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2ndLife: Refurbishing Macbook Air 6.2 (Mid 2013, Early 2014) For Daily Use(Replace MacOS with WattOS)

    I just managed to dumpster dive an old 2013 Macbook Air laptop. I like its thin and sleek built with the picture below.


Specifications
Codename: MacBook Air.
Processor Speed: 1.3 GHz
Boost Speed: 2.6 GHz.
Processor Architecture: 64-bit.
Processor type: Core i5 (3427U) “Ivy Bridge”. Iterations: Core i7 (4650U) “Haswell”; i5 (4260U) “Haswell”.
Processor upgrade: soldered.
Cores: 2.
Graphics core: Yes.
On-Board RAM: 4 GB, DDR3 1600 MHz.
Max. RAM: non-upgradeable.
Display: 13.3-inch LED-backlit TFT active matrix IPS, 16:10 widescreen, 1440 x 900 pixels max resolution.
Webcam: FaceTime 720p resolution.
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000 graphics with 1.5 GB of shared DDR3 memory.
Storage: 256 GB SSD. Early-2014 version – upgradable to 512GB from 256GB at the time of purchase.
Fusion Drive: No.
Input\Output: 2 x USB 3.0, analog audio out, SDXS card slot and Thunderbolt.
Power Connector: MagSafe 2.
Battery: inbuilt lithium-ion polymer, 54-watt-hour.
Internet \ Wireless connection: inbuilt AirPort Extreme (802.13a/ac/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0.
Preinstalled OS: Mid-2013 – 10.8.4 (12E3067). Early-2014 – 10.9.2 (13C1021).
OS max. upgrade: current.
Dimensions: .11-.68 x 12.8 x 8.94.
Weight: 2.96 lb.

    I then try to see if I can get it to work. As usual, it loads the original MacOS, asking for password from the previous owner. Lazy and not a MacOS fan, I decided to try to install Linux Lite on it. Pressing option button when power up until you get to select the boot device. I chose my USB drive to boot to Linux Lite installation. However, the installation failed during the last leg of the installation. So I tried WattOS(Linux) instead. Initially the final installation hit a failure with GRUB and after I tried to reinstall WattOS again after a reboot, I enabled WIFI and the installation completed without any errors. (Seems funny that installation completes with WIFI enabled for both Macbook). Below is the new WattOS freshly installed. Initially the WIFI network is not working and I had to use a USB WIFI dongle to enable WIFI to update the operating system and install or remove software to my liking. See piciture below.


    I did some research and found that I need to download the proper Broadcom WIFI drivers for WattOS before I can get the WIFI to work. Luckily, I managed to download the Broadcom WIFI driver from below:


    After installing the downloaded driver package and rebooted it, the WIFI works. I was in luck that the MacBook Air comes with a 256GB storage so I have less issues with storage space compared to my previous MacBook Pro (earlier post). As what others have proved, Macbooks with Intel processors can be converted to Linux quite easily.  

    With this, I have got a new laptop to my laptop collection. Hopefully I can find a better working charger for both Macbook as the current one cable has disintegrated over time. Wish me luck!

Side Story:
    I have also dumpster dived a similar hardware specifications - Acer Aspire E1-422 laptop.  Below are the hardware specifications:

 Laptop Clamshell Black
- AMD E E1-2500 1.5 GHz
- 14" LED backlight Gloss
- 4 GB DDR3-SDRAM
- 1 TB HDD
- AMD Radeon HD 8240
- Ethernet LAN 10,100,1000 Mbit/s Bluetooth
- Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) 40 W

    To be honest, I was surprised that the Macbook Air having a slower CPU is actually a lot faster than the Acer laptop. (Proves that you actually pay for better quality hardware when you buy Apple products) This Acer laptop seems to be targeted as a netbook with slow CPU and hard to upgrade RAM slot for its target audience. The Acer laptop running Linux lite hangs quite often, even if I preset the CPU to max performance. Initially I was pissed with it and almost wanted to throw it away. However, after reinstalling it with WattOS does speeds it up a little and less hanging (likely due to mechanical harddisk). I was checking out on the 2 spare 256GB SSD (one unknown brand and one is ADATA) and was planning to change the harddisk to ADATA 256GB SSD to see if the hanging stops (to be completed when I am free). 

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