{"id":14536,"date":"2012-07-20T08:04:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T13:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=14536"},"modified":"2014-05-22T13:29:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T18:29:00","slug":"dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t be Surprised by Mountain Lion Requirements."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-14537\" title=\"MLsurprise\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/MLsurprise.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/MLsurprise.jpg 210w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/MLsurprise-110x120.jpg 110w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/MLsurprise-173x190.jpg 173w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/>OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is on its way, and we\u2019re all looking forward to all the new features and tweaks that this latest version offers. Unfortunately, not every Mac user is going to be able to ugrade to Mountain Lion, though. While Macs generally have a long \u201cactive support\u201d life, every iteration of OS X leaves a generation or two behind and Mountain Lion is no exception.<\/p>\n<p>The big thing this time around is 64-bit compatibility. Your computer needs to not only have a 64-bit capable processor, but <em>also <\/em>64-bit capable EFI boot firmware. Some Macs, like the 2006 and 2007 Mac Pros, have 64-bit processors, but their EFI firmware is only 32-bit capable, so they won\u2019t be able to run Mountain Lion.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.apple.com\/osx\/how-to-upgrade\/\">According to Apple<\/a>, the following computers will be able to run 10.8 Mountain Lion. If you don\u2019t know how to find your Model ID, we\u2019ve got <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/model_id_screen.gif\">a guide that will show you where to look<\/a>.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: iMac7,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or\u00a0Early\u00a02009 or newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: MacBook5,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>MacBook Pro (Mid\/Late 2007 or newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: MacBookPro3,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>MacBook Air (Late 2008 or\u00a0newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: MacBookAir2,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac mini (Early 2009 or\u00a0newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: Macmini3,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mac Pro (Early 2008 or\u00a0newer)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: MacPro3,1 or later<\/li>\n<li><strong>Xserve (Early 2009)<br \/>\n<\/strong>ModelID: Xserve3,1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your machine makes the cut, you\u2019re only part way there. There are a number of other specifications you\u2019ll want to make sure you meet before installing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Apple requires at least 8GB of free space on your main drive. <\/strong>However,\u00a0that doesn\u2019t include space required for any applications or extra documents. If your drive is relatively full already, you may want to go ahead and either purchase a <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/shop\/internal_storage\/hard_drives_and_SSD?utm_source=eshop&amp;utm_medium=navbar&amp;utm_campaign=InternalStorage\">larger platter-based drive<\/a> or add <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/Search\/Search.cfm?Ntk=Primary&amp;Ns=P_Popularity%7c1&amp;Ne=5000&amp;N=4294967255+6922&amp;Ntt=data+doubler\">an OWC SSD with an OWC Data Doubler<\/a> to accommodate the new files. If you go with the latter, you may wish to look into <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/13511-owc-introduces-techknowlogy-video-series\">our guide for splitting the OS and User Files<\/a> between the two for best compatibility; though it was originally written with Lion in mind, it should also work for Mountain Lion.<\/li>\n<li>Apple also requires at least 2GB of memory for running the OS. Once you start running multiple applications at once, you\u2019ll notice a drop in performance. <strong>We recommend installing <em>at least <\/em>4GB, preferably 8GB, and ideally the maximum amount your computer can handle.<\/strong> Don\u2019t limit yourself to Apple\u2019s suggested maximums, though; many Macs can handle much more memory than Apple lets on. To find out if your computer is one of these, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/memory\/maxram\">our MaxRAM certification page<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Since Mountain Lion is only downloadable from the Mac App Store, <strong>you will need to have either Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion 10.7.x installed prior to upgrading<\/strong>, so that you can access it.<\/li>\n<li>Since it is only downloadable, you will also need a fairly quick Internet connection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All indications are that Mountain Lion will be arriving within the next week or two, so make sure you\u2019re ready today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is on its way, and we\u2019re all looking forward to all the new features and tweaks that this latest version offers. Unfortunately, not every Mac user is going to be able to ugrade to Mountain Lion, though. While Macs generally have a long \u201cactive support\u201d life, every iteration of OS [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"class_list":["post-14536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.2 (Yoast SEO v20.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Don\u2019t be Surprised by Mountain Lion Requirements.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mountain Lion is on its way. Unfortunately, not every Mac user is going to be able to ugrade to Mountain Lion. Here&#039;s how to make sure you can upgrade when the time comes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t be Surprised by Mountain Lion Requirements.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mountain Lion is on its way. Unfortunately, not every Mac user is going to be able to ugrade to Mountain Lion. Here&#039;s how to make sure you can upgrade when the time comes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocket Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-20T13:04:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-22T18:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/MLsurprise.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"210\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"230\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OWC Chris S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OWC Chris S.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"OWC Chris S.\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5c0041c3c31fa112eb41d2c150a858f1\"},\"headline\":\"Don\u2019t be Surprised by Mountain Lion Requirements.\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-20T13:04:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-22T18:29:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"10.8\",\"Apple\",\"Hard Drive\",\"Mac OS\",\"Memory\",\"Mountain Lion\",\"OS X\",\"OSX\",\"requirements\",\"specifications\",\"specs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tech Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/14536-dont-be-surprised-by-mountain-lion-requirements\/\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t be Surprised by Mountain Lion Requirements.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-20T13:04:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-22T18:29:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mountain Lion is on its way. 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