Speed v Version

[Chris Devers]

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 12:12 PM, Dave Hodgkinson <davehodg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Also note on my perfectly 64 bit macbook pro:
>
> $ uname -p
> i386

On Mac OS X 10.6, the system boots to the 32-bit kernel by default.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4287
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3773

You may get a performance boost by rebooting into the 64-bit kernel.
On the other hand, you may see all kinds of subtle & not-so-subtle
things explode in imaginative, hilarious fashion.

Presumably, 10.7 will boot to the 64-bit kernel and drop support for
32-bit mode. This wasn't a feasible default for 10.6, as it still
supports the original Intel Core Solo/Duo Macs, which had 32-bit CPUs.
Everything after the Core 2 Duo was 64-bit, and that seems to be the
baseline spec for 10.7, so an updated kernel seems like a safe guess.

--
Chris Devers