MacBook Air 4,1 (A1370) Mid-2011

[TheShortTimer]

My wife is very happy. She really likes the size and the fact that it's so light.

Mission accomplished in that case.

It's interesting, because there are certain models of Macs that I gravitate to and thus own and there are certain models I would never own for myself. The Air is one of those. I don't hate them, I just never gravitated to them.

Up till this year I held a similar view towards the MBA range - the non expandable RAM left me unimpressed but when the opportunity arose to try them out first hand, I could see the appeal and I was won over. The Thunderbolt port actually opens up an avenue of potential that I doubt Apple's designers ever envisaged for these machines.

But the Air is a really nice, throw it in your backpack and go type Mac - I'll give it that.

My sentiments exactly! They're the (almost) perfect packaging of the Mac within an ultraportable format. Again, my only real gripe is the unavailability of RAM expansions but they're a solid choice providing that you're mindful of the hardware constraints. They're terrific as an on-the-road supplement for people who already have other, more powerful computers and the next time I go on an adventure, I'll probably take an Air with me.

 

[Amethyst1]

I could see the appeal and I was won over.

I have the same sentiments with regards to the 11" version. The 13" doesn't really make sense to me as it's too big for an ultraportable. The 13" retina MBP seemed like the much better deal to me - slightly thicker and heavier but more powerful with a display to die for.

The Thunderbolt port actually opens up an avenue of potential that I doubt Apple's designers ever envisaged for these machines.

Yep. I guess the main reason to include it was for docks and their very own Thunderbolt Display... which is a dock bolted to a display.

They're the (almost) perfect packaging of the Mac within an ultraportable format.

If only they had a better screen. The fact that the "classic" MBA was never updated with a high-res IPS display is such a sad joke on Apple's part. 2012 was the year when PC ultrabooks started shipping with 11" or 13" 1920×1080 IPS screens but the MBA, having become an entry-level Mac by that point, "could" not follow suit and continued to have that low-res TN panel. The 12" MacBook provided the long overdue screen upgrade for Apple's premium ultraportable but skimped heavily on the keyboard and upgrade/expansion possibilities: the loss of Thunderbolt was nothing less than a slap in the face of the users.

(See, I can do hyperbole too )

 

[MBAir2010]

These MacBook airs were design in 2008-09 and sold in 2010 and early 2011
with the intent that a 1400x800 dpi screen is perfect for long battery life and crisp enough for a movie.
in 2013 i would hammer dreamweaver and photoshop all day on my MacBook air with iTunes running to a Bose sound touch. they can pack a solid punch!

while looking for a 2013 MacBook pro on eBay last nite,
I surpassingly found out that that the retina versions have embedded RAM.
and replacing the ssd drive and battery is a heavy task.
i might get a MacBook air with a i7 intel chip to run from that era instead.

 

[TheShortTimer]

while looking for a 2013 MacBook pro on eBay last nite,
I surpassingly found out that that the retina versions have embedded RAM.
and replacing the ssd drive and battery is a heavy task.
i might get a MacBook air with a i7 intel chip to run from that era instead.

This was precisely why I raided the piggy bank towards the end of 2013 and bought an i7 2012 15" MBP from Apple's supposed factory outlet after I learned that production was being ceased.

 

[MBAir2010]

This was precisely why I raided the piggy bank towards the end of 2013 and bought an i7 2012 15" MBP from Apple's supposed factory outlet after I learned that production was being ceased.

i saw a Macbook last nite i think a 1370 air for $99 with CreativeSuite6,
broken track pad, some keys not working and 2GB, all the needs to be done is reinsert the ribbon better.
since i need a dreamweaver (mine from CS3 will not load anymore, ever since 2016) i might snag that.
or get the 2012 pro just because that is a great computer!
then again my 2010 has no problem RAM wise (besides being 4GB) so im might get the 2013.

 

[TheShortTimer]

i saw a Macbook last nite i think a 1370 air for $99 with CreativeSuite6,
broken track pad, some keys not working and 2GB, all the needs to be done is reinsert the ribbon better.

If the ribbon cable merely needs to be reinserted then buy it!

I love those easy fixes and have scooped up so many bargains in such situations.

 

[Amethyst1]

These MacBook airs were design in 2008-09 and sold in 2010 and early 2011
with the intent that a 1400x800 dpi screen is perfect for long battery life and crisp enough for a movie.

