I'm getting a 2015 Macbook Air with 4gb ram. Is it possible to run something newer than Monterey on it using Opencore Legacy Patcher?
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Opencore Legacy Patcher on 2015 Macbook Air 4GB
- Thread starter ethanhodges
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Ya I'll probably just run Monterey. I' primarily using it for Office 365, surfing the web and watching YouTube.
I have a 2011 MBA with 4Gb and it runs Sonoma using OCLP . It won't set the world on fire but it is an ok standby machine.
My 2015 MBA (11) runs Sequoia using OCLP rather well considering, but it does have 8GB RAM.
My 2015 MBA (11) runs Sequoia using OCLP rather well considering, but it does have 8GB RAM.
Taking advantage of this thread, MBAir 2015 with 4GB, casual use for browsing and while waiting to upgrade it to an M3 or M4 in the next year I'd try OCLP to upgrade from Monterey, from personal experience would you do that and which OS would you suggest, Sonoma?
Thanks
Thanks
Sonoma would work but it is not fun with only 4 GB of RAM, and Sequoia is no fun at all (I watched the videos I found, not advised to go to Sequoia at all with ony 4 GB).
I own a Macbook Air 2013 with only 4 GB RAM and it runs MacOS Ventura quite well (done with OCLP 2.0.2), word processing, surfing the internet and also YouTube is not a problem. Even switching between programs is quite responsive. The SSD speed on the 2015-2017 models is twice as fast as on a 2013-2014 model, so this definitively also helps (I upgraded mine with a new 512 GB Fanxiang SSD, what also doubled the SSD speed).
I could upgrade to Sequoia, but I have watched videos of people who tried, it is not usable, for Sequoia, 8 GB is really needed, I tried it on my other MacBook Air 2013 with 8GB RAM and it runs okay with Sequoia.
For the 4 GB models, I advise to go to MacOS Ventura because you will still get security updates until Autumn 2025 and it also has received the latest Safari browser patches.
I own a Macbook Air 2013 with only 4 GB RAM and it runs MacOS Ventura quite well (done with OCLP 2.0.2), word processing, surfing the internet and also YouTube is not a problem. Even switching between programs is quite responsive. The SSD speed on the 2015-2017 models is twice as fast as on a 2013-2014 model, so this definitively also helps (I upgraded mine with a new 512 GB Fanxiang SSD, what also doubled the SSD speed).
I could upgrade to Sequoia, but I have watched videos of people who tried, it is not usable, for Sequoia, 8 GB is really needed, I tried it on my other MacBook Air 2013 with 8GB RAM and it runs okay with Sequoia.
For the 4 GB models, I advise to go to MacOS Ventura because you will still get security updates until Autumn 2025 and it also has received the latest Safari browser patches.
Thanks for posting this. My MacBook Air will be here tomorrow and I'm putting a 512 GB SSD in it and will go with MacOS Ventura. I've looked at a lot of reddit posts and they say Ventura is ok with only 4 GB ram
I got my MacBook Air and installed the SSD upgrade. I decided to give Sonoma a try to see what the limitations are. It works fine on 4GB of ram. Not a speed demon by any means. I don't do a lot of multi-tasking just a few Chrome tabs open and watch YouTube and the occasional Word or Excel document.
Thank you for this update.
Until all the maintenance tasks are completed by all these macOS programs, the 4GB seem to be holding back. Once all these tasks are complete and the CPU load is basically not there yet, it should feel a lot better. I noticed similar behaviour when I updated a MBA 2015 with 8 GB of RAM, it was also quite slow just after the update, but after letting it do these tasks it is not an issue anymore.
Until all the maintenance tasks are completed by all these macOS programs, the 4GB seem to be holding back. Once all these tasks are complete and the CPU load is basically not there yet, it should feel a lot better. I noticed similar behaviour when I updated a MBA 2015 with 8 GB of RAM, it was also quite slow just after the update, but after letting it do these tasks it is not an issue anymore.
Yes I set this up for a nephew of mine, it actually works decent enough on Sequoia with 4GB, I think Ventura is probably the best OS for it overall.
It's a combination of ram and hraddrive. My 2011 iMac had 4gb of ram and a 1tb HDD. Went for 20gb of ram first and it woke up quick and then went to a 512gb SSD and it went even further. An SSD will be a help but that ram will be a slight drawback
Using OCLP I installed Ventura on my fathers late 2014 MacBook Air with 4GB of Ram and it is very smooth and runs perfectly, i'm still considering trying Sequoia on it.
