OS X Mountain Lion Drops Support for Many 2006-2008 Macs with Integrated Graphics

[ikir]

Thats ok, Snow Leopard is still superior (faster, less bloated, more stable and has expose).

No thanks, I'll pass on Lion and Mountain Lion.

Actually Lion is faster than Snow Leopard in 3D and CPU optimization.

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As far as i read the preview from Apple's webpage, i don't see anything that could prevent 10.8 running on Macs with Intel graphic card. Not sure why would Apple want to do that, but that's Apple. While i still enjoying Windows 7 on my old old AMD Athlon64 PC built on 2005. Looking forward for Windows 8 on my old machine, while i throw my old Macbook away. Oh well, i am more will torrent 10.8 and install on my Macbook Pro. Not paying Apple single penny.

GMA HD 3000 is supported, only Gma950 and X3100 aren't since they were slow even years ago. These gfx chips are already not support by modern 3D app and games. Apple let you pay the right price for OS, it is a shame someone like you think pirating is good. Thanks to Apple we can pay software very little.

 

[KingJosh]

Well that's a bummer, considering I just put an SSD into my early-2008 MacBook last night to try and squeeze another year or so out of it before updating.

look at it in the positive way

mountain lion route = buy new machine for thousands
non mountain lion route = your ssd to get a few more years for a tiny price

if you get by now with what you need to do I know which one I would choose even now that I know there won't be support for it

 

[jehy]

Wtf!?!?!

I do hope that turns out to be a load of GARBAGE and they do support the above macs.

I have a late 2008 Black MacBook, 2.4GHZ core duo 2, 4GB Ram (official max, unofficial max is 6GB which is tempting at the moment), 128MB integrated graphics (which uses another 128MB of ram for my 23" LED external monitor running at 1080p - flawlessly I might add!!) 250GB HD and Running Osx Lion.

My MacBook is nearly 4 years old and is still running great! If they dropped support for it I would be more than ANGRY .

£999 For my MacBook + £120 for apple care! Bit of slap in the face for investing in a mac! I don't use it for gaming or any graphic intense apps.

Why should I pay another £1000 or more for another mac to run the latest OS when I have a mac which works perfectly fine!

Its doubly annoying for people who own PPC mac's and one of the listed macs above! That'd be twice apple has shown disregard for its loyal customers!

 

[blackburn]

Looks like iOS release plan. Support 2 / 3 gens at the same time then the older gens get the boot. I do have an old Lenovo laptop that runs windows 7 / Linux without issues. And there are still drivers for it (it's a budget model). It costed half of what my MacBook costed, but it doesn't have an intel gma.

Now intel gma users are doomed one way or another. I didn't buy an MacBook (4,1 at the time) and bought a now dead hp because of the crappy graphics, paying 1200eur for an notebook with crappy integrated graphics no friggin way. Yet the hp plan backfired.

 

[suksmo]

I would hope this move would anger a lot of the users of the unsupported machines and maybe make Apple reconsider. My macbook 2,1 still flies on Lion. I understand fully it does not support a lot of gestures and airdrop from Lion but the same could be done for incompatible features of Mountain Lion.

I really couldn't justify buying another mac for only 3 years OS support. I fully understand I have had 5 years so far but apart from the mirroring feature I see no reason Mountain Lion could not work.

Airdrop actually works on unsupported macs via a command line hack.

It appears this is a financial decision and not much more.

 

[jehy]

I would hope this move would anger a lot of the users of the unsupported machines and maybe make Apple reconsider. My macbook 2,1 still flies on Lion. I understand fully it does not support a lot of gestures and airdrop from Lion but the same could be done for incompatible features of Mountain Lion.

I really couldn't justify buying another mac for only 3 years OS support. I fully understand I have had 5 years so far but apart from the mirroring feature I see no reason Mountain Lion could not work.

Airdrop actually works on unsupported macs via a command line hack.

It appears this is a financial decision and not much more.

Well said!

The annoying thing is apple doesn't NEED, more of my money, i've got an iPhone 4 and when the 5 comes out i'll have that! when the ipad 3 comes out i'll buy that as well! they're getting nearly £1,000 already on mobile devices.

I would seriously considering switching to a none apple made machine if they stop supporting my macbook. I'm not paying any more money for a mac I don't need yet!!

