Installing Linux mint on MacBook Air: is it a good idea in 2025?
Table of Contents
My challenge
I have an old Macbook Air from 2013 which couldn’t be updated anymore and it started to annoy me. I am not a superuser but i have a little experience with Linux, both from desktop and server use so i thought, what the heck, let’s do it, let’s install Linux on the old machine and see if we can get it working again.
Strugeling with wifi
I tried different live distros where i couldn’t get the wifi to work, and not having any other means of connecting to the internet from my old laptop caused some headaches. I tried downloading the firmware for my wireless card on a different computer and transferring it on a USB stick but got caught in a version loop, where the version of the firmware I found didn’t meet the version requirements of other related software/drivers, so I gave up on that method.
What worked for me: Linux Mint
After some distro hopping where I tried various flavors of Linux such as Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and i even tried a non-free version of Debian none of which gave me any working wifi out of the box, i landed on Linux Mint which just worked. No tinkering or missing drivers it just works 🙂 And the speed, it feels like getting a new computer.
The only downside is the battery life. I’m not sure if it’s just because the battery is old, or if Linux Mint just is more power-hungry? There has got to be a way to tweak it so it doesn’t drain a fully charged battery in 1 hour.
Remaining challenges
The only remaining challenge i have is the trackpad which i can’t get to scroll the unnatural way, it is stuck on Apple scrolling, its a quirk i can live with, but it would be nice to get it fixed.
Conclusion
This little experiment of installing Linux Mint on my 2013 MacBook Air in 2025 has been surprisingly successful. What started as a way to avoid e-waste and breathe new life into an old device turned into a genuinely positive experience, especially with the noticeable speed improvement. The Wi-Fi challenge was a bit frustrating, highlighting the importance of driver compatibility, but finding a distro that “just worked” made all the difference. The battery life issue remains a question mark, and hopefully, some adjustments can be made. Overall, it proves that even older hardware can still be relevant and useful with the right software. It’s a testament to the flexibility of Linux and a reminder not to give up on seemingly obsolete technology too quickly.
