Have An Older Mac? Don’t Plan On AirPlay Mirroring

Apple’s next generation operating system, OS X Mountain Lion, brings a much anticipated feature to Apple’s lineup – AirPlay Mirroring, which will simulcast what is on the computer’s display to a second generation Apple TV. But a recent announcement by the company puts a damper on the excitement for the feature: AirPlay mirroring will only be available for Macs newer than 2011.

Here are the compatible Macs: iMac Mid 2011, Mac Mini Mid 2011, MacBook Air Mid 2011, and the Macbook Pro Mid 2011 or newer.

Fairer Platform reports:

Looking forward to broadcasting movies, music and more from your less-than-fresh, though still OS X Mountain Lion compatible, Mac using AirPlay Mirroring? If you don’t have a mid-2011 or newer model, just put that thought out of your mind right now.

Apple has not announced a specific reason for the lack of support for older models, which appear more than capable of sending a video signal over WiFi. But Fairer Platform offers this theory:

My best guess is that these Macs ship with Intel chips (Sandy Bridge) containing the latest and greatest version of Intel Insider, which allows streamed DRM encrypted Hollywood content to play — just guessing…

If you are anticipating the feature, but have an older Mac (like my 2008 Mac Pro), take a look at AirParrot, a $9.99 utility with positive reviews, that provides AirPlay mirroring for Mac OS X or Windows computers.