 

[AnonMac50]

You can always move your SSD to a newer Mackbook Pro, heheh..
My MBP is from 2007 but it has an nVidia GeForce 8600M GT card, so I may probably be OK. I just dislike not being able to add more than 4GB RAM.

You can actually reach 6 GB of RAM. It's just Apple that says 4 GB. 8 will give you problems though.

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I feel the same, but I haven't seen any mention of people having troubles with their 2006 Pros. I'm hoping to cling to this machine for another 3 years. The minis are already faster than the Xeon 2.66! Sheesh. I'll just buy a low-end mini and use my present monitors if they still function.

I'm pretty sure we can hold out for a couple more years, but all bets are off after that. If you use your current monitors and get a $600 mini, all you need are TB externals to match your tower's function. Most likely the TB drive housings will reduce price in the next two or three years, and for $1000 you can get a mini set up that works faster than your current computer.

Heck, by that time the iPad will be almost as fast as these towers.



You aren't the only one saying it might be free. Can you provide a precedent? When has Apple ever offered a free OS or major software (aside from the ones installed on the machine)? How would they make money with all that product development?

I can confidently say there will be NO free OS of a different leading integer.

Price might trend down, but it seems to have settled at $29 and that would be fair for a well-progressive upgrade in OSX. It wasn't so long ago that it was $129, and they did $29 with 10.6 because it was a very minor update compared to previous OSX versions. Eliminating all the hassles of packaging, packing design, printing, storage, and shipping, they can bring down the cost drastically and sell more. It's probably at a low at this moment.

10.1 was free for 10.0 users.

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I thought Apple used to advertise how their machines used to get updates for years. Like 7 years.

To be honest, the main features of ML are just a few new apps. If your computer can run L, then it should be able to run ML.

Yes, but the way they are doing it, if you don't have the latest OS, forget getting new apps and updates.

 

[PeteLampoose]

Yep, there is no reason why Mountain Lion should consume more video resources than Lion, so this is Apple's desire to force people buy new-generation Macs.

Besides, OK, 2006-2007 laptops are now 5-6 years old, that's a pretty long term, but late 2008 models that can't be up-to-date after 3-4 years of work... that is sad.

When you buy a new Mac you expect Apple to say you in a couple of years "time to upgrade your jalopy" least of all.

 

[AnonMac50]

Yep, there is no reason why Mountain Lion should consume more video resources than Lion, so this is Apple's desire to force people buy new-generation Macs...

That's what I think. Just like the iPhone 3G and 2G. There was NO CPU or graphics upgrade, or even RAM upgrade, but the 3G can do more.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm not sure I understand you, I am on Lion, when I click and hold on an application icon in the dock, all the open windows of that application are listed on the top of the pop up menu. I use this all the time when web browsing as I will often have multiple windows instead of tabs for this exact use.

I believe this is the behavior in Lion, Leopard, and pre-Leopard versions of Mac OS X. In Snow Leopard, it was different. Clicking and holding on an icon in the dock would activate "App Exposé." - All the windows for whichever app icon you were pointing at would arrange themselves on the screen so you could quickly find the one you were looking for.

Another poster informed me that the feature hasn't been removed, the method for activating it has simply changed. To use it in Lion, one has to point at the icon, and then do a 3 finger swipe down on their trackpad. It has to be turned on in System Preferences > Trackpad > More Gestures > App Expose.

 

[hvfsl]

That's what I think. Just like the iPhone 3G and 2G. There was NO CPU or graphics upgrade, or even RAM upgrade, but the 3G can do more.

It's not about consuming more resources, it's about only supporting graphics cards that are capable of open-CL.

The X1600 doesn't support open-CL, or many of the integrated GPUs.

 

[mcnaugha]

EFI64 not GPU

The Mac requirements have nothing to do with the GPU. ML does not require a heftier GPU. It is purely about the 64-bit kernel. The 64-bit kernel only runs on Macs with EFI64. To find out if you have EFI64 you need to run:

ioreg -p IODeviceTree -w0 -l | grep firmware-abi

If you don't get EFI64 in the output then you ain't running ML. So yes the MacPro1,1 is EFI32 and cannot run 64-bit kernel. This is why the same model also can't run Windows Server 2008 R2 or Server 2008 64-bit.

People have jumped to conclusions despite Apple actually telling them the reason within the seed note.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

You can actually reach 6 GB of RAM. It's just Apple that says 4 GB. 8 will give you problems though.

