04-24-2012, 02:18 PM

Canuckster, it's not that Lion doesn't include the same features as Snow Leopard, it's just that the leap from SL to Lion wasn't really that big. It does have more features, in terms of added features that weren't there before, but not that many more. In other words, the difference is more Vista/W7 than XP/Vista. ROUGHLY!

04-24-2012, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Stretch

The huge feature of Snow Leopard was the Intel only code. The biggest thing about Snow Leopard was code optimization. They cleaned it up and removed the PPC code so it would run faster and more efficient.

So.. does Lion not have this "Intel Only Code"? Does Lion also have the PPC code removed?

Mac newbie questions, FTW!

-J.S.

04-24-2012, 02:28 PM

Okay. Sorry, Oneironaut.... I did warn you that I know NOTHING about the Mac/OS X!! Thank you for the info. Very helpful. I guess the best way to describe this to a Mac newbie is to put it in PC terms... ^^;

04-24-2012, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by The-Canuckster

So.. does Lion not have this "Intel Only Code"? Does Lion also have the PPC code removed?

Everything since the release of Snow Leopard has been "Intel-Only"...that was one of the main features of the Snow Leopard release in the first place. Certainly Lion also has the PPC code removed...there really wouldn't be a point of putting it back in after it was removed. Apple doesn't do that!

OS 10.5 "Leopard" was the last OS to have PPC code.

FYI:

- 10.5 = Leopard
- 10.6 = Snow Leopard
- 10.7 = Lion
- 10.8 = Mountain Lion

Honestly...if you're going to get a new computer...all of the Snow Leopard/Lion concerns really don't matter...since the computer WILL come with Lion preinstalled.

There's nothing wrong with Lion...and there's also nothing "super-duper" about Snow Leopard.

If you REALLY want more information...please read these two articles:

Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mac OS X Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Nick

04-24-2012, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Everything since the release of Snow Leopard has been "Intel-Only"...that was one of the main features of the Snow Leopard release in the first place. Certainly Lion also has the PPC code removed...there really wouldn't be a point of putting it back in after it was removed. Apple doesn't do that!

OS 10.5 "Leopard" was the last OS to have PPC code.

FYI:

- 10.5 = Leopard
- 10.6 = Snow Leopard
- 10.7 = Lion
- 10.8 = Mountain Lion

Honestly...if you're going to get a new computer...all of the Snow Leopard/Lion concerns really don't matter...since the computer WILL come with Lion preinstalled.

There's nothing wrong with Lion...and there's also nothing "super-duper" about Snow Leopard.

If you REALLY want more information...please read these two articles:

Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mac OS X Lion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- Nick

Awesome! Thanks guys, all of you really answered my questions quite nicely. And boy, I do appreciate it! It's nice to know that Apple doesn't put back in useless features. I guess I won't have to worry about Apple deciding (for some crazy reason) to put a registry in Mac. Many thanks again, my Macsters. <3

-J.S.

04-24-2012, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by The-Canuckster

Awesome! Thanks guys, all of you really answered my questions quite nicely. And boy, I do appreciate it! It's nice to know that Apple doesn't put back in useless features. I guess I won't have to worry about Apple deciding (for some crazy reason) to put a registry in Mac. Many thanks again, my Macsters. <3

-J.S.

Oh they do, but you'd not notice unless you've been around a while.

Lion is a great OS if you're joining the Mac world right now, not so much if you've been around..

If you go onto other forums and you hear griping it isn't because Lions bad so much as you had to learn new stuff..

Mountain Lion, is nice it's the evolution of Lion like Snow Leopard was for the Leopard.

What I'm saying is don't worry over the griping if you come across it, wait and form your own opinion

04-24-2012, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Eventually all of us will be running Lion (if we have computers capable of running Lion). Maybe not this year, or next year...but maybe 5 years from now.

- Nick

I guarantee you that 5 years from now there will still be people out there running Tiger on G3 Macs

One of them will probably be one of my university lecturers (a man with the charming name of D.H. Lawrence), who is still rocking a Sage green 1999 iMac in his office!

04-24-2012, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Germany_chris

Oh they do, but you'd not notice unless you've been around a while.

Lion is a great OS if you're joining the Mac world right now, not so much if you've been around..

If you go onto other forums and you hear griping it isn't because Lions bad so much as you had to learn new stuff..

Mountain Lion, is nice it's the evolution of Lion like Snow Leopard was for the Leopard.

