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What to do with old MacBook Air?
- Thread starter jedimasterkyle
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As others have said, if you don’t need/want it anymore, give it to charity (for the warm, fuzzy feeling) - or sell it on eBay/marketplace. Around here, they still regularly sell for the equivalent of about 300 dollars.
oh, it's a '15? That's a good laptop. You can upgrade it to Sonoma if you've got decent technical chops. https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html
What to do with old newish M1 MacBook Air?
my MacBook Air from 2020 is not as fun to use as my 2010 MBA,since Monterey is regulated, BORING and annoying while Sonoma and that other OS is worse.
Quite honestly, the 2010 MBA play music songs and TV-movies better and consistently than the 2020.
while the non-iCloud usage is a unplanned blessing.
Therefore this great 2020 macbook air just sits in the original box since I last used the on aug 7th to swap APSF?? (non mac journaled) drives and maybe in 2025 will flip the lid then close that to check if that works.
I cant sell this since the value is horrible undermined by and their minions who buy such items.
selling this locally is aggravating as locals will pay $80 for a hundred dollar bill and expect me to drive the currency to their doorstep. i should recycle this to just in spite, but owning such a great commuter feells lke a Lamborghini driver living without gasoline available, great machine-no fuel.
Since this is not really a dire problem, my plan i guess is to use this when Monterey is obsolete and untethered form the tecnicles of 's desperate clench.
Perhaps 2034 my icon here will be MONT_user '34?
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I have an old Mac mini which has multiple hard drives attached. I use it as a network backup system. An AppleScript runs once a day, mounts the other Macs on my network and runs a backup routine. It's really old running High Sierra. You could do the same with a MBA.
The same Mac mini also has Plex server on it and shares all my media via another Hard Drive.
You could also run Kodi on it and make it until a media player. Get a MiniDisplay Port to HDMI Adapter and hook it up to a TV or projector. It could handle 1080p video playback.
The same Mac mini also has Plex server on it and shares all my media via another Hard Drive.
You could also run Kodi on it and make it until a media player. Get a MiniDisplay Port to HDMI Adapter and hook it up to a TV or projector. It could handle 1080p video playback.
Donate it to local charity shop. Feel good inside that someone needy will get it.
My best suggestion (based on what we do with our old Mac hardware): buy a cheap old projector and some speakers and use it for movie nights. We projected onto a white shower curtain on the side of garage for outdoor movie nights for kids during the pandemic.
We also keep a Windows Boot Camp partition there in case any of the Windows users in the house neds an emergency backup computer.
We also keep a Windows Boot Camp partition there in case any of the Windows users in the house neds an emergency backup computer.
External 4K UHD screen resolution support on MBA 2015-2017:
All MBA from 2015-2017 have Thunderbolt 2 with 20 Gbit/s, the Thunderbolt port is also capable of driving an external 4K UHD monitor with 3840x2160 pixels, you could also use these systems for streaming to a 4K TV. And to not forget, they have MagSafe 2 plus USB 3.0 high speed ports, even two. So you can also easily hook up an external hard drive if you want to stream e.g. videos or music.
4 or 8 GB RAM?
8GB RAM is important to have and using Open Core Legacy Patcher you can also run MacOS Ventura, Sonoma or even Sequoia.
SSD replacement
The SSD can be replaced, it is not very difficult plus the battery is replaced in 15 minutes. There is definitively a lot of life in these "old" computers left, they have excellent keyboards and very good trackpads too.
Difference 2015-2017 models with Core i7 2.2 GHz
These 2015-2017 models, if you can get one with the Core i7 2.2 GHz CPU, and if they have 8GB of RAM they are exactly the same, there is not a single change so it would not matter having one from 2015, bought in 2016 or even 2017.
Multiple OS
If you install a 1 TB SSD in it, you could split it up into 333 GB for MacOS, 333 GB for Windows 10 and 333 GB for Linux and run this as a triple boot system and because it has a 16:10 screen (okay not the greatest resolution, true) you would see more content than on any 16:9 computer that can be had for more.
Value for money
When you consider that you could buy one of these really still very capable computers for 150 - 200, what else do you get from other brands in the same price range? Not much of quality, that is for sure.
Such a MBA is an excellent project also for people who are not blessed with high income, considering replacing the battery for 30-50 and you get a really cool looking and very affordable and usable modern looking Apple product.
2015 and newer and at least Monterey: option + command + r
Getting to Monterey is by the way super easy, these MBAs all have internet recovery, hold down option + command + r, and the internet recovery will let you install the latest supported MacOS on these MBA from 2015 ongoing. I saved a MBA 2013 with 4GB RAM and 256 GB SSD and did not know this trick, so I ended up with Mountain Lion and could not get to the Apple Store, but using option + command + r would have saved me a lot of time to directly go to Big Sur without trying other MacOS first
.
Perfect couch surfing notebook?
For internet surfing, streaming, learning, word processing these computers are really great still, even in 2024.
All MBA from 2015-2017 have Thunderbolt 2 with 20 Gbit/s, the Thunderbolt port is also capable of driving an external 4K UHD monitor with 3840x2160 pixels, you could also use these systems for streaming to a 4K TV. And to not forget, they have MagSafe 2 plus USB 3.0 high speed ports, even two. So you can also easily hook up an external hard drive if you want to stream e.g. videos or music.
4 or 8 GB RAM?
8GB RAM is important to have and using Open Core Legacy Patcher you can also run MacOS Ventura, Sonoma or even Sequoia.
SSD replacement
The SSD can be replaced, it is not very difficult plus the battery is replaced in 15 minutes. There is definitively a lot of life in these "old" computers left, they have excellent keyboards and very good trackpads too.
Difference 2015-2017 models with Core i7 2.2 GHz
These 2015-2017 models, if you can get one with the Core i7 2.2 GHz CPU, and if they have 8GB of RAM they are exactly the same, there is not a single change so it would not matter having one from 2015, bought in 2016 or even 2017.
Multiple OS
If you install a 1 TB SSD in it, you could split it up into 333 GB for MacOS, 333 GB for Windows 10 and 333 GB for Linux and run this as a triple boot system and because it has a 16:10 screen (okay not the greatest resolution, true) you would see more content than on any 16:9 computer that can be had for more.
Value for money
When you consider that you could buy one of these really still very capable computers for 150 - 200, what else do you get from other brands in the same price range? Not much of quality, that is for sure.
Such a MBA is an excellent project also for people who are not blessed with high income, considering replacing the battery for 30-50 and you get a really cool looking and very affordable and usable modern looking Apple product.
2015 and newer and at least Monterey: option + command + r
Getting to Monterey is by the way super easy, these MBAs all have internet recovery, hold down option + command + r, and the internet recovery will let you install the latest supported MacOS on these MBA from 2015 ongoing. I saved a MBA 2013 with 4GB RAM and 256 GB SSD and did not know this trick, so I ended up with Mountain Lion and could not get to the Apple Store, but using option + command + r would have saved me a lot of time to directly go to Big Sur without trying other MacOS first
.Perfect couch surfing notebook?
For internet surfing, streaming, learning, word processing these computers are really great still, even in 2024
.
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