late-2010 air 2gb/64gb at 150$: good deal?

[LovelyPenguin]

I do light web surfing, reading and writing papers, occasionally listening to music on youtube, etc. No image/video editing at all. I sometimes run simulations which do not require heavy data processing.

I was thinking of 4gb/128gb as I recently got to travel often, but saw someone willing to sell 2gb/64gb at 150$. I thought 2gb/64gb still has it, and you know, the price was something that I couldn't pass. The battery cycle was at around 150, too.

Do you think it's a good deal? Or should I cancel this and throw some more money to go with 4gb/128gb?

 

[elf69]

i would say 4GB or higher ram.
I bought a 1st gen air for my fiancee with 2gb ram.

she wanted it for backing up iphone and using browser.
It slower than a slug in force 10 headwind!
of course 1st gen has poor cpu.
mine cost £200

 

[RedTomato]

I wouldn't touch the 2gb/64gb. My old boss had one when it was almost new. It was dog slow (even when it came out) but it suited her as all she did was email and very light work-connected web browsing. Everything on it is crippled for weight reasons, which suited my boss as she needed something ultralight that she could carry around.

Try to get a 2013 MBA, they're awesome machines and still good even now. I understand with your budget that might not be possible.

Here's a bit of a hierarchy of macbook air models:

2009: USB2 & HDD & C2D CPU - don't touch.

2010: USB2, HDD is replaced with SSD, but still uses slow C2D CPU. I personally wouldn't touch.

2011: USB2, SSD, i-series CPU. Much better for casual use. Decent CPU. Can run latest OSX. Limited futureproofing.

2012: USB3, SSD, i-series CPU. Having USB3 makes a huge difference if you often use flash sticks or external drives. Can attach a external SSD and have it run at almost full speed, which is good for future expansion. MagSafe2 power connector so works with other modern macbook power cables. Facetime HD if you're into video calling.

2013: Everything turned up to 11 - battery life, SSD speed, wifi power, graphics power etc.

2014-onwards: not much of an improvement over the 2013 models.

 

[LovelyPenguin]

^Thanks. I just canceled the deal, and am looking for a model that's at least 2011! I could use ~100$...

 

[MultiFinder17]

The 2011 Airs are solid if aging little machines. I have an 11" Air (2011 11", 1.6 i5, 2GB, 128GB) that I use in my classroom for lesson planning, lesson content creation, grading, etc, and it works beautifully. It's not the snappiest machine with 2GB, but I am always amazed at just how well it handles multiple fairly heavy apps (Keynote, Word/Excel 2016) at the same time.

 

[weckart]

Surfing on one now. It is comparable to the Atom netbooks that ship with 32GB eMMC drives, 2GB RAM and Windows 10 except a bit more elegant.

It will run High Sierra and despite the modest battery life the $150 is a decently low price for an occasional browsing or writing machine. The cpu is weedy so despite the SSD you have to be patient waiting for Youtube to open etc. Compared to what people are still paying for the older white CrackBooks, it's a bargain if the MBA isn't bashed up.

 

[LovelyPenguin]

^^/^ Well, the owner offered a 25$ discount, so I decided to buy it at 125$. With Sierra, it's pretty amazing. I can open a few tabs at the same time, with some youtube music on, and on top of that I can run Word/Powerpoint as well. I don't mind having to wait a few extra seconds to load a youtube clip. After all, those youtube clips are time-wasters for real work, so the delays in a way are good to have.

I'm pretty satisfied (at least for now) with the purchase!

 

[weckart]

For $125, I would even consider a spare. Unlike many other Mac notebooks, this one didn't come with any major hardware hiccups. Upping the hard drive is fairly trivial with many off the shelf M.2 drives if you get the right (cheap) adapter.

 

[LovelyPenguin]

^ Hey. Thanks for the input. So, any M.2 drive (of course size matters?) with an adapter will up the size of SSD? Very useful information. A Transcend jetdrive with 240G is around 200$, thought it was too pricey.

Well... this gets interesting. 2GB RAM is not enough but still not too tight to get by. 256GB SSD would make this air last longer than I'd expected.

 

[RedTomato]

^^/^ Well, the owner offered a 25$ discount, so I decided to buy it at 125$. With Sierra, it's pretty amazing. I can open a few tabs at the same time, with some youtube music on, and on top of that I can run Word/Powerpoint as well. I don't mind having to wait a few extra seconds to load a youtube clip. After all, those youtube clips are time-wasters for real work, so the delays in a way are good to have.

I'm pretty satisfied (at least for now) with the purchase!

Congratulations! For $125 it's an excellent lightweight machine. You got yourself a real bargain there. At that price I'd be buying one myself as a spare / for my kids.

 

[weckart]

^ Hey. Thanks for the input. So, any M.2 drive (of course size matters?) with an adapter will up the size of SSD? Very useful information. A Transcend jetdrive with 240G is around 200$, thought it was too pricey.

Well... this gets interesting. 2GB RAM is not enough but still not too tight to get by. 256GB SSD would make this air last longer than I'd expected.

At the time it came out, people were told that the larger HDD sizes from the 13" MBA would not fit because the chips on the stick were on both sides and there wasn't enough clearance to fit in the 11". You needed a blade drive with single sided chips.

I got a bargain misprice M.2 SATA drive from Amazon and found the right adapter on eBay for a couple of dollars. My M.2 drive (ADATA) had chips on both sides and the adapter raised it yet further away from the logic board. There was just enough headroom to get the base cover on without much force and it has been running fine ever since.

 

[kyleh22]

^Thanks. I just canceled the deal, and am looking for a model that's at least 2011! I could use ~100$...

I have a 2011/ i-7/4gb/256gb and I have absolutely no desire to upgrade my computer. I handles all tasks associated with Graduate school, working remotely, and personal light computer use with ease. I'm running the latest Mac OS and it still feels plenty snappy. The battery is starting to show it's age (<=1.5 hour batter life) but it's an easy $75 DIY upgrade. I haven't replaced it yet because I mostly work close to an outlet.

BTW - Good luck with your purchase - the world thanks you for using a used computer as opposed to trashing an old one and buying a new one.