Mac OS X 10.7 a.k.a. “Lion” is now available for purchase from the Mac App Store. At the moment it is only available as a (approximately 4GB) download, there is no option to purchase a standalone install disk. After purchasing it however, there is an undocumented way to extract and burn an install disk if you feel better going that route.
In a (Very Brief) Nutshell
It’s fairly safe to say that a central theme of “Lion” is the iPad-ificiation of Mac OS X. LaunchPad brings the iPad SpringBoard application icon grid, scroll bars are invisible until used (and by default work backwards from what you are used to in OS X,) and there are more such small touches.
It also brings a revamped and improved Expose/Spaces interface. And dropping support for PowerPC applications (see below) has also allowed Apple to streamline the OS code base so it’s leaner and feels snappier.
And Apple now creates a small Recovery disk partition that can be used to repair your boot volume without the need for booting from the install disk (which you don’t have anyway.)
There is a lot more so head over to Apple’s Mac OS X What’s New page for details.
Or head over to ars technica and read John Siracusa’s massive Lion review.
Prepare First, Don’t Rush to Upgrade!
This release removes a significant feature: the ability to run older PowerPC processor based applications on newer Intel processor based Macs. Since the Intel Macs were released Apple has included emulation software (Rosetta) that allowed the use of pre-Intel Mac applications in a totally seamless way. So seamless that you might not even realize you are still using them. After upgrading to 10.7 you will no longer be able to use those applications!
Here’s how you can see a list of the PowerPC on your system:
- In the Apple menu choose About this Mac then click the More Info button to open up System Profiler.
- Select Applications in the Software section in the left column of System Profiler. It can take a few minutes to populate the list.
- Widen the window so you can see the column labeled Kind. Click on it to sort your applications by the supported processor architectures.
- Scroll down until you find the section with a type of PowerPC. These are the applications that will not run on Lion. Well, those in the Classic section won’t either but you’ve probably already crossed that bridge unless you’re still using 10.4.
- Click on each PowerPC app and the Location line in the bottom section of the window will show you where it lives.
As this point the best bet is probably to launch each application and choose it’s “Check for Update” menu time if present, or visit the maker’s web site if not. If there is a free update that adds Intel or Universal support then grab it. For others you’ll have to decide if it’s worth a paid upgrade, look for alternatives that do support Intel Macs or just trash it if you don’t really need it.
It’s been several years since Intel Macs were introduced so the bulk of the currently available applications will be either Universal (running on PowerPC and Intel macs) or Intel only. Some high-profile applications, Quicken for example, have not been updated so your only choice in that case will be to find an alternative app or not use 10.7. Applications you bought before Intel Macs were available will definitely not run on 10.7.
Update: Forgot to mention that another major casualty of the loss of Rosetta support is: Appleworks!
OK, I’m Ready to Upgrade
Go ahead and purchase the “Lion” upgrade app from the App Store but before you actually run it it is vital that you perform a few precautionary steps:
If you’re not already using Mac OS X 10.6 you’ll have to upgrade to that first. “Lion” is only available through the App Store and that is only available on Mac OS X 10.6.
Launch Disk Utility from the /Applications/Utilities folder and run Verify Disk and Repair Permissions on your Mac’s hard drive. This is really important as any existing problems could cause serious issues while upgrading.
Backup your hard drive! If you aren’t already using Time Machine go spend $60 or so to get a portable external USB hard drive as large or larger than the internal hard drive of your Mac. Plug it in, enable TIme Machine and go watch a movie. If you’re already using Time Machine choose Back Up Now from the time machine icon menu in the menu bar to make sure everything is safely backed up. You might even want to unmount and unplug the Time Machine backup drive before starting the upgrade to protect it from changes during the upgrade. You can plug it back in once the upgrade is successful.
Make sure you’ve got enough free space on the hard drive. Select the icon for the internal hard drive and choose Get Info from the File menu. If the Available space is less than a couple of GBs then you need to free up space before upgrading. The installer should warn you if there is obviously not enough room but it’s better to err on the side of plenty of free space.
And that should get you ready to perform the actual installation of 10.7.
Share Your Experiences
If you do upgrade please take the time to post a comment here to let us know how it went for you including any problems or glitches you might experience.
There may not be any real eye-catching major new features in Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” along the lines of Time Machine but it is a solid update with a lot of nice touches. Just be sure to prepare first to avoid unpleasant surprises.
