7 ms·

Those generations of MacBook Airs were just unbelievably amazing laptops for the time. They were lighter and more portable than anything else, but still had pl

Those generations of MacBook Airs were just unbelievably amazing laptops for the time. They were lighter and more portable than anything else, but still had plenty of ports and functionality (even the old beloved magnet-based power cables). It was the first non-Thinkpad laptop that I enjoyed using. This post is going to make me dust off an old 2013 Air I have kicking around and see if I can fix a broke space bar and get it running Linux.

rsynnott 4y ago
It has to be one of the longest-lasting laptop designs ever. The first-gen MBAs were a little different, but from 2010 to 2022 there was almost no change to the basic design (they finally gave it up with the M2 one). Screens got better, ports went Thunderbolt-y, but the look and feel essentially never changed. I can't think of a laptop design that's been this static for this long. _Maybe_ the more conventional Thinkpad designs?
- lupire 4y ago
  In 2018 (and continuing in 2019) they switched to the butterfly keyboard (named that because after a while the keys mature and fly away from the keyboard).
- creshal 4y ago
  Even Thinkpads iterated more often than the basic Air design. And the direct competitor to the original Air got cancelled after two years.
  - zamnos 4y ago
    Which one is that? The Thinkpad X1C is up to the 8th generation now.
    - creshal 4y ago
      The X300: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0 The X1 came later and with a 14" form factor is a good chunk bigger.
- johnatwork 4y ago
  The first gen was also kinda terrible because SSDs were not standard on those. But the 2010s were and it really made it shine. I got a 2012 one and said "Ok I get it now".
- whitemary 4y ago
  The late 2012 unibody retina Macbook Pros were truly unstoppable. I have replaced the battery in mine 6 times and it travelled the world with a photojournalist for the first 4 years of its life. Still running strong w/ Ubuntu.
  - toyg 4y ago
    I had that, it's now used by my brother. It's unfortunate that Apple won't support old hardware.
    - whitemary 4y ago
      Extremely unfortunate. These things are built like a rock.
- philistine 4y ago
  The 2018 line kept the same aesthetic, but it was a completely new design. Thinkpads have been far more slowly evolving than the big break between the second and third Macbook Air chassis.
torstenvl 4y ago
I had a 2012 11.6" MacBook Air, maxed out. Loved that computer until it was stolen (I hate DC). Recently bought a decently spec'd one from 2015 for my nephew/godson to start programming. He just turned 11. They really are great computers.
- usefulcat 4y ago
  I have that same laptop (2012 air). It still works fine and my son uses it daily. It's a great little machine apart from the battery life, which is pretty awful by modern standards (~5 hours of light use, give or take) even after replacing the battery.
  - samstave 4y ago
    A lot of that generation of Airs have failing batts - my MBP from that era was part of the recall for catching fire, and mine caught fire, but apple refused to replace it due to, after having the machine for two MONTHS to investigate - they determined that one of the moisture sensors was set off, and thus they wouldnt honor the recall for the battery literally catching fire.
  - mustacheemperor 4y ago
    iFixit.com has a great guide to replacing the battery on those units, and will sell you a new one for $70. Could be a great project for you and your son, too! https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Battery+Replacement/10950 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Ba...
- Moto7451 4y ago
  Had the same maxed out i7 11” air. I replaced it with a 2018 13” (the second model of the following generation) which was only faster when it wasn’t thermal throttling… which was its general disposition. Those 2010-2015 era Airs were great laptops for their time.
  - ChuckNorris89 4y ago
    >Those 2010-2015 era Airs were great laptops for their time. Can concur. Back then Apple didn't go for thinness for the sake of thinness like the post 2015 machines did. And it's not like the 2010's generations of machines were think and bulky.
12345hn6789 4y ago
This will be the m1 in 5 years.
- sixothree 4y ago
  I don't understand the attraction of openly hostile hardware.
  - JLCarveth 4y ago
    Does the CPU actively slap you while you use it?
    - sixothree 4y ago
      Maybe you'd like to demonstrate the ease of implementing Linux on M2 hardware. Where's that hardware driver source code? Oh, you're having to literally reverse engineer hardware? lol
      - filoleg 4y ago
        That's not hostile, that's indifferent. Hostile would be if Apple implemented intentional blocks and safeguards attempting to prevent people from running Linux on M2. From everything I've read about it, it has been the exact opposite. But they didn't provide any documentation, you are correct, so I wouldn't call it friendly or supportive. But I definitely wouldn't call it hostile either.
        sixothree 4y ago
        And their direction in your opinion is moving towards openness or away from it?
        filoleg 4y ago
        Looks like moving towards openness to me, because as far as I remember, there has not been such a high-functioning Linux distro on a Mac until Asahi. And implemented in such a short period of time, on top of that. Of course I wouldn't attribute it solely to that, the Asahi team seems to be doing a phenomenal job as well. Also, I haven't seen Linus Torvalds use a Macbook (an M2 Air running Asahi Linux) until recently either.[0] 0. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/linus-torvalds-uses-an-arm-powered-m2-macbook-air-to-release-latest-linux-kernel/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/linus-torvalds-uses-...
kome 4y ago
My MacBook Air 11-inch from 2015 with (1.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel i7; 8 GB of RAM) is still my main computer. And I love it, and it feels new. It's 8 years old, and it doesn't show them. Not even a bit. Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I made minimal maintenance and I use it everyday for hours. 8 years of daily use. I traveled to super remote places with it. I want to use it for 2 or 3 more years (10 years in total would be nice!)
- tomcam 4y ago
  Incredible machine to be sure. My problem is that I find just too many websites don’t work efficiently with its resolution. How do you deal with that?
  - kome 4y ago
    Honestly I never encountered this problem before, or I didn't pay attention
    - tomcam 4y ago
      Interesting, thank you.
mrits 4y ago
I like my m2 air better than my 2013 Air. I'm assuming you looked up the specs but I actually assumed my m2 is lighter.
tomcam 4y ago
Yes. I used mine for a decade. Even bought a tweaked 2011 off eBay as late as 2021. Also I adore those keyboards.
philistine 4y ago
I think part of the love for those models is how hobbled the successors to these laptops were. First the line basically stopped improving while the Macbook Pro went Retina, second there was the expensive Macbook no qualifier with a dreadful butterfly keyboard, and then the 2018 Macbook Air came out but still had a dreadful butterfly keyboard. Only in March 2020 did a proper, no compromise, better in every way laptop came out to replace a Macbook Air bought in 2012-2015.
lobocinza 4y ago
Have you tried the newer ASUS Zenbooks?
- raffraffraff 4y ago
  I've got the Zenbook S13 OLED and it's gorgeous. While the trackpad isn't as good as the one on the MacBook, it's close. And that aside, I prefer everything else about the Zenbook.
  - lobocinza 3y ago
    I have a Vivobook S 14X. It heats more than I'd like and Intel Iris (GPU) is super weak but otherwise would be a fine laptop. MacBook would probably be better on performance/battery but the proprietary OS is a big no for me.
stefandesu 4y ago
My little 11" MacBook Air (2015) was such an amazing computer. I'm a bit sad that I sold it, but at that point, I couldn't afford to buy a new computer without selling my old one, and I did get a decent price for it.
felixg3 4y ago
True, I have an i7-8GB-256 MacBook Air. Haswell has been very efficient when it came out, and is holding up well until today. I gave the laptop to the partner of my sister who’s using it daily with the latest macOS Ventura, Using OpenCore Legacy Patcher

