MacBook Air set to pose a threat to Chromebook with Mac OS X Lion upgrade

Apple’s upgraded version of its desktop operating system, Mac OS X Lion, is expected to allow faster access to the Internet without having to log back in when the user’s system is locked, a report said.

The application comes as a welcome addition for Apple users and it is expected to be a tough competitor for other companies who are dealing in the same browser service.

A report from MacRumors said that Apple has started a browser-only mode called ‘Restart to Safari’ in OS X Lion - the forthcoming version of Apple’s desktop operating system. The feature will provide an option to the browser’s lock screen which will give the user a sandboxed version of the Safari browser.

The newly upgraded feature on the MacBook Air could pose a serious threat to Google’s Chrome OS-based Chromebooks.

The $1000 MacBook Air running Lion, which is set to be released in July, will feature an 11.6-inch display with1366 x 768 resolution, 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 2GB RAM, 64GB flash storage, two USB 2.0 ports, and a Mini DisplayPort.

Lion, however, requires a computer with a minimum of 2GB RAM and a Core 2 Duo processor, and it is still unclear as to how it will perform on a PC with minimum specs, a report on the PCWorld website said.