to have 8GB RAM) but if Ventura is too slow and High Sierra too old you don't have much to loose.

If Big Sur doesn't work then... well... 12 years is a really good run, right? Might be time for a new, or at least newer, laptop.

 

[rm5]

Are you comparing Geekbench 5 vs Geekbench 6 results? That could explain the apparent drop.

Otherwise +1 for Big Sur. No promises (I can't remember if Big Sur or Monterey was the tipping point where you really ought to have 8GB RAM) but if Ventura is too slow and High Sierra too old you don't have much to loose.

If Big Sur doesn't work then... well... 12 years is a really good run, right? Might be time for a new, or at least newer, laptop.

Ventura is molasses slow on 4 GB of RAM (and so is Monterey probably). I think the OP should try either Catalina or Big Sur.

 

[ricom2ger]

The Intel HD 3000 does not have Metal support, High Sierra is the last usable OS for this machine. Doesn´t High Sierra have an up to date browser?

 

[rm5]

The Intel HD 3000 does not have Metal support, High Sierra is the last usable OS for this machine. Doesn´t High Sierra have an up to date browser?

No, High Sierra isn't getting Safari 16, but it is getting the latest version of Chrome.

 

[B S Magnet]

The Intel HD 3000 does not have Metal support, High Sierra is the last usable OS for this machine. Doesn´t High Sierra have an up to date browser?

The OCLP patcher handles a lot of the Metal calls for non-Metal Macs running post-High Sierra builds of macOS.This is how it’s not only feasible, but also practical to run Mojave and later on Macs as old as the early 2008 MacBook Pro.

High Sierra has, at this time, completely current, up-to-date browsers with both Firefox and Chromium. (For instance, I run the Firefox ESR channel on my High Sierra boxes.) Even once Google drop their own support for High Sierra in the coming months, the Chromium Legacy project will continue to release current builds of Chromium for the foreseeable future.

 

[TheShortTimer]

The OCLP patcher handles a lot of the Metal calls for non-Metal Macs running post-High Sierra builds of macOS.This is how it’s not only feasible, but also practical to run Mojave and later on Macs as old as the early 2008 MacBook Pro.

Similarly, the DosDude patchers provide compatibility for unsupported machines - as you're already aware of course - but it's important to reiterate this given the erroneous information that has been shared. The Catalina patcher allows me to run 10.15.7 on my 2010 2GB C2D MacBook Air with an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU: and it runs very well. I've used it to type this post.

High Sierra has, at this time, completely current, up-to-date browsers with both Firefox and Chromium. (For instance, I run the Firefox ESR channel on my High Sierra boxes.)

I also run Firefox ESR on another machine and it received an update earlier this week.

Even once Google drop their own support for High Sierra in the coming months, the Chromium Legacy project will continue to release current builds of Chromium for the foreseeable future.

In addition, there are also the marvellous SeaLion browser that @wicknix has done sterling work on.

 

[wicknix]

In addition, there are also the marvellous SeaLion browser that @wicknix has done sterling work on.

Thanks. It is turning out to be a nice browser. I'm still working on some UI refinements, and the UXP back end its built on is really quite impressive seeing as it was originally forked from FF52. I haven't run in to a site yet that it doesn't handle (that doesn't require webrtc/eme, e.g: widevine).

And.. I'm also using the dosdude catalina patcher on a 2009 MBP. With the old HDD swapped for an SSD it runs very well.

 

[rm5]

Similarly, the DosDude patchers provide compatibility for unsupported machines - as you're already aware of course - but it's important to reiterate this given the erroneous information that has been shared. The Catalina patcher allows me to run 10.15.7 on my 2010 2GB C2D MacBook Air with an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU: and it runs very well. I've used it to type this post.

WOW! An 11-inch 2010 MacBook Air with 2 GB of RAM! Amazing that Catalina runs on that thing! And yes, the DosDude Patcher works really well. I wonder how Big Sur, or even Monterey, would run on one of those...

 

[TheShortTimer]

WOW! An 11-inch 2010 MacBook Air with 2 GB of RAM! Amazing that Catalina runs on that thing!

It was a surprise to me as well. In this thread we discovered that Catalina will run on 2GB so I took the plunge and saw for myself that it actually runs very well - especially if you've tweaked it to the hilt.

And yes, the DosDude Patcher works really well. I wonder how Big Sur, or even Monterey, would run on one of those...

The upgrade option for Big Sur does appear but I've never dared to see what would happen...

 

[GMShadow]

I have the 11" of that year (typing on it right now) but with the i7, and find High Sierra runs quite well for being the last OS officially supported.

I feel like going beyond Mojave is going to all have about the same performance hit, honestly, so you might as well run the latest if you need it, but Big Sur might be a good middle ground to try if you're wanting to see if it improves.