rsynnott 4y ago

It has to be one of the longest-lasting laptop designs ever. The first-gen MBAs were a little different, but from 2010 to 2022 there was almost no change to the basic design (they finally gave it up with the M2 one). Screens got better, ports went Thunderbolt-y, but the look and feel essentially never changed. I can't think of a laptop design that's been this static for this long. _Maybe_ the more conventional Thinkpad designs?

lupire 4y ago
In 2018 (and continuing in 2019) they switched to the butterfly keyboard (named that because after a while the keys mature and fly away from the keyboard).
creshal 4y ago
Even Thinkpads iterated more often than the basic Air design. And the direct competitor to the original Air got cancelled after two years.
- zamnos 4y ago
  Which one is that? The Thinkpad X1C is up to the 8th generation now.
  - creshal 4y ago
    The X300: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0 The X1 came later and with a 14" form factor is a good chunk bigger.
johnatwork 4y ago
The first gen was also kinda terrible because SSDs were not standard on those. But the 2010s were and it really made it shine. I got a 2012 one and said "Ok I get it now".
whitemary 4y ago
The late 2012 unibody retina Macbook Pros were truly unstoppable. I have replaced the battery in mine 6 times and it travelled the world with a photojournalist for the first 4 years of its life. Still running strong w/ Ubuntu.
- toyg 4y ago
  I had that, it's now used by my brother. It's unfortunate that Apple won't support old hardware.
  - whitemary 4y ago
    Extremely unfortunate. These things are built like a rock.
philistine 4y ago
The 2018 line kept the same aesthetic, but it was a completely new design. Thinkpads have been far more slowly evolving than the big break between the second and third Macbook Air chassis.

torstenvl 4y ago

I had a 2012 11.6" MacBook Air, maxed out. Loved that computer until it was stolen (I hate DC). Recently bought a decently spec'd one from 2015 for my nephew/godson to start programming. He just turned 11. They really are great computers.

