OS X Mountain Lion Won’t Download Unless Your Mac “Looks” Supported

Customers attempting to download OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion when it’s released this month will have their systems screened by the Mac App Store before Apple charges any credit cards, according to a new report.

512 Pixels reports that “some people have had the App Store balk at downloading 10.8 betas on machines that don’t meet requirements,” with the site adding that Apple would do well to keep this restriction on board for the final build.

Indeed, downloading a $20 / €16 OS simply to find out that it doesn’t work on your computer should be frustrating, to say the least. A few Lion purchasers found this out the hard way.

For whoever’s interested, Mountain Lion requires an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.6.8 or later, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage.

According to Apple’s tech specs page for OS X Mountain Lion, supported systems include: iMac (Mid 2007 or newer); MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer); MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer); Xserve (Early 2009); MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer); Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer); and Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer).

There will also be some feature-specific requirements for users looking to leverage the full functionality of the new cat, though Apple will not impose these on installation.

For example, AirDrop supports only some computer models, including: MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer); MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer); MacBook (Late 2008 or newer); iMac (Early 2009 or newer); Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer); and Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010).

And the new PowerNap feature only supports MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer) and the brand new MacBook Pro with Retina display.