Apple MacBook Air 2015

Hard disagree. First of all, it’s true that upgrades were not a solution to sustainability in the 90s, but the issue was that computers were gaining ground exponentially. In just a few years, everything you had was so outmoded it was hard to imagine hardware that lasted more than maybe 5 years. That has changed. Second, sustainability isn’t a true false state. My previous computer, a 2015 macbook air, lasted me until this year. If it had upgradable ram it might have lasted me another 5 years. A computer that lasts forever is probably impossible, but 15 years is better than 10, and 10 is better than 5.

I run couple servers with NixOs, one on MBA 2015 and another one on ThinkPad x240. Works well

I'm surprised... what encouraged you to update MacOS? I'm on the first M1 Macbook from 2020 and have not allowed a single OS update. The first thing I do with a mac is use Little Snitch to block all apple IP addresses, and delete all their built in apps. I still have an Air from 2015 and one from 2009, a Titanium from 2004 and a chunky old Powerbook 3400 from the 1990s that all run fine. One or two a decade. But I never update the OS because I don't want to deal with anything that might break my environment.

I think the exiting of basically all laptop makers that used to sell non soldered RAM proves what the market wants. People just want stuff to work. They don’t want to think about how it works. I am using 4GB RAM today on a 2015 MacBook Air, and it works acceptably for excel, editing PDF, emails, maps, watching video, YouTube, web browsing, chatting, video calling, and pretty much everything else that the vast majority of people do. An 8GB M3 laptop today will easily last 5+ years for most people’s needs. And they don’t even have to worry about what RAM is or does.

A “normie” would only need an M1 MacBook Air and that will be good for 10 years. I am using a 2015 MacBook Air, and since I only browse/do basic spreadsheet stuff/pdf things, it still works fine. If you need anything more than a Macbook Air, you are not a “normie”, and should be capable of doing better research before you buy.

Two thumbs up for the MBA11. I use mine every day for everything non-programming. I liked it so much that I bought another one on eBay. I keep one plugged in, then swap out the other one when the battery goes low. I use Syncthing to synchronize useful files between the two. The full-size keyboard on them is wonderful. And the 2x USB-A ports, the mini-DP port, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. Awesome. I tried running Linux/Ubutunu on them, but I gave up. The fan did not work out of the box, requiring a patch. Sleep on lid-closing was broken, requiring a hack. But the critical thing that made me give up on Linux was the broken trackpad. Palm rejection is terrible on Linux, and Linux has no support for pinch-zooming. I cannot live without pinch-zooming on a Mac, especially on an 11" screen. When Apple stops supporting Big Sur (my MBA11 2013) and Catalina (my MBA11 2015), I'll try OpenCore Legacy Patcher. If that doesn't work, I'll probably just keep using the old MacOS versions.

Happily using Ventura on 2015 MacBook Air, just need a battery replacement & this is good as new with upgraded 1TB Samsung 970 PRO SSD as well