Mountain Lion and Mac Air Rev A

[MalDuffin]

Hi there,

I've recently applied new thermal paste to the ol' Rev A, and am keen to use it at home as a sort of try things out on it computer ( not critical to work ) such as the new ML OS.

Has anyone tried installing Mountain Lion on one of these? I don't want to pay the developer subscription fee to gain access to ML just to find out that it won't even install on a Rev A - I read a few postings that it might not work, but didn't see anything definitive.

Thx in advance for any info...
Mal

 

[Mark77]

Hi there,

I've recently applied new thermal paste to the ol' Rev A, and am keen to use it at home as a sort of try things out on it computer ( not critical to work ) such as the new ML OS.

Has anyone tried installing Mountain Lion on one of these? I don't want to pay the developer subscription fee to gain access to ML just to find out that it won't even install on a Rev A - I read a few postings that it might not work, but didn't see anything definitive.

Thx in advance for any info...
Mal

I am not sure if this will help you, but I think it may point you in the right direction. I just read, in the last week, maybe even in this forum (I read so many, I can't keep track) that Apple released a list of machines that will no longer be supported as they transition to Mountain Lion. The list, which I am sure you will find (my apologies that I cannot just remember were I saw it) pretty much listed the chronological break - so as an example, (and this is just an example, not an actual example from the info release) that an "early 08 MBP would not be supported, but the mid 08 would). I do remember the Air's status - it said that the very first one is out. I happen to have one, and I am less then thrilled that it is obsolete. I do have a little bit of a problem with the reward for being an early adopter is you get the shaft, but I do understand the need for technology to progress. If the machine cannot handle the newest OS, it is what it is. I just caught a break with my Macbook Pro & iMac, I think I just made it under the wire with machines that were just on the cusp. People can discuss this forever, but obviously you get what you pay for, and I do not mind paying the premium price for the quality that comes along with Apple products, but I do find it troublesome that a first gen Air is now going to be obsolete. Because I have to be happy with Lion is really not true obsolescence, but I think I do see a little "pushing the envelope" with decisions like not supporting Siri on an iPhone 4.

 

[iPhil]

As of Developer Preview 1, Mountain Lion supports most of the same hardware as Lion:

x86-64 CPU (Macs with an Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7, or Xeon processor)


An EFI64-based system, such as:

iMac (Late 2007 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)

At least 8 GB of free hard drive space

OS X Mountain Lion no longer supports ATI's Mobility Radeon X1600 or Radeon X1900, Intel's GMA 950 or GMA X3100, or NVIDIA's GeForce 7300 graphics processors.

OS X Mountain Lion now supports AMD's Radeon HD 6000 series of graphics adapters.


more info

 

[Mark77]

As of Developer Preview 1, Mountain Lion supports most of the same hardware as Lion:

x86-64 CPU (Macs with an Intel Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7, or Xeon processor)


An EFI64-based system, such as:

iMac (Late 2007 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)

At least 8 GB of free hard drive space

OS X Mountain Lion no longer supports ATI's Mobility Radeon X1600 or Radeon X1900, Intel's GMA 950 or GMA X3100, or NVIDIA's GeForce 7300 graphics processors.

OS X Mountain Lion now supports AMD's Radeon HD 6000 series of graphics adapters.


more info

Thank you for that, iPhil. Obviously, that was the chart I was referring to. "Good looking out," as the expression goes; I didn't even think to check Wikipedia for the list! To my point above re: obsolescence, it is amazing that if I bought two 07 models, I would be golden, but an early 08 Air is off the map. Of course this was unintentional, and they do not have a crystal ball when they design a machine, but there is still something not right about spending over 2k on a brand spanking new Air in early 08 now comes back to haunt me - when buying an older model in 07 is still supported now, in 2012, for a shiny new OS.

 

[gdeputy]

A few things.

1. that hardware is now 4 years old, it's not that surprising that a new operating system won't support it.

2. it's not as if OSX Lion becomes obsolete, it will still function and be supported for years to come.

 

[MalDuffin]

I thought I read something about users editing a plist to allow an other version of iOS to run on unsupported hardware.

I was hoping to give this a go to see if the latest beta ran at an acceptable speed, even if some features ( eg AirPlay for video ) didnt work. If there was a problem, I've no probs installing Lion again.