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

[ArtOfWarfare]

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

I agree, but given I was already tricked into getting Lion, I may as well go forward with Mountain Lion.

Oh, and missing from your list:
Widgets and Spaces.

Seriously, what the heck were they thinking when they decided to change how those worked? I vastly preferred the old system of having 2x2 spaces with a layer of widgets on top of them all. I could access any space or widget with just one gesture. Now if I want to get to my widget from space 4, I have to cross space 3, 2, and 1, and then go all the way back to get back to them.

Or go into that mess known as system control.

Bleh!

... maybe I can benefit from Apple's lack of including obvious features again and just write a little app that adds them in?

 

[AaronShep]

who cares?

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

 

[rwilliams]

Holy ****. Now I'm really happy that I wasn't cheap, and picked the 13" unibody macbook (not pro) late 2008 version. Apparently that one is supported, but the white one is not.

I have the same model, so it looks like I get at least one more OS update. It'll be a shame when this model does become obsolete, because it still works beautifully. I've never had a computer that lasted this long and worked so well, but then again, I moved to the Mac after years of Dell & Sony disasters.

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

I agree. I don't really NEED for my laptop to sync up with my iPhone and iPad via Reminders, Notes, Messages, etc. It's nice, but hardly essential. I hope they keep the cheap price tag on this update.

 

[Lesser Evets]

I'm shocked that they are already planning for another OSX within about a year of the last one. From a business perspective, it makes sense due to the price of recent OSX versions: release sooner, more and make more cash. $29/yr instead of $129 every 2.5 years or so, and drop hardcopy media and booklets and boxes and shipping and distribution etc.

Even more daunting is how quickly the old hardware is now being jettisoned from OSX. 4yo machines are already vorbei. Horrible, but the extras these OS versions are bringing aren't world-shattering necessary for productivity; OSX is loading up with trinket functions instead of spending time honing and improving their existing programs (some of which are bizarrely underdeveloped after a decade).

 

[FroMann]

Hopefully my Core 2 Duo with the Nvidia 320m will still be good enough in the next 3 years.

 

[bse3]

I have the same model, so it looks like I get at least one more OS update. It'll be a shame when this model does become obsolete, because it still works beautifully. I've never had a computer that lasted this long and worked so well, but then again, I moved to the Mac after years of Dell & Sony disasters.

Same here, for me it was an Acer Laptop fiasco – lasted three days longer than the warranty – and all custom built PCs before that. Still happy with my MacBook, and not really looking to upgrade soon.

 

[wikus]

I agree, but given I was already tricked into getting Lion, I may as well go forward with Mountain Lion.

Oh, and missing from your list:
Widgets and Spaces.

Seriously, what the heck were they thinking when they decided to change how those worked? I vastly preferred the old system of having 2x2 spaces with a layer of widgets on top of them all. I could access any space or widget with just one gesture. Now if I want to get to my widget from space 4, I have to cross space 3, 2, and 1, and then go all the way back to get back to them.

Or go into that mess known as system control.

Bleh!

... maybe I can benefit from Apple's lack of including obvious features again and just write a little app that adds them in?

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?!

 

[bse3]

I'm shocked that they are already planning for another OSX within about a year of the last one. From a business perspective, it makes sense due to the price of recent OSX versions: release sooner, more and make more cash. $29/yr instead of $129 every 2.5 years or so, and drop hardcopy media and booklets and boxes and shipping and distribution etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if it came free.

 

[ixodes]

I'm shocked that they are already planning for another OSX within about a year of the last one. From a business perspective, it makes sense due to the price of recent OSX versions: release sooner, more and make more cash. $29/yr instead of $129 every 2.5 years or so, and drop hardcopy media and booklets and boxes and shipping and distribution etc.

Even more daunting is how quickly the old hardware is now being jettisoned from OSX. 4yo machines are already vorbei. Horrible, but the extras these OS versions are bringing aren't world-shattering necessary for productivity; OSX is loading up with trinket functions instead of spending time honing and improving their existing programs (some of which are bizarrely underdeveloped after a decade).

You have brought up some very valid points. Something that also reveals the possible direction that Apple has chosen in search of greater profits.

By selling new hardware with each update or major point upgrade, the bottom line continues to climb. Bragging rights become greater, and the always impressive size of Apple's ego continues to grow.

They've got to have some really big heads to fill that spaceship their building

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

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

Oh, and I just remembered one of my favorite features that they touted in Snow Leopard and then promptly removed in Lion.

Click and hold on any icon in the dock and it would show you all the windows for whichever app you were pointing at! Fantastically handy! So intuitive that even though it's gone in Lion, I still try doing it all the freakin' time (and it never works. )

 

[jll62]

From a business perspective, it makes sense due to the price of recent OSX versions: release sooner, more and make more cash. $29/yr instead of $129 every 2.5 years or so, and drop hardcopy media and booklets and boxes and shipping and distribution etc.

I wouldn't assume that the $29/yr price will stick. It's trending downward and that will likely continue. With the iCloud launch, Apple positioned the Mac as just another device. They already give away major iOS releases for free and 10.8 shows that Apple clearly wants parity between common features of iOS and OS X. The best way to encourage people to upgrade is to remove cost as a barrier. I expect that this update or the next will be free.

 

[NewtonsApple]

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?!

Houston, we have a problem. I wondered the same exact thing. Mission NOT accomplished! But that's just from messing around at Best Buy. I am still on Snow Leopard on a Macbook Pro 1, 1. I am still very happy with it overall, though I am not a power user by any means.

