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Club 11

Amethyst1

Amethyst1

macrumors G3
Original poster
Oct 28, 2015
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Club 11 welcomes its prospective members :)

Admission to Club 11 is in ownership of a 11.6" MacBook Air belonging to the 2010 (because it's a Core 2 Duo machine) or 2011 (because it doesn't officially run a still-supported version of macOS) generation.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Club 11 welcomes its prospective members :)

Admission to Club 11 is in ownership of a 11.6" MacBook Air belonging to the 2010 (because it's a Core 2 Duo machine) or 2011 (because it doesn't officially run a still-supported version of macOS) generation.
Click to expand...

Or because it can run — even if buggy — Snow Leopard 10.6.8. :D
 
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I got a really good deal on one of these recently. It's a 2010 but strangely has the keyboard for a later model so the top key functions are a little off. Other than that, it's almost like new. I like how lightweight and tiny these things are for portability. I'd rather have one of these than an iPad.
 

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Amethyst1 said:
Well, with a hacked kernel, SL does run on those — as “well” as it does in a VM.
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What kernel? I'm guessing by "as 'well" as it does in a VM" you mean there's no graphics acceleration? Can you use an external GPU?
 
Wowfunhappy said:
What kernel?
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The one buried deep in here. :) That image contains a second, hidden disk image which contains the kernel.

Wowfunhappy said:
I'm guessing by "as 'well" as it does in a VM" you mean there's no graphics acceleration?
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Amethyst1 said:
No [graphics acceleration/] QE/CI, no audio, no Bluetooth, no Thunderbolt, no special keys (function row) on keyboard, no trackpad gestures.
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(on a Late 2012 13" Retina MacBook Pro.) And no USB 3.0 speeds either.

Wowfunhappy said:
Can you use an external GPU?
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(Probably) Not via Thunderbolt, because SL doesn't have drivers for the Cactus Ridge controller 2012 Macs use.
 
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B S Magnet said:
Did the unibody MBPs also have this controller, or was it limited to the rMBPs?
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I've had a look at iFixit's teardown of the 2012 15" unibody MBP, and its controller is just labelled “L206IA58” which yields no hits so I'm not sure. The 2012 MBA does have a DSL3510L (which means you can daisy-chain two Thunderbolt displays to it). But Cactus Ridge is the “designated” controller for Ivy Bridge systems, so I'm guessing all Ivy Bridge Macs have it.

B S Magnet said:
Or because it can run — even if buggy — Snow Leopard 10.6.8. :D
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My other reasons for including the 2011 MBA are the 4 GB RAM ceiling, lack of USB 3.0 and the cut-down Eagle Ridge Thunderbolt controller which doesn't allow daisy-chaining two Thunderbolt displays to it.
 
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I have the base model 2010 - 1.4 C2D, 64GB HD and a massive 2GB of RAM. I have doubled the HD space since but the RAM can't be increased. It really struggles on Mojave or Catalina - beachballs galore and generally creaking from window to window.

I am thinking of winding it back now since it can't keep up with its flashier descendents. What would be the best OSX release compromise between security/availabilty of apps and performance given the limited hardware specs?
 
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weckart said:
I have the base model 2010 - 1.4 C2D, 64GB HD and a massive 2GB of RAM. I have doubled the HD space since but the RAM can't be increased. It really struggles on Mojave or Catalina - beachballs galore and generally creaking from window to window.

I am thinking of winding it back now since it can't keep up with its flashier descendents. What would be the best OSX release compromise between security/availabilty of apps and performance given the limited hardware specs?
Click to expand...

This is really suprising because as you know, I have the same model and both of those releases run like a champ on my machine. I've never experienced the problems that you've detailed. It's strange that we have the same machine but hugely contrasting experiences.

What do you use your MBA for?
 
