Late 2006 iMac...Upgrade to Lion?

[FurryFoxMacuser]

Just got my "new" iMac in today to replace my Mac mini and from what I can tell I can upgrade this machine to Lion. But my question is, is it really worth it? The machine is currently running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and being a step behind on OS doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that the new 10.8 Mountain Lion is coming out in the summer and just how much longer is Snow Leopard going to be supported? I realize Snow Leopard isn't that old but still in a few years they could drop support of it. But that's what I'm unsure of. I don't have any problem sticking with Snow Leopard. Still a good machine either way. But should I upgrade to Lion? Is it going to make a difference? And for those of you who are wondering here are the specs of the machine.

2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
3Gb of Ram
250Gb HDD

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

-Dan

 

[rkaufmann87]

Just got my "new" iMac in today to replace my Mac mini and from what I can tell I can upgrade this machine to Lion. But my question is, is it really worth it? The machine is currently running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and being a step behind on OS doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that the new 10.8 Mountain Lion is coming out in the summer and just how much longer is Snow Leopard going to be supported? I realize Snow Leopard isn't that old but still in a few years they could drop support of it. But that's what I'm unsure of. I don't have any problem sticking with Snow Leopard. Still a good machine either way. But should I upgrade to Lion? Is it going to make a difference? And for those of you who are wondering here are the specs of the machine.

2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
3Gb of Ram
250Gb HDD

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

-Dan

I would avoid Lion on that old a machine, the maximum RAM it can address is 3GB which you have installed. Technically Lion will run on it but who knows how the user experience will be. IMHO I would stick with Snow Leopard and if you want a Lion capable machine I'd recommend a refurbished iMac from Apple.

 

[kylera]

Second the recommendation to stay on Snow Leopard. IMO, what should determine the upgrade is if you have mission-critical apps that will ONLY work on Lion. And as the previous poster mentioned, Lion loves RAM a little too much, so that's another factor.

On my PowerBook, despite recommendations to use Tiger, I use Leopard because of an app that I use on a daily basis only supporting Leopard and above. Even so, despite being long out of support, Leopard is usable for my needs, so I figure if your iMac keeps ticking, Snow Leopard wouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[TacticalDesire]

I also recommend staying on Snow Leopard until you absolutely have to go to lion for whatever reason. Sooner or later you will and it's nice that your machine is capable of it. Unlike the PPC people who are stuck on leopard.

 

[FurryFoxMacuser]

Ok so based on all this info I think I'm just going to stay with Snow Leopard. It's still a great OS and I don't have a problem sticking with it. Thanks for the quick replies.

-Dan

 

[Hardtimes]

Running the same machine with 3gb of ram. Works perfectly.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Running the same machine with 3gb of ram. Works perfectly.

As did I (late 2006 24"). Ran nice and smooth with Lion.