Anyone still using very old Macbooks successfully?

[9 Stone Elvis]

Hi folks. I have just returned to the office last December after a couple of years of WFH. I am now hybrid and can come and go as I please. My internet connection in the office is far better than at home so Ive been taking advantage of this for download and surfing in my lunchbreak. I have quite a bit of old Apple tech that still works flawlessly for my limited requirements and Im wondering if there is any good reason not to pick up and Old Macbook Air 11 inch for peanuts on Ebay that I can just chuck in my bag to use in the office. Not for anything complicated really just surfing, downloading etc. I could get a cheap chromebook or something but Id like to stick to Apple if I can.

My entire experience of Apple is that the tech is completely bullet proof, I have and old imac, and two 13 inch macbook airs that are still going strong at 10+ years old. Aside from maybe having to replace a battery is this a generally bad idea, is anyone else still using this old tech daily and successfully?

 

[9 Stone Elvis]

I've got a 2013 MacBook Pro that I still use regularly. It's a bit clunky and doesn't run the latest version of MacOS but it works and the battery holds charge.
I mainly use it in the workshop for browsing and looking things up. It's good enough for that.

Thats what I'm thinking. I'm not looking for it to do anything radical, just the most basic of tasks and be portable enough to chuck into a bag!

 

[9 Stone Elvis]

Are you talking about:

1: Bringing in your own personal macbook with a non company image on it and connecting to the corporate network unprotected
or
2: Bringing in your own personal macbook with a non company image on it and connecting to the staff wifi network which is for convenience and mostly used for mobile devices and such to have internet connectivity

If 1, obviously don't do this. There have been threads on here before about this. There are about 100 reasons why you should never attempt to even plug one in to the LAN.
If 2, I think you will have policies in place even with this network and there will also be unwritten rules essentially to not abuse it like that of which you are talking about potentially bordering on. You are utilizing your own companies internet because it is faster than yours to download stuff. That's a bit of a no no, since it sounds like you mean larger downloads. Think about how it would look if a manager came over and you have torrents running in the background for example.

I think you need to tread carefully here and the above questions are warranted. I've seen internet usage get people sacked.
If you literally mean to just browse the net and watch youtube and stuff.... why can't you do this on your work machine during said lunchbreak?

Honestly my question is regarding the tech itself not my usage. I'm treading very carefully and no one has an issue. Its a personal device on the buildings public wifi connection. Im not talking about downloads particularly actually, I was just using that as an example of the low level stuff involved for the age of the tech. My work computer is on a wired connection and my work laptop is on the staff wifi. Im not doing anything dodgy Im just asking the theoretically question about a wee 11 inch Macbook Airs capability to still perform basic tasks. On reflection I should probably have left out the backstory altogether!