Club 11

[MultiFinder17]

When I started teaching full time in 2015, I wanted a small laptop to tote between home and school. I picked up a used 2011 11” Air (1.6GHz i5, 2GB RAM, 256GB SSD) here on macrumors for $400. That laptop served me well as my main teaching laptop for he next three years until my needs finally outgrew its 2GB of RAM. It served me well for the next few years as a secondary machine in my classroom, running screen sharing sessions so that I could control my projector, announcement, and server Macs. It was only finally replaced earlier this school year by a 2008 15” MBP because I wanted a bit of a bigger screen for working the projector machine (teaching the kids Python this year and the 11” wasn’t doing it for me). It’s now in my office at school, used whenever I need to get booted from my room so they can use my computer lab for testing.

That laptop was rock solid, and has been since the day I got it. Best $400 I’ve spent in a good while. I’ve kept it on El Cap all this time - every time I upgrade it to High Sierra, it just feels too laggy and bleh for my needs, but El Cap is a solid compromise between functionality and speed.

 

[swamprock]

Pics!

Sorry... extremely busy. Here you go (attached to my 27" HP monitor)...

 

[mectojic]

My main daily driver is still my 11" – the most powerful one ever made, 2015 model, 2.2GHz i7, 8GB Ram, 512GB SSD. Replaced the battery 3 times now. They're awesome machines.

I'm now considering picking up a 2010 one – purely because it qualifies as the smallest notebook, and the only model, capable of running Snow Leopard, and therefore PPC applications via Rosetta.

Can anyone to whether it would run Rosetta programs well? I would think even 2GB Ram is good enough for this.

 

[Amethyst1]

Can anyone to whether it would run Rosetta programs well?

My experience (1.4 GHz 2010 11" MBA with 2 GB RAM): Adobe Creative Suite 2 is unusably slow, MS Office v.X is OK. I didn't test more applications.

I'm now considering picking up a 2010 one – purely because it qualifies as the smallest notebook, and the only model, capable of running Snow Leopard, and therefore PPC applications via Rosetta.

FYI: I was able to get Snow Leopard running on a 1.6 GHz 2011 11" MBA with 2 GB RAM. This one is much faster than the 2010 and should™ handle Rosetta much better (I didn't test it though).

 

[rampancy]

My main daily driver is still my 11" – the most powerful one ever made, 2015 model, 2.2GHz i7, 8GB Ram, 512GB SSD. Replaced the battery 3 times now. They're awesome machines.

I'm now considering picking up a 2010 one – purely because it qualifies as the smallest notebook, and the only model, capable of running Snow Leopard, and therefore PPC applications via Rosetta.

Can anyone to whether it would run Rosetta programs well? I would think even 2GB Ram is good enough for this.

I think that as long as your dial down your expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Office v.X ran decently for me, as Amethyst1 mentioned. If you're looking to run some low-mid level PPC games, or some edge-case legacy PPC apps for specific hardware, I think it'll fit the bill nicely.

 

[mectojic]

Well, I finally achieved my goal and got myself a 2010 MacBook Air – 11 inch of course!

I picked one up cheap in an "untested" state, and expected to just get a typical base model 1.4Ghz with 2GB ram, as that's what always shows up. You can imagine my surprise and delight to find it turned out to be a max-spec one, 1.6Ghz with a whopping 4GB Ram and 128GB SSD.

All I needed was a battery replacement, which are wonderfully still abundant on Ebay, and I've now got a 'holy grail' – the lightest Mac that can run a fully-fledged Snow Leopard.

Performance-wise, I'm not using it for very heavy tasks. In Arctic Fox (which I'm using now to write this post), Macrumors is pretty smooth. Youtube 720p works too, and general web browsing (with a restrained approach to the number of open tabs).

However, the real part where this Mac shines is with the pure speed that comes from Snow Leopard. I'm blown away that it can actually launch apps and docs faster than my 2015 Air does on Catalina. I get what people say about SL – it's so lean and efficient, and it lets me do what I want, rather than telling me to update, or give me some notification about "Try the new Safari". Yuck.

