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Worth the bother to upgrade to Lion?

K

Kashika

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 8, 2010
129
0
I've had the option of upgrading to Lion for free for a while now.
Since I've only just gotten my MPB I decided to first get used to snow leopard before upgrading. I also didn't want to lose the functionality and customization I have now with my apps and widgets.

My question is: Should I wait with upgrading to Lion?

I've downloaded the installer a while ago, which remains valid forever right?
 
Yep i think so. And yes you should upgrade. I'm happy I did. Mission control takes a while to get used to, but once you do it's great.
 
Hi Kashika,

I bought lion from the app store, cloned my hard disk and installed it and lion works great. I have/had no custumization problems. In fact it is your decision but think: Why do you want to get used to snow leopard when you can upgrade now?

Lion is a great operating system and if I were you I would upgrade now.

Have a nice day,

Linus
 
Although most of Lion's new features didn't interest me, File Vault 2 alone convinced me to upgrade and I'm happy with its seamless encryption. Future Lion releases will surely iron out any bugs currently being reported. And iCloud is a bonus that will probably come in handy.
 
No hurry

I'd say that there was no compelling hurry unless (a) you particularly want the improved encryption or (b) you use iWork heavily and like the sound of the new document autosave/versioning approach - it will be a while before other major software vendors support those features.

It also depends on whether you are a mouse person or a trackpad version. Also, whether you use your MBP "stand alone" or with an external monitor. Most of the UI changes in Lion involve more effective use of smaller screens and better use of trackpad gestures.

Personally, I've upgraded my "play" machine but it will be a while before it goes on the "work" machine. So by all means give it a go, but if you're not dying to try it wait until ~ 10.7.3 is out.

The big deal-breaker is if you use any old PowerPC applications, since they no longer work under Lion.
 
I would agree about the PowerPC apps as a reason to hold off... if you use them
Or other incompatible software
But I would encourage you to find alternatives to those
(I made the transition from Quicken to iBank)

No harm in staying with SL, but the OSX train is leaving the station with Lion
You won't want to lag too far behind

I made the upgrade with no issues on an older 2007 MBP
 
I upgraded on 2 of my systems (both secondary), a MBP 2010 and iMac 24" early 2009 and it works well on both. The MBP was a clean install and the iMac was an upgrade. Both work just fine. No sleep issues, no beach balls, everything just works. I must say the only feature I really notice on a day to day basis is the auto correction in almost every app just like IOS. I enjoy this very much.

Of particular note, I got rid of that annoying reverse (natural -read IOS) scroll the minute I installed it on the MBP. It was harder to disable on the iMac since my mouse section in system prefs did not have the tick box. I had to borrow a trackpad, untick the natural scrolling on that pref screen. Once done my mouse worked correctly as well. Rather annoying. I wonder if I had done a clean install the mouse prefs would've offered the correct options.

Probably will update my primary system in a few months once I make sure everything works. I also kept a bootable version of the original SL setup just in case.

Cheers,
 
I'm also hesistant to upgrade because of some apps not functioning as they did in snow leopard.
A few of my apps are not legit I believe. I got them for free online, while they cost money in the app store.
Will upgrading to Lion remove these apps or block their functionality?
 
Kashika said:
I'm also hesistant to upgrade because of some apps not functioning as they did in snow leopard.
A few of my apps are not legit I believe. I got them for free online, while they cost money in the app store.
Will upgrading to Lion remove these apps or block their functionality?
Click to expand...

You guys still using SL crack me up. Not because I'm a Lion fan (I'm not)... mainly because you think Apple is sending you along some dark road with no way back once you upgrade to it.

Go to Wal-Mart and spend $40 for an external drive. (You should already have an external drive anyway).

Install Lion on this drive, boot from it and test the waters. Install your questionable apps and see if there are compatibility issues.

