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Apple are due to launch their new operating system, Mac OS 10 X Lion 10.7, before the end of July. But the question is–are you ready?



Mac OS X Lion will run on any new Mac, bought within the last few years. Here is how to check to see if your Mac is compatible with Lion:
1/ go to your Apple menu and choose “About this Mac”
2/ check to see that your processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo or above
3/ check that your memory is above 1 GB
4/ look for the version number and make sure you are running Mac OS X Snow Leopard: 10.6.8

The next thing to look for is whether your applications will run on the new system. In the “About this Mac” window, click on the “More Info” button. This will open the System Profiler application, and you should select “Applications” in the left-hand column. This will show you a complete list of all applications running on your Macintosh. Click on the “kind” column, and this will sort all applications by their type. Scroll through the list and look for any applications which are marked as “PowerPC” or “Classic” in the “Kind” column. PowerPC or Classic applications will not run under Mac OS 10 X Lion. All applications marked as “Intel” or marked as “Universal” will run fine under 10.7.

Here are a few popular applications to look out for, which will not run under Mac OS 10 X Lion 10.7:
– Microsoft Office X, 2001 or 2004
– early versions of Adobe CS
– early versions of FileMaker Pro

It is hard to be definitive about certain applications until the launch of Mac OS X 10.7. Our advice is to hold off and check your favourite application’s website. For example with FileMaker Pro, they have said they will keep users up-to-date after the launch of Mac OS X Lion, so there is no definitive answer yet on which applications will work and which won’t. However the most recent versions of FileMaker Pro 11 will almost certainly work, but versions such as 8, 8.5, 9 are less certain until Filemaker comment or bring out an update.

Some applications are included in 10.7, such as Address Book, iCal, Mail, Safari, iTunes, Preview, iChat and TextEdit. Other Apple applications such as Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, iPhoto, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, iDVD may require an update which Apple are likely to release at the same time as the launch of 10.7. However it is almost certain that all Apple applications will work perfectly well under Lion from day one.

Lion will be launched as a download from the Apple App Store. This means that you must be running Mac OS 10.6.8, which is the most recent version of Snow Leopard. The download is also likely to be large, so it would be important to have a decent broadband speed to be able to download the new system.

Therefore in the end we recommend that you hold off for a short period of time to see how other users get on with the installation before you take the plunge. If you rely a large number of third-party applications you may find that you have to hold off until each of these companies bring out small updates to make their programs compatible with 10.7. However if you have a relatively new Mac and you only use brand-new applications or Apple–only applications, you may be able to upgrade fairly quickly.

Caution is the word of the day!

Tags: 10.7 | Apple | Apps