What I'm saying is don't worry over the griping if you come across it, wait and form your own opinion

AH. Big difference there. Still, as long as it works, (stable, fast, and is compatible with most mac programs out there) I really don't care too much. It sometimes scares me when people gripe so much about the OS X's. Like this one regarding Mountain Lion: OS X Mountain Lion: what you need to know | News | TechRadar (comments section) ...

Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts and stuff. I'll be asking more questions!

04-24-2012, 09:41 PM

Originally Posted by Ctrl-Opt-Del

I guarantee you that 5 years from now there will still be people out there running Tiger on G3 Macs

Ha ha...I know what you mean!

I'm sure "everyone" won't be using Lion in a few years...but most of us (99%) probably will. There's always the 1% that won't upgrade for various reasons.

Heck in three years...many folks won't even be running Lion or Mountain Lion...they'll be running OS 10.9, 10.10, or 11.0!

- Nick

05-03-2012, 01:45 PM

I've yet to upgrade to Lion because I rely very much on Palm Desktop, a PIM that no longer is available nor supported. It ran fine under Leopard, barely runs under Snow Leopard, and I absolutely doubt it'll run under Lion. Were it not for that, I'd have moved from Snow Leopard to Lion several months after its release — I always wait a while, in case there are some new-release glitches. (I also have no idea what to get to replace Palm Desktop when I do move to Lion, Mountain Lion, or whatever.)

In your case, however, you're a new user, and I can see no reason for buying an older machine with an older OS (except, perhaps, if it were a gift, or a very well-kept machine at an absolutely bargain price that you would keep for a while — say, until you were completely comfortable with the Mac, and Apple introduces some newer models and further OS upgrades — both of which happen rather frequently).

Quite frankly, there are quite a few folks with older Macs who have yet to even upgrade to Leopard. Apple's OSs and Macs tend to be evolutionary, and can last a long time before you find yourself "forced" to replace them.

05-04-2012, 04:40 AM

Originally Posted by Germany_chris

Lion is a great OS if you're joining the Mac world right now, not so much if you've been around..

Rubbish.

(been on Macs since 1986)

If you go onto other forums and you hear griping it isn't because Lions bad so much as you had to learn new stuff..

Just a bunch of men who've grown old and set in their ways, and are tired of learning new things the way they did so easily when they were young. Tomorrow's "get off my lawn" cranks IMHO. *SO* glad that hasn't happened to me (yet).

What I'm saying is don't worry over the griping if you come across it, wait and form your own opinion

Amen.

05-06-2012, 07:27 PM

If you have PPC Apps that you want to continue to use, stay with Snow Leopard, otherwise go for Lion.

05-09-2012, 11:11 PM

yes.

in my case, imac aluminum emc-2133 is ostensibly [as of now] capable of Mountain Lion, excepting the whim of the product manager @ Apple.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion System Requirements

in fact my unit has a lion dvd in it as I type this, not yet installed, and I am hesitating... why bother with a generic lion when one lives in mountain lion country?

Originally Posted by pigoo3

Not really a dumb question. If you were thinking of a slightly older Mac (2-3 years old)...you would have a choice...and could choose. There are some folks who do prefer Snow Leopard over Lion...but mostly because Lion really doesn't have much in the way of "jaw-dropping"...gotta have it...features.

But with that being said...there's really nothing terribly wrong with Lion. For someone that's upgrading...they just have to pay the $29 to get it (which some folks would rather not do if Lion doesn't have features they can't live without).

But for someone who is new to Macintosh computers...and will be buying a new computer with Lion pre-installed...there's absolutely nothing wrong with Lion.

The real bottom line. Eventually all of us will be running Lion (if we have computers capable of running Lion). Maybe not this year, or next year...but maybe 5 years from now.

- Nick

05-10-2012, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by kbw

If you have PPC Apps that you want to continue to use, stay with Snow Leopard, otherwise go for Lion.

Ultimately, this is bad advice. Better advice would be "transition your apps to Intel versions or (if no Intel version is going to be made, to alternative apps."

The reason I say this is that no matter how awesome your PPC Mac is, it's old and getting older. It will be retired someday, and guess what ... no new ones (in fact not even most old ones anymore!) will run your PPC stuff.

So the question really is ... do you want to make a smooth transition now ... or a very bad, forced transition later?

05-10-2012, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by cognus

in fact my unit has a lion dvd in it as I type this, not yet installed

Since there's no such thing as a Lion DVD, perhaps you should look into buying a legal copy.