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MacBook Air Q&A
Revision Published August 10, 2019
All Mac Q&As >> MacBook Air Q&A (Home) | Also See: All MacBook Air Specs
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What processors do the MacBook Air models use? Is it upgradable?
Officially, Apple only revealed that the original MacBook Air has a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (P7500 or P7700) and was "custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions of the MacBook Air." Apple also provided the following image to compare the size of the standard Intel Core 2 Duo processor to the one in the MacBook Air.
The always excellent AnandTech did some digging and discovered that the "packaging technology used for this CPU is what makes it unique; the CPU comes in a package that was originally reserved for mobile Penryn due out in the second half of 2008 with the Montevina SFF Centrino platform. Intel accelerated the introduction of the packaging technology specifically for Apple it seems."
After AnandTech published their initial speculation, Intel followed up with their own statement, noting that the original MacBook Air uses "existing Core 2 Duo technology with a lower voltage spec in a new miniaturized packaging design."
Subsequent MacBook Air models are far less mysterious, although Apple has not released the actual Intel processor number for any of the systems. EveryMac.com documents the Intel processor number for all MacBook Air models on the main MacBook Air specs page as well as on the specs page for each model.
All MacBook Air models have a soldered processor and it cannot be upgraded after the time of initial purchase.
How do you upgrade the RAM in the MacBook Air models? How much RAM of what type does each support?
The short answer to this question is you cannot upgrade the RAM in the MacBook Air models as it soldered in place.
The longer answer is that some models could be upgraded with twice as much RAM as stock at the time of purchase at additional cost, but cannot be upgraded at all afterwards. Different lines use different types of soldered RAM.
Specifically, MacBook Air RAM details include:
| MacBook Air | RAM Type | Standard | Max* |
| Original | 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| "Late 2008" | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| "Mid-2009" | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| "Late 2010" | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| "Mid-2011" | 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB/4 GB† | 4 GB |
| "Mid-2012" | 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| "Mid-2013" | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| "Early 2014" | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| "Early 2015" | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| "Mid-2017" | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
* Maximum RAM applies to the maximum that could be installed at the initial time of notebook purchase for an extra US$100. It cannot be upgraded subsequently.
† The entry-level "Mid-2011" MacBook Air model -- the MC968LL/A configuration of the MacBook Air "Core i5" 1.6 11-Inch (Mid-2011) -- has 2 GB of RAM standard and could be upgraded to 4 GB at the time of purchase. All other "Mid-2011" MacBook Air models have 4 GB of RAM soldered in place and cannot be upgraded at all.
What are the capabilities of the external SuperDrive available for the MacBook Air? What other Macs does it support?
The external SuperDrive that is available for the MacBook Air writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL at 4X, DVD-R and DVD+R at 8X, DVD-RW at 6X, and DVD+RW at 8X. It reads DVD at 8X, writes CD-R at 24X, writes CD-RW at 16X, and reads CD at 24X.
When first introduced in 2008, the external MacBook Air SuperDrive only was intended to work with the MacBook Air models, although Apple has offered it subsequently for the optical drive-less aluminum Mac mini models, "Tapered Edge" aluminum iMac models, Retina Display MacBook Pro models, the Cylinder Mac Pro line, and other Macs that do not have internal optical drives.
At the time the MacBook Air SuperDrive was released, some speculated that the USB 2.0 port(s) in the pre-"Mid-2012" MacBook Air models had been "boosted" to provide extra power beyond that provided by most other Macs. Further speculation from AppleInsider concluded that the MacBook Air SuperDrive could work with other Macs if not for software restrictions and states that it is possible "Apple is offering the drive as a loss leader convenience for Air users, and doesn't want to support the drive on other systems because it's not making any money on it."
However, after a truly "überleet" hardware hacking session, tnkgrl eliminated "power boosting" and software restrictions as possible variables -- as well as others -- and discovered that replacing the IDE to USB bridge with another one (for US$9) made it possible to use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with older Macs as well as other computers. More recently, Lukas Zelller first discovered a software method that simply involves editing a single line in a text file. This simple edit still could cause problems with operating system updates, however.
Ultimately, the external MacBook Air SuperDrive will not work with incompatible Macs without hacking and Apple obviously does not support hacking whether hardware or software, either one.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (SuperDrive - Left), OWC (Blu-ray Options - Right)
However, the MacBook Air SuperDrive will work with all Macs that do not have an internal optical drive, just not earlier Macs, and the MacBook Air also can support just about any USB-based optical drive that has OS X drivers.
Site sponsor Adorama has the official aluminum Apple SuperDrive for US$79 and Other World Computing has a variety of compact external optical drive options, as well.
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