Apple Makes OS X Lion and Mountain Lion Free to Download

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Apple recently dropped the $19.99 fee for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, making the older Mac updates free to download, reports Macworld.

os x mountain lion macs 16x9 2
Apple has kept OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion available for customers who have machines limited to the older software, but until recently, Apple was charging $19.99 to get download codes for the updates.

As of last week, these updates no longer require a fee, and can be downloaded from the OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion support documents on Apple's website.

Mac OS X Lion is compatible with Macs that have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor, a minimum of 2GB RAM, and 7GB storage space.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion is compatible with the following Macs:

  • iMac (Mid 2007-2020)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
  • Xserve (Early 2009)

Macs that shipped with Mac OS X Mavericks or later are not compatible with the installer, however.

The $19.99 fee dates back to when Apple used to charge for Mac updates. Apple began making Mac updates free with the launch of OS X 10.9 Mavericks, which also marked the shift from big cat names to California landmark names.

Mavericks was free to download, and Apple has not charged for Mac software since then outside of the legacy Lion and Mountain Lion updates. Apple also used to have OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard available for a fee, but it is no longer purchasable.

Tag: OS X

Top Rated Comments

Unregistered 4U Avatar
Unregistered 4U
4 weeks ago
Just another money grabbing move from Apple! (you KNOW someone’s going to spin it that way :)
Forcing people to buy old Macs in order to use the FREE software. We’re ONTO you, Apple!
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
dannyyankou
4 weeks ago
Thanks?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ZipZilla Avatar
ZipZilla
4 weeks ago
Should have downloads for every OS so people can use old computers.

At least Snow Leopard
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
justperry Avatar
justperry
4 weeks ago
Should have all OS X/macOS versions available for download.:)
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adcx64 Avatar
adcx64
4 weeks ago
Great news knowing I won't have to pirate it 10 years from now when those Macs become retro enough for me to have fun with.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Amazing Iceman Avatar
Amazing Iceman
4 weeks ago
About time. It seems they ignored this for a very long time!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

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