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Impressions on lion after two months
- Thread starter blackomega31
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Upgraded the day it came out on my month old MBP...
Hated the bugs and getting used to things for the first couple months. I really hated how Safari would hog all of my memory etc. Then I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and BAM it's like a completely different computer!
I mean there's still some bugs but everything loads lightning fast and when I'm working it's almost as fast as my brain!
(Jokes aside it's a completely different experience with 8GB, for me at least)
Hated the bugs and getting used to things for the first couple months. I really hated how Safari would hog all of my memory etc. Then I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and BAM it's like a completely different computer!
I mean there's still some bugs but everything loads lightning fast and when I'm working it's almost as fast as my brain!
(Jokes aside it's a completely different experience with 8GB, for me at least)
I consider OSX Lion a Major step back in many areas, whilst adding only a hand full of improvements (security + Airdrop).
Other features add little to nothing:
(1) Launchpad (I consider everyone who uses Launchpad in stead of Spotlight a novice user)
(2) The duplicate button (was this a deliberate intention to make Mac users look stupid?)
(3) The resume function (when you're working on different projects it actually takes you extra time to first close down the files it has resumed, furthermore it imposes a huge privacy risk)
(4) Full screen apps (maybe useful on a small system with a screen that is barely large enough for a single page, try reading a document in full screen mode on a MAC and you'll see what I mean by 'not useful'
And in many ways productivity has actually degraded on Lion:
(1) Battery time went down from 6 to 5 hours on 2009 MBP.
(2) Automatic brightness adjustment is a mess.
(3) Trackpad is sometimes unresponsive (you have to click multiple times; some colleagues of mine have the same issue).
(4) I now have to open a file again before I can save it to a different location.
(5) NAS no longer works (very good to add new security features, but please add a simple button to keep the old settings such that things keep working).
(6) I had to start a new Time Machine backup, as Lion had found a 'problem'.
(7) Mission control is a step back, particularly when a lot of applications/files are open it takes more time to switch.
(8) Lion introduced many, many new bugs.
By the way, it surprises me a little that when I discuss the issues of Lion with colleagues, everyone is experiencing more or less the same stuff, while here at the forums I notice quite some reactions like "Lion has been working like a charm for me, it must be you". To be honest, I just don't buy that.
Other features add little to nothing:
(1) Launchpad (I consider everyone who uses Launchpad in stead of Spotlight a novice user)
(2) The duplicate button (was this a deliberate intention to make Mac users look stupid?)
(3) The resume function (when you're working on different projects it actually takes you extra time to first close down the files it has resumed, furthermore it imposes a huge privacy risk)
(4) Full screen apps (maybe useful on a small system with a screen that is barely large enough for a single page, try reading a document in full screen mode on a MAC and you'll see what I mean by 'not useful'
And in many ways productivity has actually degraded on Lion:
(1) Battery time went down from 6 to 5 hours on 2009 MBP.
(2) Automatic brightness adjustment is a mess.
(3) Trackpad is sometimes unresponsive (you have to click multiple times; some colleagues of mine have the same issue).
(4) I now have to open a file again before I can save it to a different location.
(5) NAS no longer works (very good to add new security features, but please add a simple button to keep the old settings such that things keep working).
(6) I had to start a new Time Machine backup, as Lion had found a 'problem'.
(7) Mission control is a step back, particularly when a lot of applications/files are open it takes more time to switch.
(8) Lion introduced many, many new bugs.
By the way, it surprises me a little that when I discuss the issues of Lion with colleagues, everyone is experiencing more or less the same stuff, while here at the forums I notice quite some reactions like "Lion has been working like a charm for me, it must be you". To be honest, I just don't buy that.
They add little to nothing for you, but for other people they're quite useful. I do use Launchpad from time to time, though I don't use Spotlight at all, instead going with a third-party program. As far as duplicate goes, what about it is stupid? Resume is optional, though even when it's turned on it's easy enough to keep files you don't want open from being opened. Full screen apps... don't really use that much, but it is nice to just immerse yourself in a single program for no distractions. Aren't opinions (which is all everything you have said and I have said) fun?
1) I've seen other people say that, is it only on pre-2011 laptops?
2) Howso?
3) Haven't experienced that, that's unusual.
4) No you don't. That's what the duplicate feature is for. Guess you missed that.
5) Seen a number of people complain about this, hopefully Apple will fix it soon.
7) Takes less time for me, and I usually have ten or more applications open with corresponding files.
8) I find the people who get the most 'bugs' are the ones with haxies and other software that messes with the system. Maybe not in your case, but it was an enormous issue with previous OS upgrades.
