My friend is finally willing to make the switch to Linux and wants me to help getting their laptop switched over. It’s a very old Macbook. I think MacBook Air pro 15 or something? I unfortunately don’t have the specs on hand at the moment but it’s a very old model.
I was going to put Linux Mint on there since that’s what I’m familiar with, but I’m not sure how well Ubuntu runs on older hardware. Any other distros I should consider? I should note that they’re not a computer/tech person.
Edit: Macbook Air, 13 inch, from early 2015. 1.6 GHz Dual Core Intel i5. 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3. Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536 Mb.
I have a 2013 MacBook running Ubuntu. No wifi drivers so I bought an Ethernet dongle off of eBay for $10. Runs immich pretty well.
I had 2015 macbook running Ubuntu with barely any support for WiFi drivers. $10 dongle would save a headache figuring out WiFi standards, with the caveat that Apple built theirs closed source. If it uses bcwa43 Ubuntu has a depreciated package that will supply the right drivers.
MX will run great on it. I’ve installed it on even older Macs than that.
I’ll take a look. Thanks!
I have a 2012 macbook pro, the battery life of apple products is notoriously bad under Linux. I got a new battery and still couldn’t get 3 hours of usage out of it.
That aside, linux runs great when you get it to boot. I didn’t have any luck getting Ubuntu to boot but Fedora and Manjaro run really well. I’m a fan of Gnome, I’d recommend walking your friend through different desktop environments.
Kubuntu should run just fine. You could go for a low-spec distro such as Xubuntu but I think you’ll find it surprisingly capable.
You could also look into Puppy Linux which is specifically targeted at older machines but with a machine like that you should be absolutely fine.
Of course the best part is it’s free and there’s no commitment, just install one, see if you vibe with it, and if not try another :)
I have Mint running on a 2007 (I think) MacBook. Runs great.
If that MacBook is old enough that it’s part of the first generation of Intel Mac products, you may have to do a few extra things to account for the 32-bit EFI – not UEFI; that would come later – that those machines used. I recall dealing with this myself, back when older versions of Ubuntu provided the ISO for specifically this scenario. Instead, you might want to review this page which describes the problem and how to address it: https://ctrl-alt-rees.com/2024-08-13-operating-system-options-for-32-bit-efi-mac-macmini-11-21-macbook-imac-64-bit-usb-install.html
Note that a 32-bit EFI does not prevent you from installing a modern 64-bit OS. The complexity is just with getting the system to boot from the installer disc.
Naw, 32-bit EFI was back before 2010. By 2012, Apple had gone fully 64-bit.
That’s fair, but since OP doesn’t have the machine to immediately check the model number, and 2010 is within spitting distance of 2012, I figured I’d provide some additional info, just in case it’s older than originally estimated.
That said, a 2010 machine would be fairly ancient. But then again, it’s 2026 and DDR3 is somehow relevant again…
Hey thanks for this. It is indeed a 2015 laptop.
specs: Macbook Air, 13 inch, from early 2015. 1.6 GHz Dual Core Intel i5. 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3. Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536 Mb.
I use Kubuntu for old hardware. It’s a pain to have to install Flatpak and Flathub every time, but once you do, it’s great.
