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Mac OS X Lion on Black MacBook

J

Juventino

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 26, 2010
52
0
Tehran
I have a black macbook with a core 2 duo CPU. as you guys know its trackpad doesn't support multi touch gestures and it currently has 2.5 GBs of RAM.
is it worth updating to os x lion?
i really like the iOS expirience on my laptop, but i want to make sure I won't have any problems using it.
 
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No problems here so far on the same model. I have 2 GB RAM. I like the new Mail interface and I'm still trying out the rest. I'd say it's worth it. But if you read up on the new features and don't care for any of them, you're probably better off staying on Snow Leopard.
 
as i see it, os x lion is mostly about ease of use.all the new features point to that as well.
the multi-gesture features can be used by an external trackpad or a magic mouse.
i want to make sure that apps would work on it the way they work on newer models.(not slower and without crashing for example)
 
I haven't had any slowdowns, but there's still time. :)

Black and white MacBooks prior to 2008 don't have multitouch.
 
I have it on my black macbook, for some reason the fan seems to be running fast constantly, and no 3/4 finger gestures dont seem to work.
 
Juventino said:
even the three/four-fingers gestures ?!
Click to expand...

I'm assuming hes mistaken. I believe the 2 finger swipes will work, but I don't see how multi-touch could work given that apple does not support it on the older macbooks.

I have a black macbook 2.4 GHz 4GB ram, and 250gb HDD- Do you think its even worth installing?

I see quiet a few people around the internet that say that the GPU has to work pretty hard to keep up and the fans are always running. The fans on my blackbook on 10.6 are pretty much running full like 80% of the time, i cant imagine it getting worse.

Hopefully we can get a few more people who have installed it to comment.

oh btw anyone test out the new iChat??? did they finnally fix that POS?
 
Good to hear it runs well with 2GB RAM, as that's what I have, with a pre-unibody MBP. Hopefully it will run on mine too :)

Rich101088 said:
I have it on my black macbook, for some reason the fan seems to be running fast constantly, and no 3/4 finger gestures dont seem to work.
Click to expand...

It's because Spotlight is indexing. I'm sure you've discovered by now that after an hour or two it will return to normal. (or so I've heard; haven't installed Lion yet, as it's still downloading).
 
I was actually looking for a solution to this haha. Glad I searched it instead of starting a new thread. Do you think its worth buying the magic trackpad for the gestures? I was debating it because I was thinking it would help me be lazy and sit not too far away from the computer and use the trackpad lol.
 
Chuck D said:
I was actually looking for a solution to this haha. Glad I searched it instead of starting a new thread. Do you think its worth buying the magic trackpad for the gestures? I was debating it because I was thinking it would help me be lazy and sit not too far away from the computer and use the trackpad lol.
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe that there is no way to use a third party software to enable it, or some way to open the case and replace the touchpad with a newer multitouch one. I was looking around and i havent been able to find anyone who has tried... such a shame.
 
Echo64 said:
I find it hard to believe that there is no way to use a third party software to enable it, or some way to open the case and replace the touchpad with a newer multitouch one. I was looking around and i havent been able to find anyone who has tried... such a shame.
Click to expand...

The actual hardware in the old macbooks does not support the 3-4 finger gestures. The hardware does not report more than two points of contact (I am guessing)
 
Vader said:
The actual hardware in the old macbooks does not support the 3-4 finger gestures. The hardware does not report more than two points of contact (I am guessing)
Click to expand...

Not to sound rude (i promise), but you are indeed guessing. I saw a video a while back where two guys had the older trackpads reporting up to 6 distinct points at once. The problem is the software does not support that. Now im sure that there is a reason for this and that the newer trackpads makes it easier (for apple), but I'm just surprised that no developers have tried to Make it work...

if your interested ill try and find that video for you.
 
I have a 2.4 GHz Penyrn BlackBook, and Lion runs excellently for me. I've had a few stutters here and there, but for the most part, it's as smooth and quiet as Snow Leopard was for me.
 
Etnies419 said:
I have a 2.4 GHz Penyrn BlackBook, and Lion runs excellently for me. I've had a few stutters here and there, but for the most part, it's as smooth and quiet as Snow Leopard was for me.
Click to expand...

