System version on Late 2009 Macs

I saw one of the new 27" iMacs (3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo model) in a local
dealer today, and made a note of its system version and build number, in
case anyone is curious.

It came with Mac OS X 10.6.1, build 10A2155.

Slightly surprising that it is "10A" not "10B" - that means the system
was based on the retail 10.6 with modifications to support the latest
models, despite being called "10.6.1".

The "2155" in the build number indicates it is a custom build (implied
by a four digit number with '2' in front).

For comparison, retail 10.6 is build 10A432 and a retail 10.6 updated to
10.6.1 is 10B504.

It is not clear whether a 10.6 system on another computer updated to
10.6.1 will also work on these new models. Generally speaking, the
higher letter in the build number should mean that it supports models
which came with a build that had a lower letter, but 10.6.1 came out a
few weeks before these models, so it might not contain all the necessary
support files (or could have older versions).

There won't be any such ambiguity with 10.6.2. It will definitely
include full support for the late 2009 models (when installed on an
older model).

--
David Empson

In article <1j842qd.h13myw1msdp2qN%>,
(David Empson) wrote:

> I saw one of the new 27" iMacs (3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo model) in a local
> dealer today, and made a note of its system version and build number, in
> case anyone is curious.
>
> It came with Mac OS X 10.6.1, build 10A2155.

I didn't check the OS X version number of my Mini that arrived
yesterday, but I do know that the updater did download and install
10.6.1 (10B504).

I imagine that is because there was very little change to the Mini other
than processor speed and installed options.

Greg B.

--
Actual e-mail address is gregbuchner and I'm located at gmail.com

Greg Buchner <> wrote:

> In article <1j842qd.h13myw1msdp2qN%>,
> (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > I saw one of the new 27" iMacs (3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo model) in a local
> > dealer today, and made a note of its system version and build number, in
> > case anyone is curious.
> >
> > It came with Mac OS X 10.6.1, build 10A2155.
>
> I didn't check the OS X version number of my Mini that arrived
> yesterday, but I do know that the updater did download and install
> 10.6.1 (10B504).
>
> I imagine that is because there was very little change to the Mini other
> than processor speed and installed options.

Agreed. The hardware was identical apart from those deatils, as far as I
can see from published specs on the Apple store.

--
David Empson

david <> wrote:

> 10.6.x is Snow Leopard. Don't you already know?

Your comment doesn't make any sense. Yes, I did know that 10.6.x is Snow
Leopard.

I was talking about the specific version of 10.6.x which came on the
latest Mac models (since Apple hasn't yet updated their published list
to include the late 2009 models).

The main points of interest being that the latest iMac came with a
custom build of 10.6.1, not the same build as other machines running
10.6.1, and it had the letter 'A' in the build number (unusual, as the
general release of 10.6.1 has a 'B' in that position).

> "David Empson" <> wrote in message
> news:1j858pc.1w5tl4vfjmnohN%. ..
> > Greg Buchner <> wrote:
> >
> >> In article <1j842qd.h13myw1msdp2qN%>,
> >> (David Empson) wrote:
> >>
> >> > I saw one of the new 27" iMacs (3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo model) in a local
> >> > dealer today, and made a note of its system version and build number,
> >> > in
> >> > case anyone is curious.
> >> >
> >> > It came with Mac OS X 10.6.1, build 10A2155.
> >>
> >> I didn't check the OS X version number of my Mini that arrived
> >> yesterday, but I do know that the updater did download and install
> >> 10.6.1 (10B504).
> >>
> >> I imagine that is because there was very little change to the Mini other
> >> than processor speed and installed options.
> >
> > Agreed. The hardware was identical apart from those deatils, as far as I
> > can see from published specs on the Apple store.

--
David Empson