When I discuss Lion with people I know in real life, they're not experiencing the problems that I see people tear their hair out on these forums. They're getting their work done and not having the issues that crop up so much here. To be honest, I just don't buy a lot of the complaining that goes on here. Far too much of it is simply opinion and it's spouted as fact. Don't you just love anecdotal evidence? I think it's wonderful.
Oh, and biased polls are great too.
When I discuss Lion with people I know in real life, they're not experiencing the problems that I see people tear their hair out on these forums. They're getting their work done and not having the issues that crop up so much here. To be honest, I just don't buy a lot of the complaining that goes on here. Far too much of it is simply opinion and it's spouted as fact. Don't you just love anecdotal evidence? I think it's wonderful.
Oh, and biased polls are great too.
You honestly believe that everyones computer and the experience is exactly the same?
I'll have you know, that not every mac out there is built the same... i dont know, like, laptop vs. desktop. Kind of obvious that they use different hardware.
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There are already polls on this forum that are of that question do you like lion or not. I purely want to know if those opinions changed after using it for two months
Ah yes, condescension is wonderful, isn't it? Nobody has exactly the same computer experience, and I have never claimed such. What I claim is that opinion is not fact, as I stated above. Obviously Apple and Lion have issues - what doesn't? But to claim that it's unusable and extremely buggy is hyperbole.
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I'm not sure, but the word is that it is related to the integrated NVIDIA drivers (and thus pre-2011 laptops).
I commute to work by train, so on a sunny day the light intensity can be rather variant. When the amount of ambient light goes down, display brightness is reduced more relative to the increase in brightness when the sun is back again. Therefore, if on a sunny day the sun is behind some buildings a few times, brightness may be reduced to only a few bars and I can't read the screen anymore. I just keep on having to adjust the brightness manually. This problem wasn't present on 10.6.
Are you sure? It doesn't really bother me, and the problem is usually not there, but you may find that at a certain moment you have to click something a second or a third time while you were sure that you didn't miss the button...
I do understand why the Apple engineers didn't make everything configurable, but on things like this I would have really appreciated some extra options in the System Preferences menu.
The amount of bugs is not problematic for me. That's also why I haven't bothered to do a downgrade back to 10.6 (though I really hope some major bug fixing in the upcoming 10.7.2!). Luckily I'm not affected by the problems some on these forums seem to have. However, Since Lion I had my Desktop crashing once (the screen suddenly goes empty, and then the Desktop reloads as if you just booted the system), and for the first time ever on OSX I had to do a hard reset.
I haven't had any problems with Lion. I just prefer SL. It's too bad that we don't have a choice between the tablet-like and desktop UIs all within the same OS. Just think how boring MacRumors Forums would be if that was the case.
I downgraded yesterday, back to 10.6.8..
Battery life in real terms I got back about 3 hrs of usability..
No I don't have to plug in a headphone port to have my internal speakers again.
Light web surfing (8 tabs) with MS office, and mail open is no longer taking over 4gigs of ram.
I miss natural scrolling and the new "spaces"
*edit* and my instant on reboot is back :0)
Battery life in real terms I got back about 3 hrs of usability..
No I don't have to plug in a headphone port to have my internal speakers again.
Light web surfing (8 tabs) with MS office, and mail open is no longer taking over 4gigs of ram.
I miss natural scrolling and the new "spaces"
*edit* and my instant on reboot is back :0)
Ahh. Huh. Hopefully fixable.
Hm. I always use my computer indoors. I haven't looked – isn't there an option to keep the screen from changing brightness automatically?
I always use the trackpad or a mouse, but trying it out now, nope, nothing out of the ordinary.
Indeed. Perhaps with Cook at the helm we'll see some changes over Jobs' vision for Apple. Maybe not major ones, but changes nonetheless.
I've had to do perhaps one or two hard resets with every version of OS X, though in every case it was as a result of something I did rather than just the OS's wonkiness. I wonder what's causing it in your case.
I started out with an open mind, but gradually along the way I began to feel alienated as if Apple were prodding us all like cattle into their pen of choice for the auction sale. I do not like an OS doing things without asking unless it is purely menial and maintenance oriented. The fact that soon come the days where an app can not be bought in hard copy and an iTunes / mobile me account will be the only venue for purchasing third party software puts me very ill at ease. Especially considering that my Apple ID was hacked last weekend and credits stolen.
I insist on feeling like I am solely in control of my machine and my apps.. it's been a true battle under Lion. I don't see it getting any better any time soon unfortunately; it may be getting worse with the introduction of the iCloud where we are to behave as Apple tells us (sheep) and eat whatever they throw down as feed.
What's next- I'm going to have to "jailbreak" my computer????
I insist on feeling like I am solely in control of my machine and my apps.. it's been a true battle under Lion. I don't see it getting any better any time soon unfortunately; it may be getting worse with the introduction of the iCloud where we are to behave as Apple tells us (sheep) and eat whatever they throw down as feed.
