Mac OS X Lion Roundup: Recovery Partitions, TRIM Support, Core 2 Duo Minimum, Focus on Security

With the first developer preview of Mac OS X Lion having been out for over 24 hours now, some additional points of interest are surfacing from those who have had a chance to look through the build. Among the interesting observations:

- Apple has added support for a separate recovery partition, hiding away utilities needed for repair and troubleshooting right on the user's hard drive. The new system will allow users to boot to the recovery partition without the need for an operating system disc. The move, along with the shift to Mac App Store distribution for the developer preview, signal a reduced reliance on DVDs that may become important if other notebooks follow the MacBook Air's lead and see their internal optical drives removed entirely.

153551 lion system profiler trim

- As noted by MacGeneration [Google translation], Apple has added TRIM support in this initial developer build of Mac OS X Lion. TRIM support provides for optimization of solid-state drives by cleaning up unused blocks of data and preparing them for rewriting, preventing slowdowns that would otherwise occur over time as garbage data accumulates.

- Mac OS X Lion requires a minimum of an Intel Core 2 Duo, leaving out compatibility for Apple's earliest Intel-based machines offering Core Solo or Core Duo processors.

- CNET notes that Apple has apparently invited a number of security researchers to test out Mac OS X Lion, a move that seems to signal a more open relationship with those who are trying to find security vulnerabilities in Apple's software.

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Top Rated Comments

Winnychan213 Avatar
187 months ago
Seriously? People are whining that their now 5 year old computers won't be supported? :rolleyes: That's how technology progresses. 5 years encompasses a lot of technology.

I install windows 7 on my seven years PC and it screams! (Not just the noisy fan)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
me_94501 Avatar
187 months ago
Seriously? People are whining that their now 5 year old computers won't be supported? :rolleyes: That's how technology progresses. 5 years encompasses a lot of technology.
A new computer is also a significant investment for some, considering the continually sucky economic climate. Given that, I'd say you're a little too quick to dismiss people's concerns.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lostngone Avatar
187 months ago
Core 2 Duo minimum?

Does that mean it will run crappy on a 2010 MBP or will it run smoothly?
2010? Really? That is really old! What possible reason would you have to still be using that? Didn't that come installed with Jaguar or was it Panther? Does it even run Leopard? I think it is time to upgrade that antique!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PatrickCocoa Avatar
187 months ago
Ghost Killer

Well, there goes my still-perfectly-functional-and-used MacBook 2 GHz Core Duo. :(

Because when your neighbor installs Lion, his version will leap across to your house and kill your old MacBook?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)