Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 12:19PM

I have my daughter's old 2010 MBA that I would like to use as a downstairs web surfer. I might need to use it for Face Time or Zoom, since it is the only Mac we have with a camera except to iOS ones, like iPhones and iPad. Other than that, nothing else. We have our minis for anything else.

It is dog slow, probably because its SSD is almost full and it is still running Maverick 10.9.2

I don't really want to save or migrate anything over, so how should I proceed?

I was thinking to just erase the SSD and install a fresh OS, the latest it will take.

Any links or tips would be very helpful, as I have not done this is a long time.

Edit: I think there are either two or three user accounts, if this makes a difference for which one I should be logged into when doing this. I think two have admin privileges.

Looks like it will run High Sierra 10.13.X

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2021 12:46PM by rgG.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: freeradical

Date: January 13, 2021 12:49PM

Wouldn't the SSD be pretty worn out on an 11 year old machine?

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: Lew Zealand

Date: January 13, 2021 01:04PM

How much memory? Seriously important. If only 2GB, I'd try to do it but stay at 10.9 and hope that your websites work. Your SSD should work fine after a wipe and OS reinstall, I have an 8 year old OWC SSD in the below machine and it works great.

I use a 2009 13" MBPro but in comparison to yours, it's a little faster and I have 8GB. Being a year older, I only get 10.11 and in another OS 10.11 2009 MBPro with only 4GB, there is some slowness from that limited RAM but frankly for web browsing it works pretty well, so if you have 4GB, you should be OK.

Safari in OS 10.11 (and I assume 10.9 as well) gives security errors on many websites as it's too old, I just go through the annoying exception process and don't have to deal with it again on that website. This is tiresome long term, so with you able to use 10.13 (with 4GB), you should not see this annoyance.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: jdc

Date: January 13, 2021 01:27PM

Id just create a new admin account, then delete the others. easier than OS reinstall.

I think if its for Zoom... its gonna be nearly unuseable... and pretty sure Facetime is only with later OSes.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 01:57PM

Quote
freeradical
Wouldn't the SSD be pretty worn out on an 11 year old machine?

It wasn't used much. It is the drive that came with it, and it still works, so guess not.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 02:00PM

Quote
Lew Zealand
How much memory? Seriously important. If only 2GB, I'd try to do it but stay at 10.9 and hope that your websites work. Your SSD should work fine after a wipe and OS reinstall, I have an 8 year old OWC SSD in the below machine and it works great.

I use a 2009 13" MBPro but in comparison to yours, it's a little faster and I have 8GB. Being a year older, I only get 10.11 and in another OS 10.11 2009 MBPro with only 4GB, there is some slowness from that limited RAM but frankly for web browsing it works pretty well, so if you have 4GB, you should be OK.

Safari in OS 10.11 (and I assume 10.9 as well) gives security errors on many websites as it's too old, I just go through the annoying exception process and don't have to deal with it again on that website. This is tiresome long term, so with you able to use 10.13 (with 4GB), you should not see this annoyance.

It only has the 2GB memory.
So, would it be better just to clean out some of the files and leave things as is? Would I even need to bother with a reinstall of the current OS?
I mostly use Chrome since, as you point out, Safari will give some errors that Chrome doesn't.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: p8712

Date: January 13, 2021 02:03PM

I'd go to el cap, at least.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 02:04PM

Quote
jdc
Id just create a new admin account, then delete the others. easier than OS reinstall.

I think if its for Zoom... its gonna be nearly unuseable... and pretty sure Facetime is only with later OSes.

If I delete one of the accounts, I assume it will wipe out all the files associated with that account?

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 02:06PM

Quote
p8712
I'd go to el cap, at least.

Would you just do it through the software update route?

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: btfc

Date: January 13, 2021 02:17PM

Nuke and pave.

[support.apple.com]

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 02:34PM

Quote
btfc
Nuke and pave.

[support.apple.com]

Yep. Might be best.

I cleared out some files, about 9GB worth, so now the SSD has a lot more room. I also signed out of iCloud, so that it won't be trying to do anything in the background, if it was.
I made sure Chrome was as up to date as it could be, so we will see if it is any faster.
If not, I may nuke and pave and move up to High Sierra or El Cap.

Thanks for the suggestions and the links

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: p8712

Date: January 13, 2021 02:46PM

Quote
rgG

Quote
p8712
I'd go to el cap, at least.

Would you just do it through the software update route?