The MacBook Air didn't get a Retina display until October 2018. I wasn't talking about 2008≈2011 models.

I surpassingly found out that that the retina versions have embedded RAM.
and replacing the ssd drive and battery is a heavy task.

Replacing the battery and SSD is not that difficult. Soldered RAM sucks, that's right.

 

[eyoungren]

So, I think this is probably the definitive answer on the status of the battery:



83% is not bad considering it's 10 years old. My wife will be using it on charger for the most part but if I do hear about slow downs then I'll look into replacing the battery.

 

[Amethyst1]

i might get a MacBook air with a i7 intel chip to run from that era instead.

That also has soldered RAM. And a less-than-good screen on top of that. And that i7 is still an ultra-low-power dual-core CPU — don’t let Intel’s marketing fool you

There’s no point in getting a 13” non-retina MBA over a 13” retina MBP IMO — unless the MBA is a lot cheaper.

 

[swamprock]

was that a bid, or buy now?
(I'm looking for a display for a logic board i found in 2014 and currently building)

i still use the MacBook Air from late 2010 religiously and installed Mojave which runs incredible.
Video playback and stream sports is not up to par tho.
Catalina sputtered and wanted iCloud password and the MBA password to log in.
i still have the original battery which runs 2 hours maybe more.
the scree is big enough got my cartooning and the typing rules! View attachment 1911551

Yeah. Catalina did the same thing to me on my 4,1, where every time I logged in, iCloud needed my password. It got to be a real pain, as it took forever for the server to pick up on the password, and it would ask multiple times. I now use my 4,1 for unsupported Big Sur testing, as they update OpenCore Legacy Patcher. It's getting better as they release updates.

 

[swamprock]

So, I think this is probably the definitive answer on the status of the battery:

View attachment 1913999 View attachment 1914000 View attachment 1914001

83% is not bad considering it's 10 years old. My wife will be using it on charger for the most part but if I do hear about slow downs then I'll look into replacing the battery.

I don't think you'll have to worry about slow downs until the battery is completely dead. I've got a Macbook that has 10 minutes of charge left that still runs at full speed.

 

[MBAir2010]

There’s no point in getting a 13” non-retina MBA over a 13” retina MBP IMO — unless the MBA is a lot cheaper.

just the maintenance and replacing the battery in the future worries me on the retina.
that film peels off the early retina MacBooks and the price is at least 100-300 more.
the only reason the 2012 versions are in my periscope is the continuity from an iPad.
luckily am in no rush and might wait until next year after the holiday shipping craze.

 

[Jack Neill]

That also has soldered RAM. And a less-than-good screen on top of that. And that i7 is still an ultra-low-power dual-core CPU — don’t let Intel’s marketing fool you

There’s no point in getting a 13” non-retina MBA over a 13” retina MBP IMO — unless the MBA is a lot cheaper.

I would agree i5 vs i7 in an Air seems trivial, I have a 2020 i5 Air that I did the thermal pad mod on and it benchmarks right in line with the i7. Not a huge increase for the extra money.

 

[Amethyst1]

I would agree i5 vs i7 in an Air seems trivial,

For the 2011 MBA, the i7 has 26% higher turbo clocks than the i5. The difference is somewhat less substantial for the 2012 to “2017” models. For the 2020, it is less than 10%.

 

[Odessa]

I am running this exact same model on linux with the lxde environnment (endeavourOS to be exact), the thing is super snappy and fast. I can run Firefox with 20 tabs + 3 or 4 other program open and it is still responsive. almost feels like a new machine. Also could use krita. the fan goes spinning however but the machine remain usable with cpu below 80C and ram not overloaded.

Was on Catalina with dosdude patch before, its great to have a recent macOS but the performance was mediocre for me (Maybe a clean install would have helped, dont know.)

I found out the battery can easily be upgraded but also there is usb c to magsafe 1 cable now. I am guessing I could get one with these new high voltage chargers because the original charger is falling apart.

 

[MBAir2010]

Yep, and they’re significantly faster than the underpowered-from-the-beginning 2010 Airs. Their Achilles heel is the un-upgradable 2 GB RAM in the base 11” (what were Apple thinking?).

My 4GB is running mojave so happy i opted for that!