Here’s a slightly crazy story.
One of my kids managed to completely kill my wife’s old 2018 MacBook Air. It wouldn’t boot, and we’d pretty much written it off—it was destined for the e-waste bin.
But I had a thought: could I bring it back to life? And if I could, maybe I could even improve it by running Linux instead of macOS, which had become painfully slow on this machine.
After a bit of research (and discovering there are three or four different power connectors for MacBook Airs depending on the model), I realised this was one of the last Intel-based versions. A quick order from Amazon later, and a new power cable arrived overnight.
From there, I downloaded Linux Mint and followed this guide:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boot.html
To my surprise—it worked. And it’s still working.
I’ve since ordered a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter so I can hook it up to a larger monitor and make it even more usable.
Honestly, the whole process was far easier than I expected. If you’ve got an old laptop gathering dust, it’s worth having a go—you might be surprised at what you can bring back to life.
I call it my LinuxBook Air