9 reviews for Lightweight Apple MacBook Air 2017: Power Meets Portability!

1. 

   EBecker1982 – December 2, 2025

   Really impressed with how well this device from 2017 stands up in 2025.
   I wanted to get an older Intel Mac for the sake of hauling it around and doing some things to it that are “off label” so to speak. I had low expectations, but for under $200, I figured, worst-case, I’d throw some flavor of Linux on it and use it as a secondary device. While it isn’t as fast as my M3 MacBook Air that I use mostly at home, it is incredibly serviceable. It is refurbished, mine came with a brand new battery and for this particular device the battery life is really great, even under a bit of load it’s 4+ hours, and I’m a bit of a heavy user so you may get more. Upgradeable (just ordered a larger SSD for it because I am using it so much that I’m investing in more storage, the specialized drive for it runs around $60 or you can get the NVMe SSD of your choice with an adapter if you have a spare lying around you want to use.) OpenCore will get you to Sequoia and I’ve heard some people are able to run Tahoe Beta. Without modification though it runs Sonoma which for most people will do just fine.You’re not getting the greatest screen with an 8 year old computer but the screen actually looks really good. The i5 Processor and 8 GB of RAM are not powerhouses these days but if you have a $200 budget and have to choose between this and one of those new budget laptops with a Celeron or N95/100/etc. this will do much better! Just remember, this is an 8 year old device as far as the tech. It does great. But if you’re expecting an experience similar to the new M-series processors, you won’t get it. I would suggest looking into a refurbished Air with an M1 if you want that experience. That said, it packs a lot more punch than I thought it would and I am currently using it as my out of the house daily driver.It does get a little warm under load but not hot. If you’re just web browsing, YouTubing, doing school or office work, maybe some very basic photo or video editing, this machine will do just fine.For people with a little less tech experience, I would suggest making sure you save files to the cloud or a USB drive (also has an SD card slot if you want to go that route.)This does NOT have USB-C and Thunderbolt 2 does not natively connect to current Thunderbolt/USB-C. There are adapters for that on Amazon if you need it for any reason. With the right cable that port can also be used to connect to an external monitor if you need it.OH. And! Keyboard and Apple Logo are both backlit. I believe this was the last MacBook Air with a backlit Apple Logo. If nothing else that increases its “cool factor.”Bigger bezels than new devices, but honestly, they don’t bother me and I think most people won’t find them excessive.I would say this laptop is for:StudentsChildren who you want to give a first computer to where you don’t need them to have the latest and the greatest.People who have been using Windows and want to try a Mac but don’t want to commit big money to the ecosystem yetPeople who have a Chromebook budget but don’t want a crappy underpowered machine that is effectively a web browser with mobile apps and don’t know how to use the Linux environmentPeople who are interested in the Hackintosh community but would rather have the real thing.People looking at those sub-$300 computers with EMMC memory and 4 GB of RAM and underpowered processorsHope that this helps people who are thinking about this computer but are on the fence. It’s truly a great machine. And while Apple has dropped support for Intel, security updates should continue to roll out for a few years in case safety is a concern.

2. 

   Joshua Love – December 2, 2025

   Great Macbook at an affordable price!
   I’m 100% satisfied with this purchase. I highly recommend that people don’t need to pay a fortune for brand new. This laptop looks great and it works perfectly. Highest recommendation.

3. 