I even went so far as to just clone my SL drive to an external, then upgrade Lion onto that external. After a month or so I had done enough testing that I simply upgraded permanently. (Only because of the pending iCloud). No surprises - no looking back.
 
dba415 said:
don't upgrade, I regret that I did
Click to expand...
I noticed not long after you posted, your entry received a negative -1.

Too bad people love to be so negative and not respect your choice.

Upgrading is an individual choice, and I think your being wise to not upgrade if you don't want to.

Sadly Apple promotes lack of choices & discourages independent thinking. They have fostered a huge base of followers that rely on what "Steve" thinks is best for them.

It's like the argument against a 7" iPad. Hundred of entries in that thread fiercely bash the idea. Yet I know that suddenly if Apple announced one, those same people would flip flop & brag about how brilliant the idea is. A word that comes to mind is "Hypocritical" :)
 
vitzr said:
I noticed not long after you posted, your entry received a negative -1.

Too bad people love to be so negative and not respect your choice.

Upgrading is an individual choice, and I think your being wise to not upgrade if you don't want to.

Sadly Apple promotes lack of choices & discourages independent thinking. They have fostered a huge base of followers that rely on what "Steve" thinks is best for them.

It's like the argument against a 7" iPad. Hundred of entries in that thread fiercely bash the idea. Yet I know that suddenly if Apple announced one, those same people would flip flop & brag about how brilliant the idea is. A word that comes to mind is "Hypocritical" :)
Click to expand...

This is somewhat true. Apple does indeed have some rather dedicated followers who believe Apple can do no wrong. However, I believe Apple does what it thinks will work for the vast majority of users and is less concerned with more advanced users. Therefore choice is one of the first things sacrificed.

I moved to a Motorola Xoom from my iPad 1 not because it was all that much better than the iPad but because I want the flexibility to do things Apple believes I don't need to do.

Cheers,
 
Kashika said:
I've had the option of upgrading to Lion for free for a while now.
Since I've only just gotten my MPB I decided to first get used to snow leopard before upgrading. I also didn't want to lose the functionality and customization I have now with my apps and widgets.

My question is: Should I wait with upgrading to Lion?

I've downloaded the installer a while ago, which remains valid forever right?
Click to expand...

I'm so happy I upgraded, and I'm new to the community, so hi everyone, also.
I haven't experienced any issues. Like all new versions, it takes a bit to get used to, and it's only in the .1, so like all of the other versions past, you might have a bug or two, but the majority of the reviews are positive so far (read that App store's reviews, and weigh the bad against the good. Some of the bad reviews are about the most minor details.)
 
vitzr said:
I noticed not long after you posted, your entry received a negative -1.

Too bad people love to be so negative and not respect your choice.

Upgrading is an individual choice, and I think your being wise to not upgrade if you don't want to.
Click to expand...
Or it could me that he was voted down because he provided no reason whatsoever, thus adding nothing to the conversation.
It's like the argument against a 7" iPad. Hundred of entries in that thread fiercely bash the idea. Yet I know that suddenly if Apple announced one, those same people would flip flop & brag about how brilliant the idea is. A word that comes to mind is "Hypocritical" :)
Click to expand...

Are you actually calling people hypocritical for something that occurred only in your mind? What word comes to mind for that? These "I know how people would react if Apple did such and such" are illogical and tiresome. If you can't make your argument with real world examples and actual logic, then you don't have an argument.
 
I've made a backup using time machine. How can I use that to install Lion on that drive and boot off of it? Confusing...

Thanks for all the replies by the way.
 
dba415 said:
don't upgrade, I regret that I did
Click to expand...

vitzr said:
I noticed not long after you posted, your entry received a negative -1.

Too bad people love to be so negative and not respect your choice.