I'm using my 11" AIR w 8GB using OCLP 2.2.0 and have Sonoma 15.2 installed. So far this OS has been usable on this trusty laptop.
here's the link to Opencore:
here's the link to Opencore:
Releases · dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher
Experience macOS just like before. Contribute to dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
Nice.. Wish I had that one.. Did you update on existing OS or wipe it and start from scratch and load a TM backup after?.. what process did you use?I'm using my 11" AIR w 8GB using OCLP 2.2.0 and have Sonoma 15.2 installed. So far this OS has been usable on this trusty laptop.
here's the link to Opencore:
Releases · dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher
Experience macOS just like before. Contribute to dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher development by creating an account on GitHub.github.com
I wiped everything off my SSD and used my bootable thumb drive once I had installed OCLP 2.2.0 onto it. For me the key was having the latest OCLP build which works with my 11-inch AIR. I then installed OS 15.1 and once completed, upgraded to OS 15.2 and was finished upgrading this laptop. I then went about reinstalling all the apps I would want to run on this laptop and will be using it over the next few days to see how responsive this 2015 laptop is running Apple's newest version of OS on it.
So far I have no complaints on performance. For what it is, I find it pretty cool that I can use a laptop that is 9 years old with only 8GB of RAM and it runs this OS relatively good. It is not the quickest as compared to my 14 inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro but it does a decent job that I can use it.
I love the portability of this 11-inch footprint and just how feather light this laptop is. The bezel/screen size does not bother me. I also use the SwitchResX app to adjust my display resolution to 1920X1080 and can read everything without any issue.
Ok, so you didn't use TimeMachine backup to do a Migration assistant after loading OS. That's what I was wondering.. I'm having issues doing that with my 2012MBP. My 2015MBA is my original machine and I don't want to mess with it. I did discover on my 2015MBP that I can't watch Apple purchased movies or any HDCP content on it with OCLP/Sonoma/Sequoia any version with any form of external monitor attached in any way. I've elected to stay on "supported" OS Monterey on the 2015s for now. Only been playing with the 2012. Update: might want to check out this thread also..(https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-14-sonoma-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2391630/)
I'm familiar with the link to the MacOS 14 Sonoma on unsupported Macs thread. I go there from time to time. Lots of very good useful info from that thread. I recently got myself a 2024 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro laptop so that is my main laptop going forward. I have five 2015 Macintosh laptops (see signature below this post) that I am free to use the latest version of OCLP to upgrade each of them to the current version of MacOS. The Dual Graphics 15-inch MBP is used to play videos to my 55-inch Big Screen thru the HDMI port into my home theater. It works very well and I have tons of movies stored on it. The 13-inch and 11-inch are either used when I am sitting at my patio outside like I am doing right now while using my 11-inch AIR. I'm in Florida so I am enjoying the nicer temps down here.
Oh, nice!. You've got a collection going there.. It's 43 and raining here.. I'm wondering what is different from yours on my 2015MBP that doesn't allow the TV app to play HDCP Apple purchased movies when I have an external monitor attached.. Xfinity Stream wouldn't work either.. Everything works fine on Monterey. Very disappointing. I haven't tried Ventura yet though.. Might try that one someday.I'm familiar with the link to the MacOS 14 Sonoma on unsupported Macs thread. I go there from time to time. Lots of very good useful info from that thread. I recently got myself a 2024 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro laptop so that is my main laptop going forward. I have five 2015 Macintosh laptops (see signature below this post) that I am free to use the latest version of OCLP to upgrade each of them to the current version of MacOS. The Dual Graphics 15-inch MBP is used to play videos to my 55-inch Big Screen thru the HDMI port into my home theater. It works very well and I have tons of movies stored on it. The 13-inch and 11-inch are either used when I am sitting at my patio outside like I am doing right now while using my 11-inch AIR. I'm in Florida so I am enjoying the nicer temps down here.
I don't use my iTunes account when playing movies. I have MP4s that I have converted from my DVD collection into digital that I have stored on my laptop that I play back using QuickTime Player. I then stream the video directly thru my home theater system via HDMI input into my TV for display and surround sound audio.
For my Apple account, I have AppleTV connected into a second HDMI input on my home theater that I select to play movies stored there.
Ahh ok.. so different setup. You're not doing same thing as me. Perhaps you would have same issue if you did it. I have ALL my Apple purchased movies downloaded locally on the 2TB drive I put in these so I can play them anywhere and not HAVE to have internet. I also have 3 Apple TV devices in the house but I don't use often as you have to STREAM everything and really can't store anything locally on them, which I think is stupid...then what's the point.. go over my data cap on cable every month.. I just went over it for the 2nd time this year yesterday. 1.2TB limit.. yay Comcast.
This is part of the reason I have stored my movie collection onto my 2TB SSD on my MBP so that I can stream them directly onto my big screen TV any time I want to watch them. The Apple TV is used to stream shows on the most part. At least this is how I use my setup. It has worked out very well for me so far but also nice to have plenty of hardware on reserve to set it up this way