808-756-0221This is my experience with OS X Lion so far. This is not a formal review as those require lots of testing of all of the over 200 new features. I will only be covering a few, the ones I have used. For a comprehensive review do a Google search for OS X Lion everybody has a review on it. This is just to answer a few questions that I have been asked frequently about the new OS.
Installation:
I installed OS X Lion on both my Mac Book Pro and my iMac computers.Installation was a breeze on my MBP. I actually did it remotely with Logmein. I downloaded it from the apple store, logged in remotely and clicked install. logged back in about an hour later and desktop was ready to go. The only issue I notices was a failure on my part to update Parallels to the latest version to fix a compatibility issue with OS X Lion. I did that after the installation with no issues. On my iMac I was smarter and updated all the programs first to avoid that issue. I also followed the article here to create a boot-able USB drive prior to installation so I don’t need to download it again. I thought this was a good idea. The OS X Lion installer is self destructing after installation. You will need to download it again if you need to reinstall it or use it for a boot disk. I also had done this with every other OS as well. The article is simple straight forward and works well. The installation of OS X Lion on my iMac went off without any issues.
Programs:
So far most of my programs work well with no issues to report. VNC does not work as I am waiting for a new version to be released to fix it. As always this assumes that you went to each program and checked for any updates and applied them. Here is a list of the programs that I use and there status.
- Office 2008 for Mac – Fully Functional
- Parallels 6.0 – Fully Functional
- Log Ten – Fully Functional
- VNC Viewer – Not compatible until 4.6.2 currently 4.6.1 is the latest
- iLife 11 – Fully Functional
- Rosetta Stone – Fully Functional
- Adobe CS 5.5 Design Suite – Functional ( note! – This requires you to download and install Java for OSX 10.7 which you are prompted for on the first run. Its 65MB download.)
- Logmein – Fully Functional
- Star Craft 2 – Fully Functional
- TrueCrypt 7.0a – Fully Functional (Note! – You must follow these instructions. TrueCrypt Fix
- RDC – Fully Functional
- Revinetix Mac Agent – Fully Functional
Launch Pad:
I like launchpad. It’s a simple way to see all of your application. Not much more to say about that.
Air Drop:
Awesome! Just open find the nearby computer which has to have airdrop open as well. It doesn’t appear to run in the background. Then just drop files on the computer you want to send them to and they are off! You will be asked if you want to send it. You Click on yes, and the other user gets a prompt to accept and open, decline or accept. Click on Accept or in my case I used Accept and open and the file drops in to the downloads fold and opens. I transferred a simple word document for this test. Note! you must have wifi turned on as it doesn’t work over Ethernet.
Auto-Resume:
The resume feature is great. just shutdown your Mac and leave everything as it is. check the box to open windows when logging back in and everything is just like you left it. so far no issues to report with it.
Conclusion:
My conclusion is that OS X Lion was worth the wait. It’s simple to install, has a lot of new features that I actually like and use and at only $29.99 how can you beat it. In fact I installed it on both of my Mac’s for $29.99. How is that that for cost effective. I would love to see Microsoft accomplish that, a cheap OS that is simple to install and works out of the box. We are not likely going to see that any time soon. If you are asking yourself should I upgrade? The answer is absolutely. Is it worth the $30? Yes. Will all my applications work? The answer is most likely. Will all my files be safe? Sure because you backed them up to an external drive before you did the upgrade. Just in case there was an issue. So go out download if you haven’t already and enjoy! the only thing better than the new OS X Lion is OS X Lion with angry birds on it.
Thanks,
Tim