 

[KALLT]

The both of you just made my day a whole lot better. I saw Late-2008 up there and got worried for a minute. I'm extremely happy with my decision now. Still rocking the removable battery and the latest OS. It's a good day.

Dito, it’s indeed good news. I’m having second thoughts though, as my Unibody MacBook has become slower with each upgrade, notably Lion. Restarting usually takes ages and beach balls are not seldom. If Apple is indeed cutting the cords for several Macs, this might suggest that Mountain Lion could require a sacrifice of overall performance.

 

[ALongoria23]

I have a late 2008 MacBook, and the model number is A1278. I should be good to go, right?

 

[theSeb]

I agree, but given I was already tricked into getting Lion, I may as well go forward with Mountain Lion.

Oh, and missing from your list:
Widgets and Spaces.

Seriously, what the heck were they thinking when they decided to change how those worked? I vastly preferred the old system of having 2x2 spaces with a layer of widgets on top of them all. I could access any space or widget with just one gesture. Now if I want to get to my widget from space 4, I have to cross space 3, 2, and 1, and then go all the way back to get back to them.

Or go into that mess known as system control.

Bleh!

... maybe I can benefit from Apple's lack of including obvious features again and just write a little app that adds them in?

You can have your widgets come up on any space with F12. I don't understand the issue?

 

[jll62]

Oh, and I just remembered one of my favorite features that they touted in Snow Leopard and then promptly removed in Lion.

Click and hold on any icon in the dock and it would show you all the windows for whichever app you were pointing at! Fantastically handy! So intuitive that even though it's gone in Lion, I still try doing it all the freakin' time (and it never works. )

Dock Expose still exists, but it's called App Expose now. If you're using a trackpad (either on a laptop or with the Magic Trackpad), you can three finger swipe down to show the open windows for the app currently in the foreground. Alternatively, you can hover over an icon in the dock and three finger swipe down to show the open windows for that particular app.

I actually find this implementation far more useful than the way it was done in Snow Leopard, to the point where I actually use it now. I never used it much in Snow Leopard. Some will be disappointed that a trackpad is required, but gestures play such a big role in Lion that even iMac users should consider picking up a trackpad.

Control-F3 seems to do the same for foreground apps, as well.

 

[416049]

I wonder if imacs from 2007 will still be supported e.g. at redeon 2400 and 2600, btw has somebody tried installing it on a macbook with x3100? what happens?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Dock Expose still exists, but it's called App Expose now. If you're using a trackpad (either on a laptop or with the Magic Trackpad), you can three finger swipe down to show the open windows for the app currently in the foreground. Alternatively, you can hover over an icon in the dock and three finger swipe down to show the open windows for that particular app.

I attempted that but it didn't work? Pointing my cursor at a safari window and swiping down with three fingers caused the cursor to move and highlight everything it passed. Pointing my cursor at various items in the dock just caused them to be dragged below the dock.

Edit: Okay, I found it in preferences. I actually had it set to four fingers, not three. I changed it to three. I wish mission control and app expose didn't both get triggered at the same time.

I actually find this implementation far more useful than the way it was done in Snow Leopard, to the point where I actually use it now. I never used it much in Snow Leopard. Some will be disappointed that a trackpad is required, but gestures play such a big role in Lion that even iMac users should consider picking up a trackpad.

I actually have a trackpad for my iMac. It was a surprise Christmas present from my girlfriend. It actually prompted me to make Battery Status when I realized Apple offers no suggestions for how long the batteries in the trackpad will last. (Percent doesn't mean much unless you know how quickly the percent goes down. On the iPhone, it's fairly easy to tell from percent, because you know that when you wake up it's at 100%, by 1 or 2 it's at 50%, and sometime in the evening it hits 0%. When the battery percent only drops by 10% every few weeks, it's difficult to know how much longer it'll last.)

Next big issues for me... the inaccessibility of widgets (why is there no gesture to reach the dashboard?)

 

[fanspeed]

@ wikus ditto

I agree i don't want my desktop to be 1 big Ipad. said it before and I'll say it again you Apple fanboys are becoming what the 1984 Macintosh commercial was against.

 

[Icaras]

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.

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that came with Lion and got rid of it.

Please don't make ignorant assumptions, thank you.

Like your assumption that Mountain Lion will be slower and less stable than Snow Leopard when it isn't even released yet? Oh, my...

 

[cubbie5150]

And no ATI X1600 support either...

Was expecting this. My late 2006 MBP (purchased in March 2007) w/ X1600 card is gonna get replaced w/in 12 months anyway, I think. Hoping I can squeeze at least that much more life out of it anyway.

 

[Mal]

I agree i don't want my desktop to be 1 big Ipad. said it before and I'll say it again you Apple fanboys are becoming what the 1984 Macintosh commercial was against.

Eh, another person who doesn't understand anything about the insults they attempt to throw, just tossing out the standard troll bait. I count 3 classic flamebait comments in that one post.

I, for one, will likely be grabbing Mountain Lion as soon as it's available, and I'm sure that I'll be one of the ones that hits some bugs, but since I know how to work around problems when I find them, I'm not worried.

jW

 

[Northgrove]

Phew! I indeed have an Oct 2008 MBP but fortunately with better graphics cards than these.

 

[orangerizzla]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Gotta say I always preferred the OS numbers to the names. What's higher than a mountain Lion, a Lunar Lion?

 

[Icaras]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Gotta say I always preferred the OS numbers to the names. What's higher than a mountain Lion, a Lunar Lion?

Unfortunately, A Lunar Lion is not listed in the family of Big Cats.