MacBook 2011 owners

[lord e55ex]

Guys and girls

I like many of you, love my MacBook Air. However, 2011 was a long time ago. Considering moving to a MacBook 2016 as they are on offer with £200 off.

Just wondered if anyone else had made the leap from a similarly old MacBook Air. Was it a good switch or should I be looking at a MacBook Pro without TB?

All I do is use Safari and office 95% off the time.

 

[WhiteKnightMac]

Also a MacBook Air user (Mid-2011)

If all you are using your MBA for is Safari and Office work then save yourself the money and stick with your current system. The new OS (High Sierra) is/will be compatible with this system. Been running the beta for a couple of days now.

Unless you intend on using graphic or CPU intense programs, your MBA should be good for another year on High Sierra. If you don't mind not having the most up to date OS then you could easy push this system for another three years (best guess).

 

[lord e55ex]

Glad there are still Air 2011 users out there! I would love to have a retina machine and faster SSD, but its still doing the job as you say.

 

[Boyd01]

I used to have a 2011 MBA but upgraded in 2013 and am still very happy. Even if you only use Safari and Office, there are still some advantages to upgrading. In 2012 they added USB 3.0; this makes a big difference if you use USB drives (for things as basic as backups). You will only get speeds of ~30 MB/sec on USB2.0 while inexpensive disks get 100 to 200 MB/sec on USB 3.0.

In 2013 they added the 802.11ac wifi which is also substantially faster, I get between 50 and 60 MB/sec accessing a network disk on my LAN. I just upgraded to 150/150 FIOS at home, and can get the full speed over wifi on my MBA. Your 2011 MBA would only be able to use about half that bandwidth. Of course, you need a compatible router for this.

But the biggest difference is battery life. You would get almost twice the run time on a new MBA (maybe even more if you still have the original battery).

OTOH, if you are still happy with the 2011 there's nothing wrong with keeping it.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I have a 2011 11" 1.6i5/2GB/256GB Air that I use as my primary laptop in my classroom, and do much of my lesson planning on. I have it on El Cap at the moment, and it still does everything I need for its job.

 

[jbsiii]

I have 2 2011 11" MBA's -- my wife and I use them all the time, and I've used mine w/ an Apple Thunderbolt Display. It's been a great laptop for us both. I plan to upgrade to rMB once it has TB capability, and I can upgrade to a retina external display at the same time.

 

[617660]

I have 2011 13" MBA. I just did a clean install on macOS Sierra and it makes a big difference. I am not thinking of upgrading for another couple of years at least.

 

[lord e55ex]

I have 2011 13" MBA. I just did a clean install on macOS Sierra and it makes a big difference. I am not thinking of upgrading for another couple of years at least.

Was much extra storage released as part of the clean install?

 

[617660]

Was much extra storage released as part of the clean install?

Of course but I don't reinstall every app so I can't give you a good estimate. If you want to gain back more storage, do a clean install when high sierra comes out. The new file format should help.

 

[lord e55ex]

Of course but I don't reinstall every app so I can't give you a good estimate. If you want to gain back more storage, do a clean install when high sierra comes out. The new file format should help.

I will certainly look into that. Out of interest, what were the big differences you noticed from the clean install of Sierra?

 

[kohlson]

My daughter has a 2011 13- MBA, winning 10.12. No complaints from her when I ask how it's working. Did replace the battery last summer (1,000+ cycles), and the trackpad. A few years ago, I upgraded the SSD to an OWC 480.