So, what's the verdict on Lion? Thumb's up or thumb's down? Should I upgrade from Snow Leopard? Is there anything of which I should be especially aware?
Lion is 1 thumbs up from me, not both though.
It doesn't affect me much other than some older games I liked to play in free time, but I miss rosetta.
With a macbook, the new clamshell directives dont allow the screen up to vent while hooked up to an external with the dedicated gpu.
Safari and Mail still buggy, but can turn some features off if you dont have 8gb ram to handle it.
There are no vents in the keyboard. This is a completely disproved myth. Apple even provides instructions for using it in clamshell mode.
It is not just a vent issue, heat moves up that is physics. And the temperatures from the apple discussion thread over this very issue along with my own experience from seeing the effects on the laptops is terrifying. Unless you are really going to tell me you dont notice the added heat on your keyboard under heavy load and now how it heats up your screen as well when its in closed clamshell mode. Operating in the traditional closed clamshell mode with dedicated vram to the external with lid open is no longer possible.
The processor is designed to shutdown if it gets too hot. I highly doubt Apple would still support clamshell usage if it "is no longer possible". I don't know what effects you saw, but likely they were caused by something else. Clamshell usage has been proven with thermal sensors time and time again to be okay. But feel free to worry about the perceived threat.
Guess what? The heat is going to be there one way or the other. The issue you're afraid of is that the heat might harm the screen. But, no one, no one I've ever talked to has had a problem going on years like that. I no longer do, myself, but used to before I built a new machine that I use with my monitor. Also, if the heat was truly great enough to damage the screen, why in the world would Apple sell keyboard covers?
If you've got heat high enough to damage the screen, you've got a larger problem.
Here's another thread on the issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1205487/
CUPERTINO, CaliforniaJuly 21, 2011Apple® today announced that in just one day, over one million users bought and downloaded Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the worlds most advanced operating system. Available through the Mac® App Store for $29.99 (US), users are buying Lion faster than any other OS release in Apples history.