Earlier today, Apple released what is intended to be the final version of the next major OS X upgrade to developers.
The “golden master” release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, now more hiply referred to simply as “OS X Mountain Lion”, was released to developers for their final review. The release has no know issues and is largely expected to be the version that will ship to customers later this month when he software goes on sale in the Mac App Store for $19.99.
A list of major features can be found on the Apple website. As with Lion before it, the “iOS-ification” of Mac OS X continues as Apple further blends the familiar interfaced used on the iPhone and iPad into their desktop and notebook Macintosh system software.
When Mountain Lion goes on sale, it will support the following Macintosh models.
- iMac mid-2007 and newer
- MacBook late 2008 Aluminum or early 2009 and newer
- MacBook Pro mid and late-2007 and newer
- Xserve 2009
- MacBook Air late 2008 and newer
- Mac mini early 2009 and newer
- Mac Pro early 2008 and newer
Be advised that not all models of hardware will be able to take advantage of all of the new features such as AirPlay. AirPlay will only work on mid-2011 models of Macs and the second and third generation Apple TV boxes. Bummer.
For the full list of hardware and feature specific feature requirements, visit the Mountain Lion technical specifications page for more details.