OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) Won't Support Some 64-bit Macs With Older GPUs

MojoKid writes "Apple is pitching Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) as the cat's meow, with over 200 new features 'that add up to an amazing Mac experience' — but that only applies if you're rocking a compatible system. Some older Mac models, including ones that are 64-bit capable, aren't invited to the Mountain Lion party, and it's likely because of the GPU. It's being reported (unofficially) that an updated graphics architecture intended to smooth out performance in OS X's graphics subsystem is the underlying issue. It's no coincidence, then, that the unsupported GPUs happen to be ones that were fairly common back before 64-bit support became mainstream."

Comments

Re:Fast Retina Display MBP

[jo_ham]

First Post because my graphics card is awesome!

Actually, the GPU in the Retina MBP is not all that awesome - the huge pixel density is pushing the Nvidia 650M in the retina Macbook Pro to its limits, causing some performance issues compared to the equivalent desktop on the non-retina version. Examples include rapid scrolling on webpages and so on.

Re:Still haven't gotten an answer

[Baloroth]

It isn't just the graphics card, you need a a Mac with a 64-bit EFI (Ars Technica article has more detail at the bottom).

Re:Just buy new hardware! (NOT)

[bsane]

First gen MBPs are 6+ years old... so fans can still brag about the 5+ year life...

Math is hard.

WHAT MACBOOK PRO DO I HAVE?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

If you are uncertain of the date from which your Mac was produced, I suggest the CoconutID freeware.

It ID's your MacBook (or other model) and pegs the manufacture date within a few days of precision. Clever - it can also perform a lookup and see if a Mac with your ID has ever been reported as stolen. Interesting, for some eBayer's. ;-)

If you ARE on and Mac portable, look at their Coconut Battery app, at the same location. Great for managing battery age, charge history and cycles. It got me free replacement batteries at the Apple Store, on two different machines/occasions. I haven't ever managed that with Sony or Lenovo...