Like the look of OSX Lion?
As with any update you want to make sure your system fits the requirements set by the manufacturer. In OSX Lions case the hardware requirements are straightforward and not overly demanding though some systems are sure to fall behind.
Lion 10.7 requires at least 2GBs of RAM and one of the following Intel processors: Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon. Sorry but early Core Solo and Core Duo processors aren’t eligible. You can check the information about your Processor and Memory in the About This Mac info box from the Apple menu. Btw if your Mac only has 2GB of memory it is recommended to upgrade to 4GB or more to take your system from minimum requirements to smooth operation.
You will need to be running Snow Leopard 10.6.6 and above as Lion is primarily available as a download through Apple’s App Store although Apple have provided the option to buy Lion on a USB stick though it’s more expensive and not as readily available. As a download of 4GB you want to make sure you have a fast, reliable Internet connection and at least 10GB of free Hard Drive space to install it. You can check your version of OSX in the About This Mac info box under where it says Mac OS X in the Version of your Operating System.
Are your applications Lion ready?
OSX Lion no longer supports PowerPC software so you want to make sure that any important software is Intel or Universal compatible. Check this in System Profiler, which you get to by clicking ‘More Info’ on the About This Mac box we used earlier (from the Apple menu). Select Applications under Software in the left hand column and after a moment or three you will receive a snapshot of all the Applications currently installed on your Mac. Identify any PowerPC listings in the ‘Kind’ column and make movements to see if there is a Lion ready version available for each. If there isn’t an update available then perhaps this creates a serious factor stopping you from making the update to Lion at this point.
Remember the upgrade is not essential and you’re not losing out by not upgrading now. You can make the move at a later date perhaps when your software is Lion compatible or a suitable alternative is found.
Also please back up everything possible before making the move as things can go wrong and you want to be protected in the slim chance that it does, but you were backing up anyway weren’t you?
For more info about OSX Lion have a read at http://www.apple.com/au/macosx/
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