For the record, I did actually try Snow Leopard on a 2011 Air, and yes it did boot, but it was not satisfying. I wanted a full experience, not inconveniences like the disabled function row.

 

[mectojic]

Also, we should invite @MBAir2010 to this club. He's been a big advocate for this special laptop, and it's still his daily driver (if I'm not mistaken).

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Hi everyone, nice club. I'd like to join!

I have a mid 2012 11" MacBook Air with 8GB of Ram and 125GB SSD. I "had" a 2010 11" Air but when I got this one I gave it to a friend at work. This 2012 is a HUGE upgrade over the 2010, I'd honestly never go back to the 2010. Not only is there twice the ram available as an option, this has the backlit keyboard which to me is a necessity with laptops. On my 2010 everything just ran slow but the 2012 is really snappy running Catalina. My "ultimate goal" would be to get a 2015 11" Air maxed out, but if that never happens I'm super pleased with the 2012. It's shocking how easy it is to bring these things along in your backpack and forget they're there until you need them. It's unfortunate that Apple discontinued this size. If the "MacBook 12" rumors are true and that becomes a thing, I'd seriously want one of those as a new "champion of light computing"

 

[m1maverick]

Hi everyone, nice club. I'd like to join!

I have a mid 2012 11" MacBook Air with 8GB of Ram and 125GB SSD. I "had" a 2010 11" Air but when I got this one I gave it to a friend at work. This 2012 is a HUGE upgrade over the 2010, I'd honestly never go back to the 2010. Not only is there twice the ram available as an option, this has the backlit keyboard which to me is a necessity with laptops. On my 2010 everything just ran slow but the 2012 is really snappy running Catalina. My "ultimate goal" would be to get a 2015 11" Air maxed out, but if that never happens I'm super pleased with the 2012. It's shocking how easy it is to bring these things along in your backpack and forget they're there until you need them. It's unfortunate that Apple discontinued this size. If the "MacBook 12" rumors are true and that becomes a thing, I'd seriously want one of those as a new "champion of light computing"

The 12" MacBook is already a reality. It was sold between 2015 and 2017. I have one and it's a very nice system. I would recommend you check them out.

 

[mectojic]

Hi everyone, nice club. I'd like to join!

I have a mid 2012 11" MacBook Air with 8GB of Ram and 125GB SSD. I "had" a 2010 11" Air but when I got this one I gave it to a friend at work. This 2012 is a HUGE upgrade over the 2010, I'd honestly never go back to the 2010. Not only is there twice the ram available as an option, this has the backlit keyboard which to me is a necessity with laptops. On my 2010 everything just ran slow but the 2012 is really snappy running Catalina. My "ultimate goal" would be to get a 2015 11" Air maxed out, but if that never happens I'm super pleased with the 2012.

Totally agreed, the 11" is the only MacOS device that has that weightless feeling.
I have the maxed 2015 11" Air, it is really great and easily handles the modern OSes fantastically.
However, I do love my 2010 11" Air at the moment, because 10.6.8 Snow Leopard is just such a nice and efficient OS. I'm posting this from the 2010 now (in clamshell mode, plugged into display + kb + mouse, like a Mac Mini). I love taking it in my backpack onto trains, and getting work done. But of course, I would never push my 2010 to a newer OS; as you say, the 2012 even would clearly be a better performer.

 

[Amethyst1]

Totally agreed, the 11" is the only MacOS device that has that weightless feeling.

The 12” MacBook is noticeably more lightweight.

 

[B S Magnet]

The 12” MacBook is noticeably more lightweight.

Do I have to keep rolling this out:

 

[Amethyst1]

Do I have to keep rolling this out:

It's more lightweight because... it doesn't have the heavy Thunderbolt controller on the logicboard

 

[B S Magnet]

It's more lightweight because... it doesn't have the heavy Thunderbolt controller on the logicboard

Or that 720p FaceTime camera made from bismuth!

 

[Amethyst1]

This 2012 is a HUGE upgrade over the 2010, I'd honestly never go back to the 2010.

Here’s my rundown on the MBAs:

2010: Core 2 Duo, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0. SLOW. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2011: Core i5/i7, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0, Thunderbolt. Much faster than 2010. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2012: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt. Will run Catalina OOTB.

