MacOS Lion Released

August 5, 2011 :: John Mulhern, Information Systems and Computing

Mac OS 10.7 Lion, formally announced on June 6, 2011, is the seventh significant update to Mac OS X, Apple's UNIX-based desktop operating system. It became available exclusively from the Mac App Store on July 20, 2011, bypassing traditional distribution channels. Information Systems & Computing (ISC) currently supports Mac OS 10.7 Lion for its clients, including off-campus students, only on new Macintoshes that ship with Mac OS 10.7 pre-installed. ISC strongly recommends that all other University users adopt a "wait and see" approach, continuing to use previous versions of Mac OS (including Mac OS 10.5.8 and Mac OS 10.6.8) until the initial bugs in Mac OS 10.7 are identified and fixed.

When ISC recommends this upgrade, it will be for Apple systems with Intel Core 2 Duo or newer processors (this excludes Core Duo and Core Solo Macs) that have at least 2.0 GB of RAM (this excludes Core Duo and Core Solo Macs). Note that 2.0 GB of RAM is the minimum required amount, while ISC recommends 4.0 GB for a a substantially improved experience. The full installation of Mac OS 10.7 Lion uses at approximately 4.5 GB of disk space for the download and installation depending on the type of Macintosh and choices made during the installation.

For more information, visit http://www.upenn.edu/computing/help/doc/os/macos/macos107.html.