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New on the Macbook Air segment

Joelburman

Joelburman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 31, 2014
226
9
Hi,
Just got a e2015 MBA air today as a replacement for my Macbook Pro that took a serious fall yesterday and the screen was busted up. I'm new to the MBA segment because I've always had MBPs previously. The MBA is the i5 1,6ghz model with 8gb ram. What is the highest operation system you more seasoned MBA users recommend? Its currently running High Sierra.

This MBA is mainly a short term solution until I get a job (currently student) and then I'll get a MBA M1x when its released. My main use is for browsing, pages, keynote etc.
 
What do you mean "highest operation system?" Are you asking what's the max specs you can get in an m1 Air? If so, I think's it's 16gb 2tb.
 
As WildSky said. Which is the recommended OSX for an i5 1,6ghz MBA with 8gb of ram? I don't want to have the hustle to have to downgrade if Big Sur (can it even run on this one?) is behaving sluggish on it.
 
Maybe you should stick to high Sierra. My 2014 i7 8gb/512gb air is slow on Big Sur, while my late 2009 imac is still as fast, as it has ever been, while stuck on High Sierra.
 
High Sierra is unsupported.
Mojave will be unsupported with the release of macOS 12 Monterey.
Catalina is fully supported until Fall of 2022.
Big Sur is fully supported until Fall of 2023.

There really isn't any convincing reason not to update to macOS 11 Big Sur. Your MacBook Air is fully supported, and Big Sur will run perfectly fine on your hardware.
 
Ok, I saw a thread on Reddit where a lot of people seemed to have issues when upgrading to Big Sur on this model. So I'm probably gonna stick with Significant1 advice for now and stay on High Sierra for a while. Thanks for the input guys.
 
I have the same MacBook Air as you, OP. It's been a great machine and still is. I am currently running El Capitan and it's a very good OS. I previously had it running High Sierra. That was was fine too. No problems moving from one to the other though.

I would upgrade to El Capitan if I were you. It is currently still supported and recently benefited from security updates. That would surely tide you over until you get that new machine. (I am not willing to go beyond El Capitan myself on this Air as it's so stable and also I still use 32bit software – Word and an older version of Pages; I don't like the newer Pages so much. Beyond El Capitan you can kiss goodbye to any such older 'legacy' software you may currently use.

The 8gb of RAM is plenty for El Capitan and it's a mature OS so there are none of the 'issues' currently being experienced on the latest OS.

I'll keep using this Air until I eventually get a Mac Mini (in a year, maybe two) at which time the software itself will be something I have to focus on more. Not for now though.
 
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Joelburman said:
Ok, I saw a thread on Reddit where a lot of people seemed to have issues when upgrading to Big Sur on this model. So I'm probably gonna stick with Significant1 advice for now and stay on High Sierra for a while. Thanks for the input guys.
Click to expand...
I don't think the problem is the hardware. Big Sur was just a cluster for quite some time post-release. It's pretty good now, but it had a lot of teething problems.
 
Thanks for very insightful thoughts. However, I've always had issues when upgrading to an older OSX than the current being out since it have to be installed on a thumb drive but I might look into it after all.
 
Ah, I actually never installed Big Sur on my previous 2015 MBP so don't have any experience with it myself at all.
 
I have upgraded my MBA 2015, 4 GB/128GB to Big Sur and I'm not that satisfied. The OS runs perfectly well, but most applications such are significantly slower. If used for Facebook, Youtube, Netflix and general entertainment, it is good but not great.
The Big Sur boots for about 50% longer than Catalina.
 
Jeez… +50% just on boot time seem pretto bad and you’re not the first I heats say that.
 
Joelburman said:
Hi,
Just got a e2015 MBA air today as a replacement for my Macbook Pro that took a serious fall yesterday and the screen was busted up. I'm new to the MBA segment because I've always had MBPs previously. The MBA is the i5 1,6ghz model with 8gb ram. What is the highest operation system you more seasoned MBA users recommend? Its currently running High Sierra.

This MBA is mainly a short term solution until I get a job (currently student) and then I'll get a MBA M1x when its released. My main use is for browsing, pages, keynote etc.
Click to expand...
I have same as you for last few years. See sig.. I'm on Catalina 10.15.7. You can run High Sierra if you want. I found Mojave very functional on this. That was probably my favorite. It still allows 32 bit apps. Catalina has been good as well, although I've seen others say it was kinda bad.. I haven't had any issues really, except Apple seeming to limit some things you can access, in the name of security.. Big Sur I believe does that even more. And with each OS version more and more processes are running and doing things, using resources and making it a bit slower and eating battery. That's why I most likely won't ever go up to Big Sur or higher on this model. With the ADATA 2TB drive I put in this, I have space for several more years I think, as long as I don't spill something on it or break it.
 
