Apple’s Mac OS X operating systems used to charge users a few for an upgrade in the past. However, users can now get Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Mountain Lion for free. The operating systems, which were released a decade ago in 2011 and 2012 were the last paid OS updates from the company, which cost users $19.99 for an upgrade.

As per a new report by MacWorld, Apple support pages suggest that the OS updates will be available for free. Note that OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion will still be paid upgrades from the Apple Store, but for these limited eligible models, you could get the update for free from the Mac OS X Lion/Mountain Lion support pages.

Why would you still need Mac OS X 10.7 Lion?

Mac OS X Lion is available for older Apple systems that are not compatible with newer software. The update will manage to give these older devices one more major update for free before their software update cycle comes to an end.

The OS updates are eligible for only a limited number of Macs like the older Macs launched before 2012, which again must be factory reset before they can run the updated operating system.

What are the system requirements?

To run Mac OS X Lion, your Apple computer will need to have an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor, Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later already installed, 2GB RAM, and a minimum of 7GB available internal storage. Some features may require an Apple ID and an internet connection, so having those is also ideal.

Meanwhile, to install Mac OS X Mountain Lion, users will require OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8, Lion 10.7 already installed, 2GB RAM, and 8GB internal storage. Again, some features could require an Apple ID and an internet connection too.