What's next- I'm going to have to "jailbreak" my computer????
How is that a fact?
There's nothing that indicates Apple is going to lock down the Mac the way they've done it with iDevices.
I'm getting used to Mission Control, which means I can swipe between desktops pretty fast and know where I am. However, I still hate the fact that there is no useable gesture for "show desktop" and that "all window exposé" is totally gone. I really miss the grid layout, but I can get used to a linear layout. However, I can't get used to not being able to switch to the window I want instantly.
I hate full screen so much that I don't even ever use it, it's just a mess with Mission Control giving it its own space, and the slow animation to enter/exit full screen.
I hate application resume except for when rebooting, and I really hate auto-save and versions, it's annoying and makes doing simple things extremely complicated. When I want to quickly edit a file, print it, and then quit without saving, I need to first duplicate the document, and then CLOSE its window otherwise it will reopen.
I love the reverse scrolling and the scrollbars, and I love everything I didn't mention I hate above.
I hate full screen so much that I don't even ever use it, it's just a mess with Mission Control giving it its own space, and the slow animation to enter/exit full screen.
I hate application resume except for when rebooting, and I really hate auto-save and versions, it's annoying and makes doing simple things extremely complicated. When I want to quickly edit a file, print it, and then quit without saving, I need to first duplicate the document, and then CLOSE its window otherwise it will reopen.
I love the reverse scrolling and the scrollbars, and I love everything I didn't mention I hate above.
If we look at the .0 and .1 release, Snow Leopard was had similar story...remember the "Guest Account" bug ?
So, I am hopeful the few bugs I have like slow responsiveness, shutdown time, start up speed, batterylife, permissions issues...etc may be fixed by the 10.7.2, .3 releases However, not have options of Save As, and Mission control (no control) is a different story all together.
All in all, Lion, was supposed to be thee (Mac) OS X, the king of all cats... what a disappointment.
So, I am hopeful the few bugs I have like slow responsiveness, shutdown time, start up speed, batterylife, permissions issues...etc may be fixed by the 10.7.2, .3 releases However, not have options of Save As, and Mission control (no control) is a different story all together.
All in all, Lion, was supposed to be thee (Mac) OS X, the king of all cats... what a disappointment.
None of the options are appropriate - it infers that nobody will have had an opinion of Lion and stuck with that opinion...
I liked Lion, and like it even more now I've used it for a while.
I liked Lion, and like it even more now I've used it for a while.
What about an always satisfied option? Your choices assume that at some point we all dislike(d) Lion, when not everyone has.
Lion is a great release, bringing in the iOS-like features and mindset. I wouldn't be the last to tell you that there are some bugs, but Lion is a promising release nonetheless.
Lion is a great release, bringing in the iOS-like features and mindset. I wouldn't be the last to tell you that there are some bugs, but Lion is a promising release nonetheless.
I keep Lion on my iMac and Mac Mini, but my Macbooks all run Snow Leopard if they can help it.
The main problem is that Lion sucks battery life a lot. Even if I disregard the bugs and performance problems that occasionally happen, I still can't tolerate being able to work only for 5 hours a day when I'm already accustomed to over 10 hours on my Macbook.
The main problem is that Lion sucks battery life a lot. Even if I disregard the bugs and performance problems that occasionally happen, I still can't tolerate being able to work only for 5 hours a day when I'm already accustomed to over 10 hours on my Macbook.
There are two things keeping me away from upgrading my main iMac
1. Epson has yet to make a universal version of the scan utility. And the built in lion drivers for my scanner does not have the option to scan slides
2 mission control is really hurting when I use photoshop. I have lots of pictures open and expose is fantastic for quick and easy access to other windows. It's grouping of windows would hinder my work
Mind you I really want to upgrade to take use of iCloud
I have convinced myself to upgrade but those two issues keep knocking me back to reality
I have lion on my laptop and it's great there. Lion is a good laptop OS but it does not work on the desktop
Now I would love to see apple make a watered down lion with all the behind the scenes stuff like sandboxing and FileVault but keep the snow leopard ui and add the option to disable autosave and versions
1. Epson has yet to make a universal version of the scan utility. And the built in lion drivers for my scanner does not have the option to scan slides
2 mission control is really hurting when I use photoshop. I have lots of pictures open and expose is fantastic for quick and easy access to other windows. It's grouping of windows would hinder my work
Mind you I really want to upgrade to take use of iCloud
I have convinced myself to upgrade but those two issues keep knocking me back to reality
I have lion on my laptop and it's great there. Lion is a good laptop OS but it does not work on the desktop
Now I would love to see apple make a watered down lion with all the behind the scenes stuff like sandboxing and FileVault but keep the snow leopard ui and add the option to disable autosave and versions