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Author Topic: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?  (Read 7383 times)

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Offline dougalTopic starter

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Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« on: July 23, 2011, 09:48:17 AM »
I have a Macbook Air 2,1 (Late 2008), 2GB machine 1.6Ghz. It has OS X Leopard 10.5.11.

It has 120GB Hard drive (NOT SSD). It runs at a decent speed on Leopard.

Will OS X Lion run just as good on it or will it be slowwww?
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Offline bloodline

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2011, 10:02:17 AM »
I've noticed no speed differences between Lion and Snow Leopard... Really, it's all the interface paradigm changes that will bug you the most. As Amiga users we have 26 years of training in the old Deaktop model... Lion gets rid of things (optionally, but by default) that probably don't rely make sense, but we have grown used to.

It's a good upgrade, and while I think there are a number of missteps... It does show the future of the desk top... This Apple does, not by innovation but by simply having the balls to do it!

Offline dougalTopic starter

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2011, 10:07:47 AM »
And is yours a Macbook Air 2GB 1.6?

Also mine is on Leopard not Snow.

Quote from: bloodline;651320
I've noticed no speed differences between Lion and Snow Leopard... Really, it's all the interface paradigm changes that will bug you the most. As Amiga users we have 26 years of training in the old Deaktop model... Lion gets rid of things (optionally, but by default) that probably don't rely make sense, but we have grown used to.

It's a good upgrade, and while I think there are a number of missteps... It does show the future of the desk top... This Apple does, not by innovation but by simply having the balls to do it!
A1200HD- Blizzard 1230IV / 64Mb / Kick 3.1 / OS 3.9 / 20GB HD
A4000 040 @33Mhz -Kick 3.1 / 16MB
A2000 Rev4.4 - \'030 @25Mhz / 8MB / Kick 3.1 / ClassicWB
CD32 -     Stock (W/ 2 CD32 Controllers]
A500 Plus - 68000 / 2MB Chip / 2Mb Fast / 2.04/1.3 / A590 / A570
A600HD - 2MB Chip / 8MB Fast / 2GB CF HD / Kick 3.1
CDTV

PowerMac G4 1Ghz (MorphOS / Leopard)

[url]http://amigamap.com/us
 

Offline lsmart

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2011, 11:28:03 AM »
Quote from: dougal;651321

Also mine is on Leopard not Snow.


Currently you can only get the Lion installer, when running Snow Leopard (App Store). Out of curiosity: what do you expect from the Lion if Snow Leo wasn´t able to win you over? Most of the features of Lion won´t change your life, but some old software will run worse (Audio software, no Rosetta, ...). I installed Lion today, after downloading it for about 20 Hours and haven´t had much time to play with it, yet. Visually I find it a little disturbing/silly, but that´s just my first impression.
 

Offline Kesa

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2011, 12:02:20 PM »
20 hours? How big is the file? :lol:

Although i haven't used it i have read about it. So am i to understand the only significant difference is that it is designed to work better with itunes? If i don't use itunes (i don't) then i will not get any benefit from using it?

Also i read they replaced the scroll bar with a finger slider whatever.

Off topic rant. I would have to agree with Bloodline that i prefer the old fashioned desktops as opposed to the new modern types. I know this is off topic but when i installed windows 7 a year ago the first thing i did was make it look/work like Vista/XP. IMO i simply do not understand why people complain about a start bar being hard to use. I love pull down/up menus. So easy to use. Rant finished  :rant:

PS i'm drunk.
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Offline persia

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2011, 01:01:36 PM »
Lion still surprises me at times by doing things I don't expect.  Out of the box it reverses scrolling, you can put it back to the old way, but I chose to leave it and adjust my thinking.  It's almost like learning a new OS.
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Offline Pentad

Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2011, 01:11:21 PM »
Quote from: bloodline;651320
I've noticed no speed differences between Lion and Snow Leopard... Really, it's all the interface paradigm changes that will bug you the most. As Amiga users we have 26 years of training in the old Deaktop model... Lion gets rid of things (optionally, but by default) that probably don't rely make sense, but we have grown used to.

It's a good upgrade, and while I think there are a number of missteps... It does show the future of the desk top... This Apple does, not by innovation but by simply having the balls to do it!


I could not agree more with Bloodline.  I kind of miss the old Spaces but MC is ok.  There are a lot of bugs in Lion so I'm sure 10.7.1 is in the works as we speak.