   Lauren – December 2, 2025

   A mess
   I ordered one and the entire two bottom rows of keys stuck, would click like there was sand under the keyboard, or wouldn’t pop back up so my sentence looked like this“Mmmmmmmmy nnnnew laptop Is unnnnnnnnusabbble”So I reached out to Amazon support who processed a replacement. Unfortunately the replacement was also unusable because the charging port would not hold the charger in it. So unless I wanted to sit there and hold the charger for 2 hours to charge it I had to return that one too. So I reached out to support again and processed that return.I ordered a third one hoping the third time would be the charm but alas, it was not. This one has a battery life of about 18 minutes from full charge until it’s dead. I understand these are refurbished but I have some major concerns about quality control at this point as it doesn’t seem like random bad luck that I’d get 3 laptops with major problems.Also adding that these are listed in excellent condition however there are also significant cosmetic issues as well. Scratches, deep dents, bent corners. Not something I’d look at and say “yeah this is in excellent condition”. I hope the seller takes more care in refurbishing these in the future because it feels like they are just out here taking in a computer, restoring it to factory settings and listing it for sale. No way they could do even a cursory check of these and not notice 20 sticky keys or the inability to charge a computer.This process has taken me about 3 weeks from placing my first order and has been a headache all around. I wouldn’t recommend these unless you are fully aware that you’ll need to dedicate time and money to making the computer you receive able to be used.

4. 

   Tatiana – December 2, 2025

   Love it ❤️
   Looks and work like brand new, which did not surprised me because a few years ago , I got a renewed MacBook Pro from Amazon and it was the same: it arrived like new and is still working perfectly. Of course, you have treat it gently and keep up with any maintenance (both physical and software-related) This MacBook Air was a gift for my father. It came like brand new, free of any cosmetic damage like scratches and scuffs. Nothing!After examining the physical appearance we made sure we’re getting the right specifications, too. To see basic information about the Mac, choose Apple menu > About This Mac. In this case, this info was just as described.The battery is in great condition too and it last for so many hours, I don’t know exactly how many because I never let the battery to run out of power.Also We tested all ports:* Two USB ports* 1 Thunderbolt port* 1 MagSafe power port* 1 SDXC card slotAll five ports are working perfectly., as well as the 3.5 mm headphone jack.The Stereo speaker and the microphones are working fine too. The Full-size backlit keyboard is fantastic The backlit is sooo bright, but we know to pessF5 to lower keyboard brightness and F6 to raise it. That’s so simple.The MacBook came with “Catalina version 10.15.6” and it was asking to update to “ Monterrey’ , which at first we were very hesitant to do because the laptop ran so smoothly just as it came and didn’t want to ruin it. We consulted by phone the local computer shop and they said It’s best for your computer to be on the latest software update. It fixes bugs, gives some new features, but most importantly, they have tons of security fixes. So we did it and now the laptop is running just as fine as it came, just with better features.All in all we are very happy with this purchase!!! Thanks Amazon for offering these amazing renewed laptops and many, many thanks to the vendor!!!

5. 

   Samuel – December 2, 2025

   Got the laptop looks absolutely mint. Wouldn’t take my apple ID at first so I continued to register and set up.Once in I realized this laptop has been stuck on macOS high Sierra. It would not accept a operating system upstate via the app store.It would give an error message saying “the recovery disk could not be contacted”So I researched and during a restart push buttons *option + command + r”Then in the internet recovery set up, you can reset the installation of Monterey.Worked like a charm.

6. 

   Monserratt – December 2, 2025

   Llegò en excelentes condiciones . Recomendable todo! Y llegò antes de tiempo

7. 

   isabelfit – December 2, 2025

   Y al parecer todo súper bien como nueva la batería también le dura como 3 días. Digo pues depende la guerra que le des pero si me gustó y la recomiendo.

8. 

   Chris L. – December 2, 2025

   I received the laptop in January and it worked well for 40 days. The battery died and the device started having problems with the wifi connection.Sending the device back cost me $50.It’s been more than 10 days since I returned the device and I haven’t heard back yet. A disgrace!

9. 

   Meghan – December 2, 2025

   I was very hesitant to purchase a refurbished computer as I’ve never had luck but I am so glad that I did. I got this MacBook and when I opened the packaging it was just like opening a brand new Macbook, everything was in immaculate condition and the cycle count was 62, I was shocked. The only issue I had was that when I opened the MacBook for the first time there were literal crumbs inside all over the keyboard but other than that it’s fabulous and works fantastically. Will highly recommend this seller and their products to anyone asking.