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TheShortTimer said:
What do you use your MBA for?
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Nothing these days. It's gathering dust. It would have just been a glorified netbook otherwise - browsing, Whatsapp, consuming media. Either way, it just started feeling sluggish. Not sure if it was the weak 1.4GHz processor or the lack of RAM. Maybe a combination of both. I don't think things will improve going forward. Apple has some speedy hardware now and I can't see developers catering for laggards on Intel.
 
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weckart said:
I have the base model 2010 - 1.4 C2D, 64GB HD and a massive 2GB of RAM.
Click to expand...
I have the same model.

weckart said:
What would be the best OSX release compromise between security/availabilty of apps and performance given the limited hardware specs?
Click to expand...
Mine has been confined to being an air-gapped, distraction-free writing and brainstorming device on Snow Leopard, using e.g. Bean, Pages '09, TextEdit, Sublime Text 2, Word 2011. Snow Leopard is, hands down, the fastest OS X you can put on there.
 
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Do you hear that? That's the sound of me bitterly crying and shaking my fist at Apple over discontinuing the 11" MacBook Air...

I was genuinely shocked at the first one I ever got - the OG 1.4 GHz 2010 base model with 64 GB SSD/2 GB RAM. Despite the specs, it just felt genuinely snappier and more responsive than my upgraded 2 Ghz A1181 MacBook with 4 GB RAM. My only regret was not springing for the 128 GB SSD option -- in retrospect I spent way more than I should have afterward on USB memory sticks and external hard drives to supplement the paltry SSD. Still, it was amazing having a laptop that felt like it combined the convenient portability of an iPad with the flexibility and compatibility of a full Mac.

Not only that, but it broke the "rev A" curse for me, and it broke my habit of doing complete reformat and reinstalls of OS every time I upgraded to a new release of OS X; I remember being astonished at how it just seamlessly updated from Snow Leopard to Mavericks to Yosemite to El Capitain, without missing a beat. No broken apps, no wonky system behavior. My system actually felt faster after upgrading to Mavericks.

I replaced it with a 2013 11" MacBook Air, and it was one of the most rock-solid, dependable Apple products I've ever used.
 
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rampancy said:
My only regret was not springing for the 128 GB SSD option [...]
Click to expand...
Fortunately the SSD in these is upgradeable. :)

rampancy said:
Not only that, but it broke the "rev A" curse for me, [...]
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Well, it didn't have any glaring issues like overheating etc. But it was held back by the very slow CPU, with the 2011 MBA released less than a year later being a lot faster. Still, as you say, when running Snow Leopard, it feels faster than it actually is.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
Fortunately the SSD in these is upgradeable. :)

...Well, it didn't have any glaring issues like overheating etc. But it was held back by the very slow CPU, with the 2011 MBA released less than a year later being a lot faster. Still, as you say, when running Snow Leopard, it feels faster than it actually is.
Click to expand...

Yes! The last time I trolled eBay and the used market in my area for OEM SSDs, everything was just too expensive. And I was confused as to whether or not you could use off-the-shelf M.2 or NVMe SSDs in the 2010 Airs -- though I recently found a guide that breaks it all down pretty well.

And yes, like my other favorite MacBook (the A1181!) the 2010 11" Air didn't have crazy overheating internals, but it also didn't seem to have the same kind of weird eccentricities (system instability, random parts or components failure) that seemed to crop up whenever I've used or dealt with rev A Apple hardware.
 
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rampancy said:
Yes! The last time I trolled eBay and the used market in my area for OEM SSDs, everything was just too expensive. And I was confused as to whether or not you could use off-the-shelf M.2 or NVMe SSDs in the 2010 Airs -- though I recently found a guide that breaks it all down pretty well.
Click to expand...

Last year I upgraded the SSD in my 2010 11" MBA from the stick 64GB unit to an M.2 SATA 256GB for £30 GBP. Thanks to @Hughmac I was able to get TRIM support enabled in Snow Leopard too.

My experiences are documented here if you're interested. :)

Edit: link fixed.
 
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