In the end, it's a good OS and shows where things are going.  Windows 8 will really have to be something special to keep step with OS X.  

I do think OS X - as we know it now - is at an end.  I think Apple will end OS X on Lion given any cat name after Lion will seem lower.  iOS is from OS X so I think the next OS will just continue to blend the interface ideals together.  I'm not sure I'm happy with that.

If you are thinking of upgrading, do it.  For the $30 you pay it is a great bargain.  Though the price is to lure you further down the Apple iOS-Cloud-App-Store road so no surprises there.

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Offline nicholas

Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2011, 01:23:44 PM »
If anything Lion feels slightly more responsive than Snow Leopard. It's prettier too.
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Offline Matt_H

Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2011, 01:41:58 PM »
Ars Technica has a very comprehensive review. It addressed nearly all of my concerns - most of the new behaviors can be turned off. The invisible scrollbars was something I was worried about (makes no sense for a desktop system), but fortunately you can make them permanently visible.

I haven't bought Lion yet, but I'll probably test it on an external drive or spare partition first. Don't want to overwrite 10.6 just yet, especially due to elimination of PPC emulation.

I'm excited about the full-screen applications - from what I've read it seems like Apple finally grasps the concept of Amiga-style public screens.
 

Offline djrikki

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2011, 02:37:30 PM »
2.0 Ghz processor is recommended for Mac OS X Lion, I think I read that in the App-Store.  Its a little sluggish at times Dougal compared to Snow Leopard, so yes there are performance issues.  I expect they will be addressed in future patches which is often the case with many OS Updates.

Overall not a lot has changed contrary to what they tell you and thats kinda of reflected in the price.

Most of the changes are in the interface, I can tell you the new interface is really boring and grey.  Its like a step backwards and a little forwards at the same time.

Full-screen applications are simply that, as soon as you alt-tab to another application the menu bar and dock re-appear.  It effects that application only and is nothing like a public screen experience.

I felt Snow Leopard was perfection anyway now they are just pissing around.

This Lion has more of a mieow and is definitely not king of the jungle just yet.

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« Last Edit: July 23, 2011, 02:40:42 PM by djrikki »
 

Offline mfletcher

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2011, 04:36:07 PM »
I have a MacBookPro 3,1 (2007) model with Lion and it runs ok. I do think its a little faster booting up now -

As to the the future of OS X, I agree that we're going to see further consolidation between iOS and OS X - what really worries me is if that if Apple start to prohibit installation of applications downloaded through the web, well that will be it for me. While there are some advantages to Apples curated App Store (no malware), I don't want to lose the freedom of downloading and installing apps off the web.
 

Offline sandpiper

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2011, 05:00:16 PM »
I just installed Lion on my 11" MBA (2010). Took about 30 minutes to install after downloading a 3.5GB file. My MBA is the base 1.4Ghz, 2 GB ram w/SSD. Works great. Very snappy, as it was with Snow Leopard.
 

Offline Piru

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2011, 05:12:49 PM »
I've installed it to 4 macs at home and other than few kinks (reversing the default gesture scroll direction, wtf?) everything has gone very smoothly. I haven't noticed any performance issues compared to Snow Leopard. The slowest systems are two 2007 MBP 17" with 2.4 and 2.6GHz C2D and they're perfectly fine. I'm mostly interested about the new security features Lion brings: There are some major fixes inside Lion in this regard. I haven't yet upgraded my work MBP though, since it uses Symantec Full Disk Crypto which is known to have serious issues at system upgrades. Better wait for some other guinea pigs to sort the issues out first... ;-)

BTW: On some systems with fast disk I/O (ones with SSD basically) the initial Spotlight indexing might slow the system to crawl. This happened with my MBP 13". Just wait until the indexing is done and it'll be okay. Of course it's also possible to disabled the indexing altogether if you don't need it.
 

Offline djrikki

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Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2011, 05:21:51 PM »
@Mflecter:

Yes, very good point.  That would be the road to ruin.  OSes need to be as open as possible.

Offline nicholas

Re: Did anyone try OS X Lion on a MBA?
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2011, 05:23:45 PM »
It works a treat on my knackered old early 2008 17" MBP which is Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz but only running at 1.25GHz at the moment due to a borked battery connection.

Will try it on my wife's same era white Macbook next week when it comes back from repair but might have to upgrade the ram from the paltry 1gb it currently has.
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