Upgrading is an individual choice, and I think your being wise to not upgrade if you don't want to.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the the negative rep was for severe lack of detail.
 
sit tight, and let Lion mature

I upgraded my mid 2011 MBA and it halved the battery life, and a lot of convenience features were broken. Lion did not play well with Firefox either. i never saw a Beach Ball on my MBA until i went to lion... my machine has 4 gigs of ram and safari was eating memory like crazy.

i spent under 30 minutes reformatting and going back to SL, and I regret not going back sooner, it was easy. My MBA is back to its awesome self. the battery is back to lasting forever (8 hours of usage) like it used to, no more beachballs, and all the gestures are back to working...

i would wait. lion in its current form, sucks.
 
Kashika said:
I've had the option of upgrading to Lion for free for a while now.
Since I've only just gotten my MPB I decided to first get used to snow leopard before upgrading. I also didn't want to lose the functionality and customization I have now with my apps and widgets.

My question is: Should I wait with upgrading to Lion?

I've downloaded the installer a while ago, which remains valid forever right?
Click to expand...

Yes...you should upgrade.... I too bought my new MBP with SL on it. I upgraded to Lion but then my battery life went from 7.5 hours to 3.5 hours BUT after the recent patch for Lion my battery life is back to 7-8 hours. It is worth the extra functionality. Apple has done a great job with Lion! :)
I would burn it to a DVD so you have it if you ever need to reinstall from a hard copy.....
Edit:
I also did a complete format and install when I did my second install of Lion.....IMHO it made all the difference. Then quickly do all the software updates. Hope this helps.
 
I've seen absolutely no compelling reason to upgrade whatsoever.

Until software I want to use starts *requiring* Lion, or I buy a new Mac (likely to happen if new Mac Pros come out) I don't plan to upgrade. The plus side is by then all the initial bugs and issues will probably be worked out and it will be as stable and reliable as Snow Leopard is today.
 
zorinlynx said:
I've seen absolutely no compelling reason to upgrade whatsoever.

Until software I want to use starts *requiring* Lion, or I buy a new Mac (likely to happen if new Mac Pros come out) I don't plan to upgrade. The plus side is by then all the initial bugs and issues will probably be worked out and it will be as stable and reliable as Snow Leopard is today.
Click to expand...

this.
well said.
 
I don't think any apps require Lion as of yet. But good point indeed.
It doesn't really matter I believe. Probably easier just to wait for a bit.
 
So it's been about a month and iCloud is out now.
Tempted to make the jump, but still wary.

My mac is three months old and I'm not sure if it's necessary to do a ''clean'' install. It looks like a lot of hassle.
Is it advised to try a clean install instead of just closing my eyes and pressing the upgrade button?
I read that reverting to SL from a TM backup is impossible. So yeah, I'm still in doubt.
 
I upgraded yesterday, and can hardly tell the difference. A couple minor tweaks but other than that everything has been running perfectly for me. The only thing I really miss is the startup sound preference pane that muted the chime when the machine starts up. If you are really hazardous (like I was), you could use carbon copy cloner to clone your drive, and always restore from that if you absolutely loathe it. Someone on these boards also told me if you clean install from your snow leopard disks, you can restore from a previous time machine backup and should be ok.

Good luck!

edit: You can also google guides to change lion settings to be similar to snow leopard (changing trackpad scrolling back, inertia scrolling, how mail looks, etc). itweax comes to mind of an app I used for some settings aswell.
 
meh...

I installed today and migrated my mobile devices into ios5. So far its been a pretty anticlimactic. I cant really even notice a difference except that my expose/spaces combo is gone and replaced by Mission Control which was a bit abrupt but really more or less the same after getting used to it. Icloud is basically a slimmed down free version of Mobile Me.

Anyway, installation was easy and its running fine..as it was before but I cant really say it feels better or different.

Also should state this was a mac pro installation so I dont really see the benefits of the touchpad and gestures. I can see how Lions might be a much better upgrade on a Macbook.
​
 
It's not that I'm afraid of missing SL. It's because I fear that my system loses performance. Maybe because of not doing the clean install or that some of my apps cease working as well as they do now.

I guess I'm still too used to other systems, where things tend to fail :p
 
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