Faster or slower ? how much ram do you have ?

I'm going back and forth on if i wanna upgrade or hold off till the first update that will fix some of these problems (even if it might take a month or two).

anyone else thats installed it, i would love some detailed reviews on the problems and the issues with speed and graphics.
 
Echo64 said:
Not to sound rude (i promise), but you are indeed guessing. I saw a video a while back where two guys had the older trackpads reporting up to 6 distinct points at once. The problem is the software does not support that. Now im sure that there is a reason for this and that the newer trackpads makes it easier (for apple), but I'm just surprised that no developers have tried to Make it work...

if your interested ill try and find that video for you.
Click to expand...

It was a guess, but when you say software, you make it sound like it is a simple thing to add to the older trackpads. To dig my self further into the guessing hole, I am going to say that those guys probably wrote new drivers or firmware for the old trackpads.

It could of course be the case that Apple is too lazy to go back and support something new on old hardware, even if the hardware can handle it. That is not anything new from them.
 
Echo64 said:
Faster or slower ? how much ram do you have ?

I'm going back and forth on if i wanna upgrade or hold off till the first update that will fix some of these problems (even if it might take a month or two).

anyone else thats installed it, i would love some detailed reviews on the problems and the issues with speed and graphics.
Click to expand...

2 GB RAM. I'd say it's about the same, speed wise. Sometimes the animations get a little choppy, especially in Launchpad. My CPU usage doesn't really go above 10% if I'm just browsing or listening to music.
 
I'm running it on my black Macbook right now. 4GB ram, and it is actually really smooth.

Almost seems faster.

And I am using a magic mouse so I can take advantage of all the cool new features:D
 
Vader said:
It was a guess, but when you say software, you make it sound like it is a simple thing to add to the older trackpads. To dig my self further into the guessing hole, I am going to say that those guys probably wrote new drivers or firmware for the old trackpads.

It could of course be the case that Apple is too lazy to go back and support something new on old hardware, even if the hardware can handle it. That is not anything new from them.
Click to expand...

If I am understanding you right, you are indeed correct. The video that I saw was a driver that they wrote for linux. The issue that people don't fully realize is that the hardware IS capable of recognizing multiple points. So from how I see it, I see no reason that 3/ finger swiping shouldn't work.

I think your also right about apple, i think that while it might be Technically possible, apple took this as an opportunity to create a new feature exclusive to the newer devices.

still looking for a solution. tho, ill post it here if i find one.
 
Vader said:
If you find something, that would be awesome. My 2007 macbook runs lion just fine, so adding the gestures would be a big plus!
Click to expand...

I know right? Cause all you really need, is that extra finger for the three finger swipe....


Heres one of those video BTW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLUxsvIVuU

Edit:::: Does anyone know if you can have a button act as your third or forth finger? So if you press like option two finger swipe up, the computer things you made a three finger swipe. ???
 
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It installed fine on mine. It seems slow as molasses, but I'm 99% sure that's because it doesn't have an SSD and my new machine does. :) I just use it for wireless web now, as my MBP is docked.
 
Echo64 said:
do you know by chance if the SSD would help with the overheating ?
Click to expand...

A little, but the most heat is CPU based. My current MBP has an SSD for boot, and an HDD for iTunes, Music, Pictures, which still helps a little bit, since most of the I/O operations on the SSD, not on the HDD.

My Blackbook never had good cooling, it was always spinning up the fan when I did CPU intensive stuff or ran multiple apps. The MBP tends not to do that, but it's also not working as hard, as it has a quad i7. I doubt Lion will make it much worse...

I haven't had any performance issues, but I don't really use the Blackbook except for occasional Firefox, and I haven't done much intensive with the MBP since yesterday.
 
Echo64 said:
I know right? Cause all you really need, is that extra finger for the three finger swipe....


Heres one of those video BTW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLUxsvIVuU

Edit:::: Does anyone know if you can have a button act as your third or forth finger? So if you press like option two finger swipe up, the computer things you made a three finger swipe. ???
Click to expand...

Did you see any videos that would make the gestures easier to enable then doing wat they did? And for Lion? If theres an easier way I'd definitely give that a try instead of spending money on the trackpad (I might end up just buying a MBP later however)
 
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