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I want to replace my OS X on MacBook Air Mid 2013 with Ubuntu 16.04, so no Bootcamp because limited disk space on the SSD.

I know the thread EFI boot Ubuntu 14.04 on a Mac without rEFInd and here old overview about "Installing Ubuntu 13.04 on MacBook Air (Mid 2012) [HELP]". I would like to install Ubuntu 16.04 on the newer MacBooks like MacBook Air 2013-mid, however I want to know more about user experiences of 16.04 on newer MacBooks.

My final decision:

  • MacBook 2013-mid was too unstable for me eventually with Ubuntu, although there are many general guidelines to set it up, but little workflows. I have experienced similar issues in newer MacBooks with scientific computing.

  • MacBooks, not even the 2016 model, are not stable for scientific computing on Ubuntu. There are several buggy firmwares, where the manufacturers (Intel, ...) have no incentives to improve the firmwares because of small market. There are closed stable firmwares privately, but you cannot update your system at all if you stick that.

My conclusions about Ubuntu on MacBooks:

  • Do not use Ubuntu for scientific computing on MacBooks.
  • I do not recommend to use Ubuntu for educational uses targeting vertical understanding in many areas on MacBooks because Ubuntu's package management and window manager has substantial artifacts on Apple systems.

Differential solution:

  • Use more open hardware on Ubuntu. Asus Zenbooks work great.

Differential OS in scientific computing:

  • Use Debian if you need rock stability. Ubuntu was not stable enough for me (not even on Lenovo, Dell and Asus hardware) and its support too immature for advanced use case. I have experienced one system crash in 4 months with my new work configuration, in comparison to my previous Ubuntu settings - many weekly system crashes

Differential OS as first and/or hobbyist Linux user:

  • I do recommend Ubuntu because you can get sufficient support here.
karel
  • 114,770
Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
  • 4,647
  • The hardware landscape has totally changed in 2020. A computer that is equipped with a Ryzen octa-core processor, 32GB RAM and a ML-capable GPU is a fast and stable scientific computing workstation. The reality in 2020 is that all Apple computers are decently specced, but ridiculously overpriced and Apple manufactures luxury niche machines that are not a good value for scientific computing. – karel Jan 17 '20 at 15:28

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Macbooks are well supported in 16.04. See the MacBook page on the Ubuntu Wiki.

You can also look at the MacBookAir page. UEFI has been well-supported by GRUB and Ubuntu since 12.x release. Although I guess only 64-bit will work.

  • It is better to use 14.04 because of systemd/upstart bug with runit. See http://askubuntu.com/q/779215/25388 for configurating one Macbook for the LTS with the longest support now. – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 May 29 '16 at 21:55