How To Upcycle Your 2010–2017 MacBook Air

Apple may not love your MacBook Air anymore, but you still can

The tapered-body MacBook Air models from 2010–2017 were iconic laptops. I owned one myself and carried it everywhere. Even today, they remain impressively thin and light, with an excellent keyboard and a sharp display. Apple is estimated to have sold around 50 million of these machines.

Unfortunately, even the latest of these models have been unsupported by Apple for years. This doesn’t just mean they’re out of warranty — it means you can’t install the newest macOS, many apps eventually stop working, and even basic web browsing becomes insecure. It’s frustrating, because these computers are still perfectly functional. They’ve simply been rendered obsolete by Apple’s policies.

The good news? These machines don’t have to be e-waste. You can replace macOS with Linux — a fast, secure, modern operating system that updates itself and can keep your MacBook Air running for another decade.

And despite the myths, you don’t need to be a tech expert to use Linux. In fact, I’ll show you exactly how an everyday user can install it and enjoy a smooth, reliable, and secure experience.

What you’ll need for this:
- An 8gig (or more) USB drive
- Maybe a USB Wifi adapter (more info on that in step 3)

Step 1: Download Linux

One reason the “Linux is hard” myth persists is that there are so many versions of it. Unlike Windows or macOS, Linux isn’t a single off-the-shelf operating system — it’s a large family of purpose-built systems designed for different needs. If you happen to pick the wrong distribution (“distro”), the experience can feel frustrating.

Over the past five years, I’ve tested countless options, gathered feedback from everyday users, and developed what I believe is the most user-friendly choice: Nixbook. It has been deployed thousands of times, proving itself to be both stable and easy to use.

Of course, you’re free to try other Linux distros — but for this guide, I’ll be walking you through how to install and use Nixbook.

To get started, visit https://github.com/mkellyxp/nixbook, scroll down to “Click here to download the ISO,” and save the file. You can do this on the computer you intend to upcycle, OR any other Mac you have. The USB drive can be flashed on any computer you like.

Step 2: Flash USB Drive

For this step, you’ll need a USB thumb drive with at least 8 GB of storage. Be aware that the process will completely erase the drive, so make sure it doesn’t contain any files you need to keep. Once you have the drive ready, plug it in. If macOS shows a popup, you can safely ignore it.

There are two ways to write the ISO file to your USB drive, depending on which version of macOS you’re running.

• macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer: The easiest option is to download a program called Etcher. With it, you can create your bootable USB in just a few clicks.
• Older versions of macOS: You’ll need to use the Terminal. Don’t worry — it’s straightforward, and I’ll guide you through the steps.

If you’re using Etcher, visit https://etcher.balena.io/ and click Download. Install it as you would any other Mac application — open the disk image and drag the app into your Applications folder.

If the Etcher icon appears greyed out, your version of macOS is too old. In that case, you’ll need to use the Terminal method (which I’ll walk you through next).

Open Etcher and select the Nixbook ISO you downloaded in Step 1. Next, choose your USB drive as the target. Once both are selected, click Flash to begin the process.

When the process is done, MacOS will likely be annoying again and complain it doesn’t know what you’re doing, click ignore (don’t worry MacOS, soon you’ll be gone!)

That’s it! If you flashed it correctly, go down to Step 3. If you need to manually flash it, keep reading.

Manually Flashing the ISO with the Terminal

Manually flashing the ISO is straightforward — it only takes a couple of commands in the Terminal. Start by opening the Terminal app and entering:

diskutil list

You’re looking for the disk that your USB drive is on. In my case (and likely yours) it’s disk2

Now you need to go where your ISO is by typing:

cd Downloads

You can type “ls” and press enter to make sure your ISO is in that folder (it should be). And then you simply type the magical command:

sudo dd if=nixbook-installer-25.05.20250726.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m

This command copies your input file (if) to your output file (of), which is your USB drive. The actual filename of the Nixbook ISO may differ slightly when you download it, so after typing sudo dd if=nix, press the Tab key to auto-complete the file name.

For the of value, be sure to use rdisk (not disk) and specify the correct disk number (in this example, 2).

You’ll be prompted for your password, and the process will run for several minutes. It may look like the Terminal is frozen, but don’t worry — it’s working. Once it finishes, the prompt will return, and you’ll be ready for Step 3.