usefulcat 4y ago
I have that same laptop (2012 air). It still works fine and my son uses it daily. It's a great little machine apart from the battery life, which is pretty awful by modern standards (~5 hours of light use, give or take) even after replacing the battery.
- samstave 4y ago
  A lot of that generation of Airs have failing batts - my MBP from that era was part of the recall for catching fire, and mine caught fire, but apple refused to replace it due to, after having the machine for two MONTHS to investigate - they determined that one of the moisture sensors was set off, and thus they wouldnt honor the recall for the battery literally catching fire.
- mustacheemperor 4y ago
  iFixit.com has a great guide to replacing the battery on those units, and will sell you a new one for $70. Could be a great project for you and your son, too! https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Battery+Replacement/10950 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+Mid+2012+Ba...
Moto7451 4y ago
Had the same maxed out i7 11” air. I replaced it with a 2018 13” (the second model of the following generation) which was only faster when it wasn’t thermal throttling… which was its general disposition. Those 2010-2015 era Airs were great laptops for their time.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  >Those 2010-2015 era Airs were great laptops for their time. Can concur. Back then Apple didn't go for thinness for the sake of thinness like the post 2015 machines did. And it's not like the 2010's generations of machines were think and bulky.

12345hn6789 4y ago

This will be the m1 in 5 years.

sixothree 4y ago
I don't understand the attraction of openly hostile hardware.
- JLCarveth 4y ago
  Does the CPU actively slap you while you use it?
  - sixothree 4y ago
    Maybe you'd like to demonstrate the ease of implementing Linux on M2 hardware. Where's that hardware driver source code? Oh, you're having to literally reverse engineer hardware? lol
    - filoleg 4y ago
      That's not hostile, that's indifferent. Hostile would be if Apple implemented intentional blocks and safeguards attempting to prevent people from running Linux on M2. From everything I've read about it, it has been the exact opposite. But they didn't provide any documentation, you are correct, so I wouldn't call it friendly or supportive. But I definitely wouldn't call it hostile either.
      - sixothree 4y ago
        And their direction in your opinion is moving towards openness or away from it?
        filoleg 4y ago
        Looks like moving towards openness to me, because as far as I remember, there has not been such a high-functioning Linux distro on a Mac until Asahi. And implemented in such a short period of time, on top of that. Of course I wouldn't attribute it solely to that, the Asahi team seems to be doing a phenomenal job as well. Also, I haven't seen Linus Torvalds use a Macbook (an M2 Air running Asahi Linux) until recently either.[0] 0. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/linus-torvalds-uses-an-arm-powered-m2-macbook-air-to-release-latest-linux-kernel/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/linus-torvalds-uses-...

kome 4y ago

My MacBook Air 11-inch from 2015 with (1.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel i7; 8 GB of RAM) is still my main computer. And I love it, and it feels new. It's 8 years old, and it doesn't show them. Not even a bit. Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I made minimal maintenance and I use it everyday for hours. 8 years of daily use. I traveled to super remote places with it. I want to use it for 2 or 3 more years (10 years in total would be nice!)

tomcam 4y ago
Incredible machine to be sure. My problem is that I find just too many websites don’t work efficiently with its resolution. How do you deal with that?
- kome 4y ago
  Honestly I never encountered this problem before, or I didn't pay attention
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Interesting, thank you.

mrits 4y ago

I like my m2 air better than my 2013 Air. I'm assuming you looked up the specs but I actually assumed my m2 is lighter.

tomcam 4y ago

Yes. I used mine for a decade. Even bought a tweaked 2011 off eBay as late as 2021. Also I adore those keyboards.

philistine 4y ago

I think part of the love for those models is how hobbled the successors to these laptops were. First the line basically stopped improving while the Macbook Pro went Retina, second there was the expensive Macbook no qualifier with a dreadful butterfly keyboard, and then the 2018 Macbook Air came out but still had a dreadful butterfly keyboard. Only in March 2020 did a proper, no compromise, better in every way laptop came out to replace a Macbook Air bought in 2012-2015.

lobocinza 4y ago

Have you tried the newer ASUS Zenbooks?

raffraffraff 4y ago
I've got the Zenbook S13 OLED and it's gorgeous. While the trackpad isn't as good as the one on the MacBook, it's close. And that aside, I prefer everything else about the Zenbook.
- lobocinza 3y ago
  I have a Vivobook S 14X. It heats more than I'd like and Intel Iris (GPU) is super weak but otherwise would be a fine laptop. MacBook would probably be better on performance/battery but the proprietary OS is a big no for me.

stefandesu 4y ago

My little 11" MacBook Air (2015) was such an amazing computer. I'm a bit sad that I sold it, but at that point, I couldn't afford to buy a new computer without selling my old one, and I did get a decent price for it.

felixg3 4y ago

True, I have an i7-8GB-256 MacBook Air. Haswell has been very efficient when it came out, and is holding up well until today. I gave the laptop to the partner of my sister who’s using it daily with the latest macOS Ventura, Using OpenCore Legacy Patcher