2013: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, much improved battery life. Will run Big Sur OOTB.

2015: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 2, much improved battery life, runs external 4K monitor at 60 Hz. Will run Monterey OOTB.

2017: same as 2015 except for slightly faster CPUs but: 11" model dropped.

 

[B S Magnet]

Here’s my rundown on the MBAs:

2010: Core 2 Duo, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0. SLOW. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2011: Core i5/i7, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0, Thunderbolt. Much faster than 2010. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2012: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt. Will run Catalina OOTB.

2013: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, much improved battery life. Will run Big Sur OOTB.

2015: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 2, much improved battery life, runs external 4K monitor at 60 Hz. Will run Monterey OOTB.

2017: same as 2015 except for slightly faster CPUs but: 11" model dropped.

Do you happen to know whether any of the 2011 MBas will run higher than Catalina via OpenCore (the way the MBP4,1 is able)?

 

[Amethyst1]

Do you happen to know whether any of the 2011 MBas will run higher than Catalina via OpenCore (the way the MBP4,1 is able)?

According to this: yeah.

When I said “patcher” I was referring to dosdude1’s. I haven’t played with OCLP yet.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

The 12" MacBook is already a reality. It was sold between 2015 and 2017. I have one and it's a very nice system. I would recommend you check them out.

Hello, thanks for the reply.

I know about that one, I'm talking about the "wistfully rumored" re-introduced 12" MacBook with Apple Silicon.

THAT machine would kick ass for portability, retina screen and power!

 

[Jack Neill]

According to this: yeah.

When I said “patcher” I was referring to dosdude1’s. I haven’t played with OCLP yet.

I tried Big Sur on my 2011 11". Performance was disappointing. A shame because the 2012's run 11.x great.

 

[mectojic]

I tried Big Sur on my 2011 11". Performance was disappointing. A shame because the 2012's run 11.x great.

I guess that's the point where we can determine something to be 'vintage'. We then need to use an older OS with workarounds to accomplish what we want.

 

[Amethyst1]

I tried Big Sur on my 2011 11". Performance was disappointing. A shame because the 2012's run 11.x great.

Did both MBAs (2011 and 2012) have the same amount of RAM? Maybe the 2011's non-Metal GPU is spoiling the fun.

 

[Jack Neill]

Did both MBAs (2011 and 2012) have the same amount of RAM? Maybe the 2011's non-Metal GPU is spoiling the fun.

Yeah I’m guessing it’s the 3000 vs 4000 and the root patching.

 

[Jack Neill]

Yeah I’m guessing it’s the 3000 vs 4000 and the root patching.

I thought about giving 12.5 a shot on this 11" 11. Its actually a little bit better than 11.x. Still a bit sluggish but Spotlight is still spotlighting. We'll see how it goes.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

Here’s my rundown on the MBAs:

2010: Core 2 Duo, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0. SLOW. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2011: Core i5/i7, max 4 GB RAM, USB 2.0, Thunderbolt. Much faster than 2010. Will run Catalina with patcher.

2012: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt. Will run Catalina OOTB.

2013: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, much improved battery life. Will run Big Sur OOTB.

2015: Core i5/i7, max 8 GB RAM, superfast PCIe SSDs, USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 2, much improved battery life, runs external 4K monitor at 60 Hz. Will run Monterey OOTB.

2017: same as 2015 except for slightly faster CPUs but: 11" model dropped.

Nice list. Sounds like the 2013 or 2015 are the ones to look for. I have a 2013 13” Air that runs Big Sur and in spite of it being a little beat up, I really like it a lot. Would love to get my hands on the 11” equivalent.

 

[Jack Neill]

I thought about giving 12.5 a shot on this 11" 11. Its actually a little bit better than 11.x. Still a bit sluggish but Spotlight is still spotlighting. We'll see how it goes.

Performance with the 11" 11 with 11.x and 12.x are subpar for my taste. Its not unusable but I prefer a little more pep than they provide. So I took the Air back to its roots. I was also not a fan of OS X Lion back in its prime but I have enjoyed its use and getting this setup. Its far more stable and crappy than I remember.