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I wish you were right, but I checked with Crucial, and my Mac is the model before the one that can be upgraded to 6GB RAM.
I'll double check anyways. My MBP is:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.18f5
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B63921D47
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

UPDATE: I have just ran the Crucial Scanner, and it shows my MBP can take a maximum of 4GB RAM

 

[cybersheep]

If you don't get EFI64 in the output then you ain't running ML. So yes the MacPro1,1 is EFI32 and cannot run 64-bit kernel.

On my blackbook early 2008 i get this output

sh-3.2# ioreg -p IODeviceTree -w0 -l | grep firmware-abi
| | "firmware-abi" = <"EFI64">
sh-3.2#

So there seems to be no technical issue why Apple does not support some Core2Duo Macbooks. Maybe it's really just a financial thing.

 

[RedRaven571]

I don't know why anyone would care about compatibility with this update. It sounds completely nonessential.

The only problem is being left out in the cold moving forward; meaning new apps that will only work on ML....

 

[Rocketman]

My main concern with this is users have been publicly clammoring for better graphics throughout this time frame and didn't get it. Now Apple is designing software that does not work with units they were choosing to ship with specifications they had full control over. They are forcing obsolesence so users who know nothing about graphics and buy on price are forced to upgrade hardware (providing a new profit margin to Apple) above and beyond the fee they charge for OSX Mountain Lion itself.

They also in the past have had buggy upgrades that do not allow proper downgrading to a "working" environment. Pros have been on this roller coaster so many times they have become true trailing edge adopters to prevent being screwed.

Consumers are less savvy and truly are deer in headlights or victim mode to a large degree on these issues.

My concern is there are so many anal groups now regarding consumer rights and such, this trap is less likely to be tolerated as Apple grows to a size comparable to a public utility. Where there are options to go elsewhere, but not better options or ways to use your purchased "assets" in doing so.

I strongly urge Apple while making future hardware, software and services compelling, to at least let them function to some limited degree on older hardware and software combinations less than the typical life of their hardware. I suppose we could debate how long that is, but I think we can all agree that is at least 2 years beyond the longest warranty period, or 5 years. I would personally say from experience closer to 6.

Rocketman

 

[Val-kyrie]

look at it in the positive way

mountain lion route = buy new machine for thousands
non mountain lion route = your ssd to get a few more years for a tiny price

if you get by now with what you need to do I know which one I would choose even now that I know there won't be support for it

The only issue with a lack of support is the lack of security updates.

...Yes, but the way they are doing it, if you don't have the latest OS, forget getting new apps and updates.

Apps are less of a concern than security updates.

The Mac requirements have nothing to do with the GPU. ML does not require a heftier GPU. It is purely about the 64-bit kernel. The 64-bit kernel only runs on Macs with EFI64. To find out if you have EFI64 you need to run:

ioreg -p IODeviceTree -w0 -l | grep firmware-abi

If you don't get EFI64 in the output then you ain't running ML. So yes the MacPro1,1 is EFI32 and cannot run 64-bit kernel. This is why the same model also can't run Windows Server 2008 R2 or Server 2008 64-bit.

People have jumped to conclusions despite Apple actually telling them the reason within the seed note.

On my blackbook early 2008 i get this output

sh-3.2# ioreg -p IODeviceTree -w0 -l | grep firmware-abi
| | "firmware-abi" = <"EFI64">
sh-3.2#

So there seems to be no technical issue why Apple does not support some Core2Duo Macbooks. Maybe it's really just a financial thing.

Ditto here for my Black MB 4,1. This is nothing more than forced obsolescence. I run with 4GB RAM and a 750GB 7200RPM Hitachi HDD, and this does everything I need for the moment. For financial reasons, I have to get at least another year out of it before I am able to update.

 

[briansolomon]

This is pretty frustrating. I haven't upgraded to Lion yet because I'm still clinging to an old version of Photoshop and I know I have to upgrade at some point so I can use iCloud when they shutdown mobileme, but then when I do I'm going to be upgrading to what sounds like a pretty rotten operating system because my 4 year old MacBook has integrated graphics and won't support Mountain Lion? If only Apple had never switched to integrated graphics in the first place when they moved to Intel.

 

[dakwar]

I do hope that turns out to be a load of GARBAGE and they do support the above macs.

