Have older Macbook Air's been nerfed?

[9 Stone Elvis]

It’s £70 because it’s obsolete and can’t run any of the latest software. This isn’t solely an apple thing, this is right across the board.

It’s just part of technology, a decade is massive.

Look at the difference required the run the latest games/software. Even daft stuff like streaming in 4k you can’t do that on TVs made in 2013 unless you spent an absolute colossal amount on one and you’d be able to pick that up for £70 as well! You wouldn’t say Panasonic/Sony (whoever) have ‘nerfed‘ their TVs. The tech inside it just isn’t good enough now.

But if you don’t have the cash to buy something new and you don’t need the latest software then it’s a viable option.

If you are short of cash and you need something to browse the net and do basic word processing then it’s fine and the is no point in people saying “just buy an M1 they are cheap now” when they cost ten times the price.

 

[Minato]

I've seen £500 in places but fair enough.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

I'm not at all short of cash. I just wanted to know if it will run like it did when I had one in 2015 - which would be perfectly adequate for what I need now. I suspect not, however it's not a lot to loose on a gamble. New batteries aren't that expensive if that's the only down point.

If you guys are throwing £500 at a laptop for a 13 year old to chuck around in their school bag for internet browsing and word processing - then more fool you.

 

[Hades]

If it doesn't play nicely with MacOS then you can always run a modern lightweight Linux on it. I know that's not what you asked but if you buy it and it doesn't work well then it's still an option.

 

[visibleman]

It’s £70 because it’s obsolete and can’t run any of the latest software.

Officially, a 2013 MBA only supports Big Sur but unofficially it can be made to run Ventura/Sonoma without much issue (OCLP/OpenCore etc). So currently, i wouldn't say it's obsolete but certainly when they stop throwing out security patches for Sonoma (rumoured to be the last Intel MacOS) then it will be, like every other Intel system.

As others have said though, big difference in price compared to an M1, even when secondhand.

I'll be installing Office 2011. Hopefully runs fine.

For the sake of performance, features and security, i wouldn't; rather i would recommend grabbing 2019/2021 or a subscription for 356.

 

[malachi]

If you guys are throwing £500 at a laptop for a 13 year old to chuck around in their school bag for internet browsing and word processing - then more fool you.

If I was in your position, I wouldnt waste money on buying outdated unsupported hardware to run outdated unsupported software such as Office 2011. As an project yes but for an kid to use for homework etc. Put abit more money down and find an better alternative which is at least secure to use on the Internet.

No reasons why it needs to be Apple, especially when it's over 10 years old.

It maybe £70 but as the saying goes "You buy cheap, you buy twice"

Replacing battery, maybe upgrading RAM, replacing HDD if its not failing. Getting a newer version of Office or go Office 365 sub. The total soon mounts up over £70.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Well, the Mac Air arrived. Really pleased with it - it still works much the same as I remember. But damn, Apple make it hard to use.

Fortunately, Word 2011 worked fine once I was able to download the microsoft activation fix - and Chromium Legacy also works fine, so I can work on Google Documents through that.

 

[visibleman]

...Word 2011 worked fine once I was able to download the microsoft activation fix...

As mentioned before, i would strongly recommend looking a newer version of Office (2016/2019/2021 should all run on 10.15 and above) given there's been considerable changes around security as well as features, some which aren't supported in 2011 and may cause newer docx files to not open correctly, if at all (we had this issue at work a few years back with some staff refusing to use newer version of Office).
Alternatively look at LibreOffice, although it's isn't an exact 1:1 to MS Office.

Glad it's working though. You should be able to get latest Big Sur (11.7.10) running (a lot of apps, especially Chromium browsers should run on it) but if you ever feel like given a newer version of MacOS a whirl then look at OpenCore

 

[Hawk Tuah]

When I first tried this Macbook, it was running it's original MacOS version of Mountain Lion, and from what I can tell the previous owner was still using that. I had to do a full system restore to remove his admin password.

I've spend most of the evening working through downloading and installing various OS versions and updates. I have now settled on High Sierra, which seems the best balance of modernness, but still compatible with some of the older software and doesn't push the hardware too much.

I'm incredibly impressed. It's running smooth and seamlessly. I've got dropbox syncing, mail working. Word works fine - and the latest version of Chrome working in sync. Battery seems in really good state too. Been running for a few hours now and still got 78% left. There's no way in hell this is a £70 laptop experience.

If anyone's thinking of using an old Macbook Air as a basic laptop, I'd thoroughly recommend it.

 

[9 Stone Elvis]

When I first tried this Macbook, it was running it's original MacOS version of Mountain Lion, and from what I can tell the previous owner was still using that. I had to do a full system restore to remove his admin password.

I've spend most of the evening working through downloading and installing various OS versions and updates. I have now settled on High Sierra, which seems the best balance of modernness, but still compatible with some of the older software and doesn't push the hardware too much.

I'm incredibly impressed. It's running smooth and seamlessly. I've got dropbox syncing, mail working. Word works fine - and the latest version of Chrome working in sync. Battery seems in really good state too. Been running for a few hours now and still got 78% left. There's no way in hell this is a £70 laptop experience.

If anyone's thinking of using an old Macbook Air as a basic laptop, I'd thoroughly recommend it.

Have to say I echo this completely. My 2015 one is pretty much doing the same as yours there and while I have more up to date tech I honestly cant imagine that at the price point we are talking about you would get a better experience with anything else. Mine does all the basic tasks with ease and if you just want a laptop to flig around the living room for general browsing and not have to worry about it, its got plenty life left in it which is amazing! I have an HP laptop for work thats about a year/18months old and it gives me far more grief!