Adenitz said:
I have upgraded my MBA 2015, 4 GB/128GB to Big Sur and I'm not that satisfied. The OS runs perfectly well, but most applications such are significantly slower. If used for Facebook, Youtube, Netflix and general entertainment, it is good but not great.
The Big Sur boots for about 50% longer than Catalina.
Click to expand...
Go back if you can.. I would.. Especially it's only a 4gb/128gb. I have 8gb/2TB and won't go up to Big Sur.
 
Update: I've upgraded to Mojave today and also put in a 1TB WD Blue NVMe SSD as storage. Really fine with it so far and with everyone (or at least a couple of you) chiming in on not going all the way to Big Sur, I'm staying on Mojave for now. Don't really see much of a reason to upgrade due to my use of the computer either. Really nice with all the feedback on the topic, it really helped me to make my decision.
 
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Joelburman said:
Update: I've upgraded to Mojave today and also put in a 1TB WD Blue NVMe SSD as storage. Really fine with it so far and with everyone (or at least a couple of you) chiming in on not going all the way to Big Sur, I'm staying on Mojave for now. Don't really see much of a reason to upgrade due to my use of the computer either. Really nice with all the feedback on the topic, it really helped me to make my decision.
Click to expand...
Good job! Use it for a while and check back in a few months and inform on performance if you want.
 
McScooby said:
I've got the 2015 11" MBA with 8GB RAM, runs Big Sur with no problems.
Click to expand...
8gb yeah, maybe it's ok, depending on what you have on it and what you do with it. 4gb maybe not so much. It's all in user perception really.. If it works ok enough for you, great.. I think Apple trying to add too much stuff to macOS now for older machines to handle and not show slowups to the user, plus all the other things they're doing in name of security, taking away access the not so average user is used to having..stuff like that. Mine works fine on Catalina. Catalina will continue to get security updates for quite a while yet. I see no reason to go up.
 
xboxbml said:
8gb yeah, maybe it's ok, depending on what you have on it and what you do with it. 4gb maybe not so much. It's all in user perception really.. If it works ok enough for you, great.. I think Apple trying to add too much stuff to macOS now for older machines to handle and not show slowups to the user, plus all the other things they're doing in name of security, taking away access the not so average user is used to having..stuff like that. Mine works fine on Catalina. Catalina will continue to get security updates for quite a while yet. I see no reason to go up.
Click to expand...
Only mentioned it because, you know, that was what the OP's question & spec for their machine was!:rolleyes:
 
McScooby said:
Only mentioned it because, you know, that was what the OP's question & spec for their machine was!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Mine is maxed out (i7/8/512), except it has slower sad transfer rate than 2015 13" has. Performance is definitely not as good as it used to be, from Catalina and forward.
 
So anyone tried installing Monterey on 2015 MacBook Air? It's the last version supported right?
 
Joelburman said:
So anyone tried installing Monterey on 2015 MacBook Air? It's the last version supported right?
Click to expand...
I tried Monterey public beta 6-7 or 8. I cant remember exactly. I tried all of macoses from yosemite to monterey. startup time on Bigsur and Monterey so long: 45-50 sec. Monterey better than Bigsur, snappier or lighter I think. Not lighter than pre-Bigsur also or pre-Catalina. But there is an important issue about our non-retina MBAs: subpixel antialising or font rendering issue. This issue makes me stay on High Sierra. I like very much Mojave but fonts not good as on HS or before.

High Sierra continues taking updates MRT or Gatekeeper. But you should change Safari with another browser like Firefox or something else for security isues. I think this machine produced for an OS which published on 2014-2015-2016. For example, its boot up time on El Capitan or Yosemite is 10-20 sec. On High Sierra, it is 20-25, on Mojave 25-30 sec. On HS Airplay 2 not works (it cant mirror, for example Samsung Q60r TV), but on Mojave and up it works. On El Capitan or Sierra Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse doesnt work (i cant remember which os). And Microsoft Office 2019 programs also not works on HS, but 2016 does. On Bigsur and Monterey battery time is not good, i think (i have not tested it).

When I tried first time installing Bigsur, it took long time and machine heated up very much and fans gone mad. I afraid of it will brick. But it installed it and I used 3-4 months without problems. On Monterey there was not alike problem.

I have 4GB ram. Sorry for my english
 
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Joelburman said:
So anyone tried installing Monterey on 2015 MacBook Air? It's the last version supported right?
Click to expand...

I was on Big Sur and I upgraded to Monterey when it became available. I'm personally happy and haven't noticed any problems. It does seem a bit slow on initial boot like @Urtuluk said, but doesn't bother me because I usually just close the lid without shutting down.

This isn't a recommendation from me, just that I have no issues with the performance myself.

I don't believe we'll know for sure if this is the last supported version of macOS, we really only find out when the next version of macOS is announced, and that's likely in June. Even if Monterey is the last big software update, there should still be minor updates to Monterey after the release of the next macOS, for any crucial bug fixes.
 
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