Should I upgrade to OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)

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Hello,

My HDD unexpectedly died :-(. As a result, I bought a new drive and had to boot through the Snow Leopard Installer CD that came with the mac. Prior to the hard drive crash, I had OS X Lion (10.7) installed. However, I'm no longer able to access the OS X Lion that I purchased via the apple store. I've tried various suggestions that were posted online as to how to access it but to no avail.

I've given up and I'm thinking about purchasing OS X mountain lion. Before I do, I'm kindly requesting some assistance. Is it similar to OS X Lion? Better? worth it?

Any information that can be provided is much appreciated.

Please advise.

Thanks.
 
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chas_m

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It's similar to Lion, better, and costs $20. I think it's a no-brainer, personally.
 
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Did you update to OS X.6.8, go into App Store and follow how to download again udsing Option/Purchases? And as chas_m says .. better.
 
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So can I take you all recommend I upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.8?
 

chscag

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That depends... which Mac do you have? If you have an older Mac, then Snow Leopard will probably be a better choice. Also, Snow Leopard is the last version of OS X that can successfully run PPC coded apps. Lion and Mountain Lion are Intel only.
 

bobtomay

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15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
If... you are already using Lion.

If... your Mac meets the spec for installing ML.
(and this should be verified with older Macs prior to purchasing it)

If... you have a minimum 4GB RAM.
(the way Safari and FF eat memory, wouldn't even consider installing ML on any machine with less than 4GB)

Then... I'd install ML without hesitation.



For those still running SL, you must determine if you are still using any PPC code apps that you either can't or are unwilling to replace with newer versions.
 
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My MBP came with 10.6, and is less than 2 years old. But I've read the most alarming reviews on the Apple site about upgrading from 10.6 to 10.8.
 
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As you have a new hard drive and fresh install of 10.6.8 you should have no trouble upgrading to Mountain Lion, go for it. I run it on three Mac's older than yours and never regret the upgrade.
 
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What are the benefits? And once I upgrade the OS, am I then entitled to the latest versions of iLife?
 
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chas_m

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Peter:

1. I wouldn't pay the slightest attention to "alarming" reviews on the Apple site. 99.5 percent of such reviews are either from incompetent users who blame Apple for their own failures (we see this A LOT even on this forum!) or b) people with an axe to grind that are using this method to "get back" at Apple because (see point a).

2. What are the benefits of Mountain Lion? Too numerous to list, but here's Apple's summary:

Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Move your Mac even further ahead.
 

chscag

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If iLife is already installed, you won't lose the apps by updating to Mountain Lion.
 
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No, but will I get the ILife apps that are issued with 10.8, or will I just keep,the ones I have?
 
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chas_m

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but *conceivably* you might need to upgrade the iLife apps to the latest versions (or want to in order to take advantage of the changes/features/improvements).

If you are already running what used to be known as "iLife '11" then you already have (or can get through Software Update) the latest versions and don't need to do anything.

If you originally bought "iLife 09" or earlier, you will probably want to upgrade to the Mac App Store versions of iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband. The good news is that they are available separately and are SUPER CHEAP, selling for $15 each. You can only upgrade the ones you want -- so if you don't use say Garageband, you don't have to upgrade it.

iWeb and iDVD are no longer supported, but they continue to work in Mountain Lion as they did before. Who knows how long that will continue, though.
 

bobtomay

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No, iLife apps are not "issued" with, nor are they a part of the operating system.

See above.
 
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Thanks. That's what I wanted to know. The one I use most from my ILife 11 is iPhoto, but I've read lots of dire warnings about NOT upgrading from that to the latest version, which apparently has different functionality and doesn't work well. I know of several people who "upgraded" and after a while went back to the earlier version (with difficulty). Just as on Windows I have several versions of Office later than Office XP, but uninstalled them all and stay with the XP version.
 

Slydude

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Not sure what the cause of the dire warnings you read were. I ran iLife '11 under Mountain Lion. When my drive got "borked" a few weeks ago I had to reload iLife and could not find the discs. I downloaded the latest version of iPhoto from the App store and it seems to be running fine for me. Only drawback was having to purchase it. Since it was not installed an had not been purchased from the App Store originally.
 
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chas_m

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Yeah, I'm with Sylv. iPhoto 11 (the latest version) is VERY good, and apart from the way one approaches books and calendars and such I'm hard pressed to tell you anything that's hugely different from the previous version. Even better, Apple has consolidated the library structure of iPhoto and Aperture (their "pro" product) so that if you move on, your library stays the same!
 

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