Macbook Air Mid 2011

shenfrey · May 6, 2015

Hey guys,

family member of mine has offered me a free Macbook Air mid 2011, it is in brand spanking new condition from what I have seen and because my MacBook pro has broken down I appreciated the kind gesture.

How are these laptops? Are they still decent? I would just be using it for internet browsing and Youtube.

Samuelsan2001 · May 6, 2015

absolutely fine for

shenfrey said:
Hey guys,

family member of mine has offered me a free Macbook Air mid 2011, it is in brand spanking new condition from what I have seen and because my MacBook pro has broken down I appreciated the kind gesture.

How are these laptops? Are they still decent? I would just be using it for internet browsing and Youtube.

internet browsing and youtube.

shenfrey · May 6, 2015

Samuelsan2001 said:
internet browsing and youtube.

Forget I asked I guess.

Thanks for your help

brdeveloper · May 6, 2015

shenfrey said:
Forget I asked I guess.

Thanks for your help

A friend uses a 2011 11"/4GB/128GB Air for web/java development. Pretty good. The only downside it that it lacks USB 3, although you can buy a Thunderbolt dock and have as many USB 3 ports you need.

numtini · May 7, 2015

If it has 2gb RAM it might be a little limited, but otherwise the big improvement since 2011 has been battery life and performance has been pretty incremental.

Boyd01 · May 7, 2015

I had a 2011 i5/4gb/256gb MBA and replaced it two years ago with a 2013 i7/8gb/512gb. The 2011 was a nice machine and for "everyday" stuff like finder operations, mail and safari the user experience was very similar. For CPU intensive stuff, the 2013 machine is faster by maybe 30%. Video renders faster in Final Cut Pro and there is less latency in Logic Pro for example. If you rip DVDs in Handbrake, it will take longer on the 2011 MBA.

You will probably be fine, but there are a few significant upgrades since 2011. Arguably the biggest is that the 2011 machines have USB 2.0 ports. So an external USB drive tops out around 30 to 35 MB/sec. On my 2013 MBA, I get about 170MB/sec with inexpensive UBS 3.0 drives. This could make a big difference if you copy a lot of large files.

Another big difference is wifi. The newer machines have 802.11ac wifi. You need a compatible router, but it is much faster. Probably not an issue unless you copy large files over the local network, but the difference is pretty dramatic there - network disks can be accessed wirelessly around 60MB/sec.

As already mentioned, the battery life will be much shorter on a 2011 machine too.

Mac-lover3 · May 7, 2015

Hello there,
I have still have a 2011 version with i5, 4GB RAM and it still preforms very well although its already 4 years old. I use for school in class (taking notes, research, projects) and at home in combination with my TV as second screen (because I have the 11" version). I use it often for iMovie projects (5-10 min video + audio) and some light editing of my photos in Aperture/Photos . All of my music is on it around 45 GB. Last note I can still get around 4-5 hours of usage (Safari, Word, iTunes, Mail).
It is still a great laptop!

mbdownunder · May 7, 2015

I have a 2011 13" with i7/4GB/256GB running 10.10.3. It's still a fantastic machine. It can easily stream a movie to my Apple TV while using mail/safari/skype/etc. I'm pretty sure you will be happy with one for everyday use that's not overly CPU-intense.

nooaah · May 7, 2015

Mine has started freezing a bit in safari recently. I'm using the latest beta of OS X and it's still hanging in there. And you're getting one for free? Take it!

SackJabbit · May 9, 2015

I too have the 13" Mid-2011/i5-1.7GHz/4GB/256GB. It works well with multi-tasking, even with Lightroom 5.5 in the background. However, I noticed it can't stream 4k videos from YouTube - it just stutters/stalls too much. But maybe it's due to the Dell U2413 display I output to via a CalDigit Thunderbolt Dock.

shenfrey · May 17, 2015

sweejin said:
I too have the 13" Mid-2011/i5-1.7GHz/4GB/256GB. It works well with multi-tasking, even with Lightroom 5.5 in the background. However, I noticed it can't stream 4k videos from YouTube - it just stutters/stalls too much. But maybe it's due to the Dell U2413 display I output to via a CalDigit Thunderbolt Dock.

Its not, mine stutters too. But for a free laptop I can't complain, it feels a bit sluggish at times especially because I am using Yosemite, but for internet browsing and Youtube it seems to be pretty decent.

Thanks for your replies guys

motrek · May 17, 2015

Samuelsan2001 said:
internet browsing and youtube.

The processor in a 2011 MBA is massively faster than the ones used to finish the Human Genome Project.

It's depressing to think that these processors are considered (by some people) to only be suitable for internet browsing and watching cat videos.

Samuelsan2001 · May 18, 2015

Hey

motrek said:
The processor in a 2011 MBA is massively faster than the ones used to finish the Human Genome Project.

It's depressing to think that these processors are considered (by some people) to only be suitable for internet browsing and watching cat videos.

I didn't say that, I said it would be absolutely fine for those uses as that is what the OP asked. They are of course powerful little computeers that can run almost everything you throw at them within reason.

ecschwarz · May 20, 2015

Yes - we have one at work that has become our go-to event/loaner machine and I always reach for it, despite its modest specs. It's a great machine for your needs, especially since it's free.

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