I had a MacBook Pro 13” since 2011 and always wanted an Air but didn’t get one as I could only afford one and wanted something more versatile. A few months ago I excitedly upgraded to the 14” M1 Pro which is incredible and I love it. But I still wanted something light and that would not cause me anxiety about it being stolen or damaged (it cost $4500 including Apple care where I’m from) so I got a second hand Air 11” 2015. It’s only 4GB of RAM and the F11 key doesn’t work but besides that it’s cosmetically in like new condition. I’ve been running all my word processing documents on Mojave and even installed Windows via boot camp which I’m using for light games and statistical software. It’s perfect with MagSafe, 2 USB ports and a thunderbolt/mini port. Really loving having two MacBooks: one for portability/bootcamp and the other for more intensive work.
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Does anyone else love the 11” MacBook Air?
- Thread starter melodrake
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I had 2013 11 inch MBA and loved it; it is now a bit outdated from the display point of view, but in terms of Office work, it is rather sufficient. Hopefully, Apple revives MBA 11 and Macbook 12 inch with M1/2. I have now MBA M1 but it is not that small compared to 11 and 12 inch macs.
I still use my 2014 eleven-inch Air for editing and general office tasks when I'm away from my desk. It's a great multi-purpose mobile platform – so compact and light but still powerful enough to do what I need it to do. In my opinion it's a form factor worth emulating if Apple can get it right, in a new design. I'm wary of the purportedly imminent new MacBook Air designs (in the vein of the current iMacs) and hope the rumours are not entirely accurate. While the original iMacs and clamshell iBooks were groundbreaking, I'm not convinced that colourful Macs is the way to go, this time round. But a little powerhouse – yes, please.
Not me.
Forget an 11 inch, a 13 inch laptop is too small for me.
A 15 inch laptop is too large.
I love 14 inch laptops, been using them for years now.
I'd buy a MBA if it were 14 inches and yes, the new MBA is supposed to be a bit larger, almost 14 inches, but the white keys and bezels make that a no go for me.
Forget an 11 inch, a 13 inch laptop is too small for me.
A 15 inch laptop is too large.
I love 14 inch laptops, been using them for years now.
I'd buy a MBA if it were 14 inches and yes, the new MBA is supposed to be a bit larger, almost 14 inches, but the white keys and bezels make that a no go for me.
My original Air was 11". I liked it a lot, and held onto it until it finally hit the wall as far as the OS was concerned. I then moved to a 2017 13" MBA. Obviously its got a few years on it now and fallen out of AppleCare, and after a couple of near misses during travel/work, I've grown hesitant to take it out. Mostly a desktop / home laptop these days.
But recalling the size and portability of the 11" and how much I liked that (and seeing as Apple will never go there again, and I want a real computer with full connectivity, not a tablet), I ended up picking up a cheap and cheerful ASUS L210 with a 11" screen, running Win11.
I've always been OS ambidextrous, the ASUS can run a significant portion of the apps (or very similar) to what I use on my Mac for work purposes, it has ports out the ying-yang, and I won't see my bank account flash before my eyes if it falls off a coffee table.
11" is just great for real portability / stuffing it into a bag.
But recalling the size and portability of the 11" and how much I liked that (and seeing as Apple will never go there again, and I want a real computer with full connectivity, not a tablet), I ended up picking up a cheap and cheerful ASUS L210 with a 11" screen, running Win11.
I've always been OS ambidextrous, the ASUS can run a significant portion of the apps (or very similar) to what I use on my Mac for work purposes, it has ports out the ying-yang, and I won't see my bank account flash before my eyes if it falls off a coffee table.
11" is just great for real portability / stuffing it into a bag.
Still have an 11” Air (2012!) and use it daily. The battery was never that great in this one. But it’s still an excellent computer. I kinda laughed at the Federighi instant on m1 marketing moment, their laptops have been doing that for years. My air comes on instantly after all these years, it’s amazing. I have a key or two that don’t work also. I also have a 2017 MBP that’s basically fine too - the heat is annoying, on both machines, and the MBP battery isn’t great either. But I live this double laptop lifestyle, too. If the new Airs are great though I could be tempted to get 1 machine to replace both, and trade in the MBP, but yeah, I’ll miss Bootcamp.
I had an 11" MacBook Air for years. I pretty much never used the screen. The keyboard was just about normal full-sized and I could hook it up to an external display pretty much anywhere I needed to work. The size was perfect for this. It weighted practically nothing—just over 1 kg. The CPU had the same performance as the 13" Air. Unless you worked with the display, it was the best MacBook. I'm sad that Apple has nothing to replace it. I like my 13 M1 MacBook Air but I would love a 1 kg version again.
My 2015 11" MacBook Air is my daily workhorse. Max-specced with 8GB Ram and 512GB SSD and an i7, it's the fastest 11-inch ever. I totally support this size of device.
Although supported through to Big Sur, I haven't bothered with OS upgrades recently, as I know it's on its way out. Still, even High Sierra 10.13 is still a perfectly usable OS in 2022.
The only thing my 11" can't handle is extensive HD video editing. But that's not a common task for most people.
I think Apple scrapped the 11-inch size because of its iPad lineup.
Although supported through to Big Sur, I haven't bothered with OS upgrades recently, as I know it's on its way out. Still, even High Sierra 10.13 is still a perfectly usable OS in 2022.
The only thing my 11" can't handle is extensive HD video editing. But that's not a common task for most people.
I think Apple scrapped the 11-inch size because of its iPad lineup.
I still use my 2012 11" MBA when I travel and have a M1 Mac Mini for home. After 10 years of use my Battery is still over 80%, it is such a great little mac
Nope. I used one for awhile (2011 or 2012?) and the screen was just too small. Also it only had a 16:9 screen which felt even ore squished compared to other Macbooks. I ended up selling it and switching over to the 13” Air, which I enjoyed much more.
What is the biggest SSD. that you can install in a 2015 11 inch MBA. Also what is the most compatible adapter you need.
Finally would you get any R/W speed increase if you put in say a WD 750 Black drive.
Finally would you get any R/W speed increase if you put in say a WD 750 Black drive.
Had a maxed out 11" air back in the day, and it was a beast. The screen was terrible, but also played nicely with the integrated graphics. It's still always felt like the best laptop I have owned in terms of performance.
Still loving mine, 2015 i7/8/256. Works flawlessly with Monterey, and one of the best keyboards ever, IMO.
Original battery still works well, and just hit 750 cycles. Wondering when this machine will go obsolete, as I would love to replace the battery while I still can with the OEM battery at the Genius Bar. Never found the 3rd party batteries to have the same endurance.
Original battery still works well, and just hit 750 cycles. Wondering when this machine will go obsolete, as I would love to replace the battery while I still can with the OEM battery at the Genius Bar. Never found the 3rd party batteries to have the same endurance.
I have 250 cycles on my original battery as this Air was lightly used before my ownership. As for obsolescence, Monterey is the last supported OS for this computer and I suspect I will still have several more years of use before security updates are no longer supported by Apple. I will eventually convert my Early 2015 laptops into Linux machines as Apple stops supporting these machines thru software... shame as these are still awesome laptops.
Never liked it. The screen was too small, the bezel too big. The tradeoff not worth it.
The 12" Macbook on the other hand was my favorite Mac ever.
The 12" Macbook on the other hand was my favorite Mac ever.
Well, it had its uses for the people that were always moving around all over the place. For a casual user, it made little sense.
Glad there’s others out there who love it too- I’m still really enjoying my second hand 11” 2015, I barely notice the bad screen and it is super capable and nice to use. I’d be keen to upgrade it to 8GB RAM if I could find one in great condition.