What Lurks in Lion’s New System Profiler…

Last week, I shared my first impressions of Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”. Today I want to share a few neat things I noticed in Lion’s System Profiler, located in the “About this Mac” menu, under the Apple menu.

Lion’s method of displaying relevant hardware information in the new System Profiler is vastly improved over previous versions. Take for example, the “Overview” tab, which shows a pictorial view of your computer, along with relevant information (processor, memory, graphics card, serial number and installed OS).

Jumping around, the “Memory” tab shows not only the total available RAM your Mac has, but it also includes a pictorial view of the slots and the memory modules that occupy them. No more guessing as to where each module is located.

Under storage, all the storage devices attached to the machine are listed, with an iOS style representation of the contents and available free space. It’s easy to see, at a glance, what type of data is taking up the most space on any given hard drive. At the bottom of the panel is a convenient button to launch Disk Utility.

Next, we have the “Displays” tab, which lists the type and size of displays that are connected to your Mac. Interestingly enough, the display images correspond with how they are configured within the Displays preference. There is also a handy “Displays Preferences” button which launches the Displays Preference Pane.

On the far right, we have the “Support” and “Services tabs. The “Support” tab points to relevant hardware and software resources for your machine and installed OS. Clicking on either will take you directly to the corresponding Apple support pages.

The “Services” tab lets you quickly check your AppleCare coverage, as well as show service and repair options. This is a long overdue (but certainly welcome) addition.

The visual approach to the new System Profiler is packed to the brim with helpful hardware information and useful resources. While some may dismiss all this as mere “eye candy”, I feel that this is the first time the System Profiler is a logical jumping off point for those who want to know more about their Mac, or for those who need to troubleshoot it. In other words, the new System Profiler finally ties in with the rest of the OS, making for a more cohesive experience.

To sum up, for me, the System Profiler is one area where I feel Lion really got it right. In future posts, I’ll be exploring other facets of Lion, like Mission Control and Launchpad.

Stay tuned.

-Krishna

Krishna July 27, 2011 Lion System Profiler