Step 3: Boot the Installer

For this step completely shut down and power off the Macbook Air. Once it’s completely off, press the power button and as soon as you hear the startup chime, press and HOLD the “option” key. You should see a little boot menu.

Insert your USB drive from step 2, and it should look like this:

Click or arrow over to the EFI Boot on the right and press enter, and you should see this:

Leave the default option selected and press Enter. After a short boot process, you’ll arrive at the desktop and installer. Congratulations — you’ve just started Linux on your old Mac! (Not so hard, right?)

For the installation, you’ll need an internet connection. Click the menu in the upper-right corner (next to the battery icon) and check for a Wi-Fi symbol. If it’s there, simply connect to your network and continue.

If you don’t see a Wi-Fi option, don’t worry. Most MacBook Airs from this era use Broadcom Wi-Fi chips that aren’t supported in the installer. The good news is they are supported once the system is fully installed. If your upper-right menu looks like this:

In this case, you’ll need a small USB Wi-Fi adapter to complete the installation. Don’t worry — you won’t need it once the system is installed, but it’s required during the setup process. These adapters are inexpensive and easy to find. At the time of writing, one costs around $20 on Amazon. Here’s the link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00762YNMG

Once you plug this into the other USB port, you should see the wifi icon show up and now you can pick your wifi network. Once you do that, give it a few seconds to connect and then your installer should look like this. (or without the power supply warning if you’re plugged in).

Simply press next here, then select your time zone, and then next again to select your keyboard (usually just the default)

Next, you’ll set up your user. You can choose whatever username and password you want, AND you can change it later. Just make sure to check off “Use the same password for admin account”, to keep things easy.

Next, you’ll choose between Nixbook and Nixbook Lite. Both use the same desktop environment, but there’s one key difference:

• Nixbook Lite includes only the Firefox web browser and no app store.
• Nixbook (full version) comes with an app store, Chrome, Zoom, and OpenOffice preinstalled.

If your MacBook has less than 4 GB of RAM, Nixbook Lite is recommended for best performance. With 4 GB or more, the full version will run smoothly.

Next, you’re selecting where Nixbook should be installed. Just select “Erase disk” and then set the dropdown to “Swap (no hibernate)”

You’ll see a summary of your choices — click Next to begin the installation. The process can take some time, depending on your internet speed, since it downloads all the packages needed to build your system from scratch.

During installation, you may notice it appears to “hang” at 48%. This is completely normal — it’s simply the step where packages are being downloaded. Just be patient, and once it’s finished you’ll see the All done screen.

Finally, check Restart now and click Done to complete the installation.

You can now remove both the USB drive and the Wi-Fi adapter. If everything was set up correctly, your Mac will reboot to a login screen — just enter the password you created earlier, and you’re in!

If you installed Nixbook Lite, you’re all set and ready to use your system. If you chose the full version of Nixbook, a few additional apps still need to be installed. These will download and install automatically once you reconnect to the internet.

To connect, click the Wi-Fi symbol next to the clock and select your network. As soon as you’re online, you’ll see notifications as the apps are installed.

Once the process is complete, your desktop should look something like this — and that’s it, you’re done!

Step 4: Tweaks and Using your Nixbook

At this point, you’re all set — congratulations! You’ve successfully transformed an old Mac into a self-updating Linux machine that can serve you reliably for years to come.

If you’d like, there are also a few optional tweaks you can make to further improve your experience.

By now, Nixbook includes both Chrome and Firefox, so you can use whichever browser you prefer. The default is set to Firefox, but you can change it by clicking the Start button, opening Settings, selecting Preferred Applications, and updating the Web option.

While you’re in Settings, feel free to explore. You can customize colors, themes, and font sizes, and even update your password if you’d like.

If you installed the full version of Nixbook (not Lite), you can now install additional apps. Click the Start button, then select the icon with the blue circle and white dots — that’s the Software Store.

From there, you can browse thousands of free apps, all available to install with a single click. To find something specific, use the search icon in the upper-left corner.

Step 5: Go Play!

Congratulations — you’ve saved your Mac from the trash and given it many more years of life! Nixbook is built to be reliable and self-updating, so there’s nothing you need to do to keep it current.

Any apps installed through the Software Store will update automatically. Once a week, you’ll also see a notification that system updates are being installed in the background — but you can continue using your computer during this process. The only thing we recommend is rebooting about once a month to make sure you’re running the latest version of the OS.

That’s it! If you have any comments or questions about Nixbook or the installation process, I’d love to hear from you.