Apple MacBook Air 2017

8owners with an opinion

83%of verdicts positive

3/1positive/negative since 2024

7 yrslongest happy owner

1happy after 3+ years

Praised for reliability and performance; criticized for software and support.

What people wrote

Likes itOwned 7 years

It's not as bad as you think. I'm currently rocking a 2017 MBA and it's eminently usable for all my needs even with 8GB RAM. 7 year's service is fairly good for a laptop, I've only recently changed the battery. For non-gamers and lighter workloads you could easily make do with earlier models, provided they have a SSD.

Likes it

Just did this on a 2017 MacBook Air. Battery was cheap ($50?) and it was simple to do. Machine is working just fine now.

Neutral

Look at the Phase Controller [0] if you're looking at spinning again. Amazing milli-second response time even on older hardware. I DJ with a MacBook Air 2017. Failing that, a second hand Pioneer DJM-250mk2 is the entry level digital vinyl controller which works (via hardware unlock) with Pioneer's Rekordbox software. Welcome back :) [0] https://www.phasedj.com/

Likes it

Contrary to popular belief, you can run many different off-the-shelf brand NVMe drives on all of the NVMe-fitted Intel Macs. All you need is a passive adapter. My 2017 MacBook Air has a 250GB WD Blue SN570 in it. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/upgrading-2013-2015-mac...

Doesn’t like it

At 9 grand I would certainly hope that they support the device software wise longer than they supported my 2017 Macbook Air. I see no reason to be forced to cough up 10 grand essentially every 7 years to Apple, that's ridiculous.

Likes it

> There's something very calming about knowing that if it performs well with 1M thoughts, its fit for purpose. Exactly. I've been using my note-taking app (of which Plume is built on) since 2014, so I have 4850 notes in total, and it's still rock solid and fast. Another plus of efficient software is that my 2017 Macbook Air actually loads text ~2x faster than the best competitor (Bike) on a 2021 M1 Pro (with much more performance) 2017 MacBook Air: Plume: 0.8 seconds Bike: 3.46 seconds MacBook M1 Pro: Plume: 0.3 seconds Bike: 1.5 seconds That alone says a lot. > For what its worth, I'd recommend explaining all of that with the benchmark explanation. "Measured on a 2017 macbook air with the text of War and Peace". Seeing Bear crash doesn't really tell me enough about whats going on. Thanks for letting me know. Do you have a suggestion for how to convey it better?

Neutral

As Android dev (yes I use Android Studio) who works with MBA 2017, I think it's enough... to a certain degree. As long as you don't open >20 browser tabs and running Android emulator on the same time, which is pain in the a*. Of course, 16 GB (or more) is nicer.

Likes it

I'm rocking a 2017 MacBook Air and it's great--really the only down side is that Apple stopped supporting it in macOS past Monterey. Almost all of my past and present Apple hardware has long outlasted software support, which is my biggest complaint with the company.

Doesn’t like it

On my MacBook Air 2017, it chokes when loading a 1280x800 JPG (around 192 KB). At least so far works OK when creating new images.

Doesn’t like itDoesn’t say they own it

> 7 year's service is fairly good for a laptop No it is not. That is a very low bar.

Likes itDoesn’t say they own it

I have family still using the 2017 Macbook Airs, happily. A year ago I replaced the battery on two of them (from OWC which still offers high quality ones). Every year I ask them if they want to upgrade to a new model Macbook and they refuse. Meanwhile I have other family on Chromebooks that they've had to replace twice already because they are too slow, or the hinges on the screen have worn out, or the charging port got too annoyingly loose.

Likes itDoesn’t say they own it

The 2017 MacBook air has a ton of aftermarket batteries available for less than $60. It's really not that difficult to replace it yourself. The ifixit guide says it takes 15 minutes. https://www.ifixit.com/products/macbook-air-13-late-2010-201... "with no third party repair shop willing to work on your laptop at a reasonable price." I am not aware of any third party repair shop who would refuse to work on a 2017 MacBook Air. Unless it is a repair shop that refuses to work on Apple products in general.