I know this isn't a fair comparison but my dad uses my old 2015 hi-spec 15" MacBook Pro when he needs certain Adobe apps that are not for iPad like full-blown Photoshop and Illustrator, and it works really well. I got the aforementioned in 2017 for XMas on purpose because I wasn't ready for the USB-C only life. I'm glad I did since that was the Butterfly Keyboard generation, and it served me well until 2021 when I got my M1 Pro 14" mid-spec MacBook Pro. 2015 gave us some awesome Macs and it's amazing that they're still super useful today, depending on what your expectations are and what you do with them. Great video, Garrett!
I used a 2013 Macbook Air 11 inch (256/8) with OCLP which was amazing. When I got my new macbook pro I did use the 2013 MacBook Air with a thunderbolt display just to see, and it was really nice. I could say so many good things about this laptop.
I was able to buy a 2015 11" MBA with 8 GB of ram for under $100. I upgraded the SSD to 1 TB and updated it to Sonoma via OpenCore, and it works surprisingly well for a 9 year old device. My main complain with it is definitely the screen quality. But if all I'm doing with it is just typing documents and doing iPhone/iPad backups on it, this MBA is more than capable.
I have found that dimensionally, the modern MacBook Air is very similarly sized to the 11: MBA13 2024: H:0.44 W:11.97 D:8.46, MBA11 2015: H:0.68 W:11.8 D:7.56
You forgot to mention the weight. The 2024 MBA 13 weighs 2.7 lbs while the 2015 MBA 11 weighs 2.38 lbs. The dimension differences aren't that big admittedly, but they are still noticeable in my opinion.
Thanks for the fantastic video! I've been using an 11-inch MacBook Air from early 2014 with fully upgraded specs-512GB storage, 8GB RAM, and an i7 processor. It's been my best purchase ever, accompanying me for nearly a decade and serving me well for daily entertainment and work. I've even used OpenCore to run macOS Sonoma on it. I love its portability and power efficiency, making it perfect for my day-to-day needs! My favorite compact machines that Apple released are the 11-inch MacBook Air and the 12-inch MacBook. I really hope Apple brings back similar computers, powered by the new M-series chips.
Yeah, I have two MBA 11" laptops. A 2014 i7 4GB I got for $70 and a 2015 i5 8GB I got for $50. Both running Sonoma via Opencore. They aren't fast but their ability at that size is still impressive in 2024 and I really enjoy them (mostly the 2015).
Yeah man! I grabbed a 2015 8GB on clearance grade A a few years ago and holding onto my 12 inch M5 2016 (though my battery needs sorting!) I fully agree. Come on 12 inch M3/4 MacBook! Adding in a better NVMe drive also makes the MBA11 more snappy as you get better read and write speeds. I used it the other day with ethernet adapter to sort a network issue. They are great for that sort of thing and your use case for cars diagnostic because also built like a tank.
I still have my 2014 11” base model, yeah, 4 GB of RAM! This was my favorite Mac, ever! The display was the only downside for me. I might fire it up again after watching your great video! Thanks!
I have an MBA 11 2015 (8 / 128). I changed the battery a couple of weeks ago. You can find them at very good prices but it's a lottery. And I really wanted to be able to use this device on the move. As this device is classified as Vintage by Apple and will become Obsolete in a few months' time, I took the opportunity to change the battery in the AppleStore. It's more expensive, but you know what you're getting. The same goes for the SSD. Looking around, I understand that some SSDs have an impact on the autonomy and heating of the device. I didn't take any chances and got an OWC Aura Pro X2. The device is incredibly responsive compared to the original SSD (9 years old). I use this device with Monterey and I last more than 6 hours in office use on battery.
The Surface Connect is a half-arsed MagSafe, because a lot of the times it magnetised but the connector didn’t go in. This happened a lot with my three Surface devices and I absolutely hate this!
@Garrett Crespo - I have the same 11" Air with 512 and the "i7". I am still running High Sierra and can no longer update Chrome. Pissed that they removed Dashboard in later OS but still might need to upgrade. Q: What is the best supported OS to go to? Looks like I need at least 10.15 Catalina but don't want my Air to run slow. Thoughts? Thanks!
I have a 2013 MacBook Air 13" 8gb RAM / 128GB in prestine condition with original charger. I'll probably put it up on eBay to sell, but I'm wondering what it would be worth today? Not sure what price to list it at. I checked out a few on eBay to compare, they all were really dinged up though in pretty rough condition with only 4gb ram.
@@GarrettCrespo 2015 11 inch 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.11-0.68 2024 13 inch 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 You could also get an M1 Air for around $500 And as a $250 laptop, this is pure garbage. You can get a decent Ryzen or I5 on the used market for that. Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi (if you need that Apple look).
I stand corrected. Didn't know they were that close. But some people do prefer they iCloud integration, so $250 isn't a bad price for a small, power efficient MacBook. But yes, you can ALWAYS get a PC for cheaper than that. But I got this laptop for $150. That wasn't the point of this video though.
Yes, but it’s kind of an i7 in name only. It’s still only a dual core with hyper threading. But you go from 1.6ghz to 2.2ghz, but the thermal and battery trade off isn’t really worth it in my opinion.
I have the Mid 2011 iMac model and it's updated to macOS High Sierra so will no longer load/download apps that have been updated beyond this so I can't use it anymore & can't google anything. It's basically sitting useless and I would love to be able to use it again. Do you know how I can fix this issue? How do you operate old mac models that you have bought and use them without issue? :(
I usually run my Mac’s until they’re about 10 or so. Maybe longer if the hardware is beefier (i.e. 2013 Mac Pro). A 2011 model MacBook Air could maybe run Monterey with open core legacy patcher, but you’ll start having driver compatibility issues.
These batteries are only held in with five screws. I had a spare battery in my collection with about 10 charge cycles. So I swapped it out while I had it open for cleaning.
@@GarrettCrespo It runs circles around any MacOS on these old machines..... so much so it's not even funny... and up to date to the day. Also the OS rendering is miles ahead of MacOS on sub retina screens. It looks way better than MacOS where just starting Safary (let alone Chome) takes forever.... If one needs MacOS, get an M processor. If you like the hardware like me but not MacOS, Win11 is fantastic on intel Apple hardware.
@@hhy2k I’m teasing! I use windows on this machine too so I can tune and log my cars when I race them. I just dont like windows 11. I prefer windows 10. lol
@@GarrettCrespo Oh I see. Well it's esthetically more pleasing than win10 by a lot. For a daily use I suggest Boom3D for getting out the Apple sound and the github driver for the precision touchpad for all functionality because that won't come with bootcamp... so it's a must.
