2011 Macbook Air Nightmare

[rossmc88]

I'm having a nightmare with a 2011 Macbook Air I was helping someone with.

Spec:
120GB SSD
4GB RAM
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

It was running a bit slow, so I ran CCleaner on it to clear out the junk on it. This never went well and it started running even slower after that. I then noted it was running OSX 10.7 Lion. I upgraded it to the latest Yosemite thinking that would run well and give the Macbook a new lease of life.

After doing an in-place upgrade, the laptop was still running terrible with random freezing and the beach ball getting stuck on the screen.

I then formatted the hard drive completely and downloaded Yosemite again and did a fresh install on the now blank hard drive.

It ran a wee bit better after that but still hangs frequently and gets stuck with the beach ball on the screen.

After looking into this, it appears lots of people have the same problems with Yosemite. It is hard to believe that a relatively high spec macbook, decent amount on RAM and a SSD can't run the latest OSX without major issues.

The laptop hardly does anything, it only has chrome web browser and Microsoft Office 2011 installed.

Does anyone else have these problems?

I'm not sure what to do next, possible RAM upgrade or try and install Mountain Lion as I can buy that for £15 from Apple. I wasn't keen to install Lion again as it is almost end of life.

Is Lion to Yosemite a huge leap forward in hardware requirements as the two Operating systems look pretty similar and not that large a leap forward.

Any advice would be great!

[MrOrange]

RAM. And a clean install, it should fly!

[rossmc88]

How much RAM do you think I'll need for Yosemite? Why does an OS need more than 4GB of RAM to run? Especially if it's such a super efficient and great operating system as Apple user always like to say it is?

I come from a Windows background and I'm used to Windows 8.1 flying with a SSD and 4GB of RAM? I thought the latest Apple OSX would have been amazing with that hardware since it's just running Linux in the background

I've got Linux and Windows servers running that have less than 4GB of RAM without any issues. I feel like this MacBook keeps making me look stupid

Edited by rossmc88 on Sunday 14th December 22:15

Edited by rossmc88 on Sunday 14th December 22:15

[HorneyMX5]

It should be OK. My 2010 MBP runs it fine on 4gb of Ram.

[nightwalker]

4GB is pitiful, it cost me £70 to max my 2011 MacBook so it's hardly breaking the bank. I'd suggest adding more ram and see how it goes.

Does system profiler report all the ram as active? Two of my sticks in my macpro have up the ghost recently, the machine still ran but was painfully slow! Now has 18GB and is a beast once again.

[MYOB]

I'm not sure you can upgrade the RAM on a 2011 MacAir?

I could be wrong though...

[Bikerjon]

8GB RAM is fast becoming the minimum now but it's unlikely that you will be able to upgrade. 4GB should still be OK though as MB Air's are usually fast machines thanks to their SSD's.

Have to say I'm still not sold on Yosemite due to the performance on some models. No doubt it will be improved with time. Maybe try 10.9?

[pavka007]

I am running 2 iMacs from 2008, both are with 4GB of Ram and they are with HDD not SSD. After installing Yosemite on both, they feel like new again, much faster, cleaner, new lease of life.
My point here is that I don't think that the Ram is your issue, must be something else. Run the Activity monitor from the utility folder and see what is holding it back. After that you will know for better. Download "Free Ram" from Apple store, it helps you to free ram manually or you can set it up either by time or lower limit.

[dxg]

Also have a look in the console logs to see if anything's timing out. That will at least tell you if it's a hardware or software problem.

[rossmc88]

Thanks for all the advice and things to check out

I'm thinking it has a hardware problem because it wasn't flying (although was useable)when it was running Lion and it is even worse now on Yosemite

[Ynox]

Sounds like the SSD is on its way out. I'd replace that - note, it's not a standard 2.5" one.

Also RAM isn't upgradable on a Macbook Air (nor new Macbook Pros).

[RRH]

I have a base-spec 2014 MBA and it's fine with Yosemite and only 4Gb Ram.

[robsa]

Yes, sounds like you have a hardware problem. Yosemite uses as much memory as it can 4gb should be fine for most things.

Take it to an apple store and get it diagnosed.

[poing]

I'd be willing to put money on that being a HD problem. I had similar on my Pro, reformatted the drive and it was better but still lots of freezing. Looked to see what was running and had lots of red things that were frozen or slow. Chucked in a new drive (upgraded to SSD) and not had a single issue since.

[MethylatedSpirit]

Apple stores have diagnostic equipment so can at-least pinpoint what's wrong rather than throwing multiple darts at the problem. They'll offer a repair, you can either get it done or walk away knowing what do do with the thing.

I would start by downloading yosemite onto a usb drive and doing a fresh format and install, ruling out any software issues once and for all. Edit, you've done that.

Edited by MethylatedSpirit on Tuesday 16th December 21:23

[Tom_C76]

Don't think the storage is upgradable on a 2011 Air is it? IIRC the SSD is actually an array of chips soldered to the main board.

[ecs]

The SSD can be replaced and even upgraded to one with larger capacity, it's the RAM which is soldered down:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Air+13-Inch+M...

[sjg]

Separate stick but it's not a standard mSATA one. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina/...

Agreed, it does sound like dying storage.

[rat840771]

well i took the plunge and ordered some new 2 x 4GB ram from crucial.com and it has transformed my Mid 2012 MBP for speed.