Nuke and pave and make it my own. El cap still supports a lot of good software.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rz

Date: January 13, 2021 02:49PM

El Cap will support Safari v11. I updated to it recently, before I went ahead and updated my machine to Sierra.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 03:22PM

I am downloading the El Cap disk Image, so I can have it ready to upgrade.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: Lew Zealand

Date: January 13, 2021 04:10PM

Even with 2GB, try out 10.13 El Cap. You can always go back to 10.11 if it doesn't work well. I do find the 10.11.6 version of Safari an annoyance thanks to the older security. That said, Firefox and Chrome and their up-to-date security do work on these older OSes, though they are more resource-heavy which is not a great trait when CPU and RAM limited.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 05:06PM

I am upgrading to El Cap, right now.
Hope it goes smoothly.
I didn’t nuke and pave, but at least I can give the OS a go and see if it is better.

It is updated.
We will see how it goes.

Thanks all.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2021 05:30PM by rgG.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: Will Collier

Date: January 13, 2021 06:44PM

Believe it or not, High Sierra runs just fine on a 2GB Late 2010 MBA. (Thanks, @samintx.) Mind you, that's with a full nuke & pave, so YMMV.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2021 06:45PM by Will Collier.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 13, 2021 09:00PM

Quote
Will Collier
Believe it or not, High Sierra runs just fine on a 2GB Late 2010 MBA. (Thanks, @samintx.) Mind you, that's with a full nuke & pave, so YMMV.

Good to know. I am not opposed to doing a N&P.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: DP

Date: January 14, 2021 07:14AM

Quote
freeradical
Wouldn't the SSD be pretty worn out on an 11 year old machine?

Is this an issue? I've never heard of that... Sure, anything wears out eventually, but a spinner, e.g., has moving parts that will fail, but what's to fail in an SSD "over time"? Enquiring minds want to know!

Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: PeterW

Date: January 14, 2021 07:32AM

Quote
DP

Quote
freeradical
Wouldn't the SSD be pretty worn out on an 11 year old machine?

Is this an issue? I've never heard of that... Sure, anything wears out eventually, but a spinner, e.g., has moving parts that will fail, but what's to fail in an SSD "over time"? Enquiring minds want to know!

Okay enquiring one, take a look at this - [www.ontrack.com]

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: rgG

Date: January 14, 2021 08:11AM

Follow up. It seems to be snappier, still not snappy, but snappier, after the upgrade to El Cap and the deleting of as much stuff as I could find to free up SSD space.

I may move to High Sierra, at some point, but at least this is a little better.

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

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Re: Want to use 2010 MBA for web surfer

Posted by: freeradical

Date: January 14, 2021 11:35AM

Quote
DP

Quote
freeradical
Wouldn't the SSD be pretty worn out on an 11 year old machine?

Is this an issue? I've never heard of that... Sure, anything wears out eventually, but a spinner, e.g., has moving parts that will fail, but what's to fail in an SSD "over time"? Enquiring minds want to know!

SSDs use different types of NAND which affects the number of supported write cycles.

This piece also explains the slippery concept of MTBF (mean time between failure), and how that has no bearing at all on consumer decisions.

Quote

SSD reliability and lifecycle

The common reliability rating for SSDs is mean time between failures, and it’s sort of a tricky concept to grasp. Wikipedia defines it like this: MTBF is the predicted elapsed time between inhere failures of a mechanical or electronic system during normal system operation. Now we’ll get into what this actually means.

You will find that MTBF ratings are in the millions of hours. If the MTBF is 1.5 million hours, this doesn’t mean that your SSD will literally last 1.5 million hours, which is more than 170 years. Instead, MTBF is a measure of likelihood of failure in the context of a large sample size of drives.

Say the MTBF rating is 1.2 million, and that drive is used eight hours a day. In a sample size of 1,000 drives you will find that, on average, one drive will fail every 150 days or so.

Let’s do the math:

1,000 drives @ 8 hours a day = 8,000 operational hours.
8000 operational hours @ 150 days = 1.2 million total operational hours.

Write cycles, also called program and erase or P/E cycles, are another important metric touching on SSD reliability. SSDs are able to endure a finite number of write cycles. When you write, erase, and overwrite data to the metal NAND of an SSD, the process deteriorates the oxide layer that holds electrons in the memory cell.

Different types of NAND architectures are more resilient than others.
NAND type Write cycles supported
SLC 100,000
MLC 10,000
3D NAND 35,000
TLC 3,000
QLC 1,000

[www.neweggbusiness.com]

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