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Any reason to avoid 2011 11 inch Air?

pinkoos

pinkoos

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 15, 2005
597
66
Texas
Looking to buy one used on CL - has about 500 battery cycles

Has 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD

Would be used as a family surfing machine primarily and for the kids to occasionally do homework on though, again, the homework would generally be in the form of some sort of Google suite application (so online stuff)

So, the smallish SSD doesn't really bother me

Is there any reason I should pass on this?

Thanks
 
pinkoos said:
Looking to buy one used on CL - has about 500 battery cycles

Has 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD

Would be used as a family surfing machine primarily and for the kids to occasionally do homework on though, again, the homework would generally be in the form of some sort of Google suite application (so online stuff)

So, the smallish SSD doesn't really bother me

Is there any reason I should pass on this?

Thanks
Click to expand...
For those needs, I'd strongly consider a Chromebook rather than an obsolete MacBook Air.
 
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pinkoos said:
We just like the feel of MacOS, so that is why we're considering this Air
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There is not much of Chrome OS that gets in the way of things. The chrome OS launcher looks nearly identical to launchpad on macOS.

Chromebooks are terrific for using the Google suite. I use my chromebooks for using the Google suite, MS Office online, and iCloud online (Pages/Numbers/Keynote).

But if you prefer macOS then that's that. I recommend researching what is the latest version of macOS that can be installed on it and which version of Chrome browser can run on that OS version.
 
pinkoos said:
We just like the feel of MacOS, so that is why we're considering this Air
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I'd still recommend giving a Chromebook a look. They really are targeted at exactly the needs you present.

A 2011 Air that probably needs a new battery should be pretty close to free at this point. Given the small storage, the fact that the computer has USB 2.0 can be a serious inconvenience. At this point I wouldn't buy anything older than a 2012 Air.
 
I use a 2011 11" daily in my classroom, and the thing has been the most reliable little computer I've ever had the pleasure of owning. Mine only has 2GB of RAM, so with 4GB, yours would run High Sierra (the last supported version) quite well for basic tasks.

How much are they asking for it? I paid $400 for my i5/2GB/128GB nearly four years ago. I wouldn't pay more than maybe $150 for the one being advertised there.
 
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2012’s got a good power boost with Ivy Bridge and USB 3.0, but I think the 11” was rated at around 5 hours battery life and I was getting maybe 3 on mine after a couple years of use. 2013 is the year they got better battery life so I’d start there even for your uses.
 
As mentioned, they don't have the world's most fantastic battery life. Mine has its original battery with 426 cycles on it, and I generally get between 3-5 hours out of it depending on what I'm doing. Granted, it's plugged in most of the time.

Performance-wise, it's not too shabby. It keeps up with Office 2016, Code.org lessons, and Lego Mindstorms programming. It can get a bit laggy with a bunch of apps open, but I think that's more a function of it only having 2GB vs the 4GB yours would have.

IMG_8255.jpg
 
That's helpful information from everybody, thank you. The price is seems fair so I may give it a shot.
 
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It's 8 years old. I would pass and use my hard-earned cash for something more up-to-date. What if you buy it and one of the 8-year-old components inside the thing craps out on you? Money down the drain. Why not spend a little more money on something that's going to last 8 more years?
 
lambertjohn said:
It's 8 years old. I would pass and use my hard-earned cash for something more up-to-date. What if you buy it and one of the 8-year-old components inside the thing craps out on you? Money down the drain. Why not spend a little more money on something that's going to last 8 more years?
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That's a good point
 
I still have a 13" 2011 Air with 4GB RAM and 256SSD, in almost perfect condition. The battery is rated for 1000 cycles, although mine says service and is on high 800 something. I intend to replace it in the near future, and at the same time I am going to upgrade the SSD, and take a bit of a gamble and install a m.2 SSD with the appropriate adaptor (rather than Apple's proprietary SSDs). There are enough success stories out there to make me believe it is worth a go, especially compared to OWC and Transcend prices. I did a speed check on the SSD the other day, and it's running relatively slowly (write, 140MB/s and read was 180MB/s; an m.2 SSD on the 2012 Air suggests 450MB/s for both). It also has one of the best keyboards on it that I have ever used; I can type faster and more accurately on it than everything else I have ever used (well almost; I have recently acquired a 2012 Pro, and the keyboard on that might be a little better).

I'd say if you can get it cheap enough, take a chance. Apple stuff is expensive, but it does last pretty well.

Edit - I forgot to mention, I have installed Mojave on it with no issues at all as well, running fine.
 
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I had a 2011 11" until last spring, and it was working just fine, thank you very much. (I 'upgraded to a 2017 13" / 8 / 256, but only because I'm getting older too - and wanted the larger screen).

64GB might be a push - mine was a 128 - and the OS takes up about 25 of that, but if you're doing basic stuff on it and hoping on having a 'real' computer experience, it should be fine. I had a ton of documents, 1300 pics, 48 movies and misc stuff on mine and still had 30 GB free. A battery (if that's an issue for you) shouldn't be too big a deal to swap out, but if there's a caveat, it's that the 2011 won't officially run Mojave, as released last fall.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I decided to pass on this deal and try to find something newer
 
ET iPhone Home said:
personally, this is the best year the MBA was made. .
Click to expand...

I used to have a 2011 MBA and liked it. But that was long ago and I certainly don't agree with you here. The 2011 MBA only has USB 2.0 which limits external disks to about 35 MB/sec. That's a deal-breaker for me right there. The SD card slot is also connected to the same slow USB bus.

And as others said, battery life was never very good on the 2011 MBA. The SSD is also considerably slower on the 2011, and so is the wifi. I think you could still make a case for the 2013 MBA being the sweet spot. But the 2011? No way.... ;)
 
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