I have a late 2008 Black MacBook, 2.4GHZ core duo 2, 4GB Ram (official max, unofficial max is 6GB which is tempting at the moment), 128MB integrated graphics (which uses another 128MB of ram for my 23" LED external monitor running at 1080p - flawlessly I might add!!) 250GB HD and Running Osx Lion.

My MacBook is nearly 4 years old and is still running great! If they dropped support for it I would be more than ANGRY .

£999 For my MacBook + £120 for apple care! Bit of slap in the face for investing in a mac! I don't use it for gaming or any graphic intense apps.

Why should I pay another £1000 or more for another mac to run the latest OS when I have a mac which works perfectly fine!

Its doubly annoying for people who own PPC mac's and one of the listed macs above! That'd be twice apple has shown disregard for its loyal customers!

I completely agree. I'm liking Apple less and less every day, but will wait until the official release of 10.8 to decide if dropped support for the early 2008 MacBook is another reason.

 

[r0k]

This is pretty frustrating. I haven't upgraded to Lion yet because I'm still clinging to an old version of Photoshop and I know I have to upgrade at some point so I can use iCloud when they shutdown mobileme, but then when I do I'm going to be upgrading to what sounds like a pretty rotten operating system because my 4 year old MacBook has integrated graphics and won't support Mountain Lion? If only Apple had never switched to integrated graphics in the first place when they moved to Intel.

I agree. I have 3 Minis and 2 Macbooks with integrated graphics. All will have to get replaced. I think I'll start cleaning off our rarely used minis so I can sell them to buy some newer (probably refurb) non integrated graphics Macs. Now that I'm cleaning stuff out, maybe I'll finally sell off that museum piece G4 mini we have down in the basement.

 

[resonator]

Not Happy

Not very happy here either being that my machine has the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics and won't be able to upgrade. Many people spend $2000-$3000 dollars on some of these machines. Not everyone is made out of money to upgrade every 2 or 3 years.

 

[nicklad]

The Mac requirements have nothing to do with the GPU. ML does not require a heftier GPU. It is purely about the 64-bit kernel. The 64-bit kernel only runs on Macs with EFI64. To find out if you have EFI64 you need to run:

ioreg -p IODeviceTree -w0 -l | grep firmware-abi

If you don't get EFI64 in the output then you ain't running ML. So yes the MacPro1,1 is EFI32 and cannot run 64-bit kernel. This is why the same model also can't run Windows Server 2008 R2 or Server 2008 64-bit.

People have jumped to conclusions despite Apple actually telling them the reason within the seed note.

Yet nothing major would stop them releasing an EFI update to take these machines to 64-bit...

 

[Mal]

I wish you were right, but I checked with Crucial, and my Mac is the model before the one that can be upgraded to 6GB RAM.
I'll double check anyways. My MBP is:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1

UPDATE: I have just ran the Crucial Scanner, and it shows my MBP can take a maximum of 4GB RAM

Crucial is wrong (no surprise, can't stand them). Use MacTracker instead, which shows that it can support 6GB of RAM.

jW

 

[Amethyst]

No Reason....

1. It way faster than some supported Mac. (1.4GHz C2D MBA) plus some latest macs.
2. If GPU is the problem, Mac Pro user can easily replace it.
3. 64bit compatibility is based on processor. not boot loader. As you can see MP 1,1 can boot 64Bit Kernel just use some trick.

I see no reason for AAPL to drop it.

 

[monkeybongo]

It gets worse. Mission control is a complete failure.

Try working on 2 documents in Illustrator, 3 in Photoshop and 1 in Indesign, and having a couple finder windows open, Xee, and some other stuff. Youre currently in one of your photoshop documents and you need to find a file, open it in illustrator and bring it into photoshop.

In Snow Leopard:

show all windows all at once in expose, go to finder (any finder window) open in illustrator, copy object, show all windows again all at once and go DIRECTLY into the desired photoshop document and paste.

In Lion:

show all windows in mission control, and then get stuck with all finder windows being grouped together. randomly choose one and then find window. then open file in illustrator, copy object and use mission control only to find all photoshop document windows AGAIN be grouped, which the only solution is to pick the front document and hope its the desired one, and if not, use mission control AGAIN to fan out all documents within the application, requiring another useless step, just like the initial step with finder.

Who the hell was in charge of mission control?

And why is there no option in system preferences for mission control to show all windows at once without grouping?!

I agree, I have a similar problem. You can add a show all windows in the current selected app and tie it to 3 finger swipe down but I'd still like to have the show all windows as a option.