Apple bills Lion as the easiest-to-install version of OS X yet, and that may be true. But there are still a few things you can do right now to ensure that your Mac is ready for 10.7. First, make sure you’re Mac is up to date and running OS X 10.7.4 Lion. Click the Apple icon and About This Mac. You’ll get a screen that lists the basic information about your system.
Mac OS X 10.7, codenamed Lion was released on 20 July 2011. I’ve just upgraded my MacBook Air to Lion. Lion is … quite a lot of awesomeness bundled together.
On OS X Lion, even 'About This Mac' is betterUseful Features of Lion
Here’s some I love about Lion and am using all the time:
New cool stuff everywhere:There’s just great little touches everywhere. Even About This Mac is better, showing how much space different types of files are using on your hard disk, just like for an iPod when it’s plugged in for syncing to iTunes (see screenshot). I accidentally quit the Preview app without saving a screenshot. When I next started Preview, there it was waiting for me. All the Apple Apps now just pickup where I last left them. After getting really used to “the usual”, it’s quite exciting stumbling over all these useful improvements.
Full screen apps: Just click a two headed arrow in the top-right corner of a window, and it expands to take the whole screen, with the menu bar shrinking away. The major Mac apps have been upgraded to support full screen mode, like Safari, iPhone, iTunes, Mail, iCal, Preview and it works with some third party apps like Chrome. To sweep between full screen apps, just slide three fingers horizontally across the trackpad. Ahhhh – iPad like simplicity, just focus on one task at a time. And get the whole screen for useful work.
Scrolling reinvented: Scroll bars tend to disappear in Lion. In Safari and the Finder they’re not there until I scroll with the trackpad or arrow keys. The scroll bars fade in while I’m scrolling and quickly disappear. This gives more visible area for content, be it a web page or picture thumbnails in the Finder. So you don’t panic at the lack of scroll bars, the Lion welcome app makes sure it tells you how to scroll with two fingers on the trackpad. Two finger scrolling is in the opposite direction to Snow Leopard, matching the iPhone and iPad. (This can be reversed.) When you scroll past the end, there’s a bouncing effect also a la iPad. While there is an adjustment, it feels more tactile & intuitive. Basically Lion takes the best elements of the iPhone experience (focus on one thing, get the interface out of the way) and starts to bring this to the Mac.
Mission Control: Swipe up with three fingers and I can clearly see all my windows, full screen apps and the dock, with windows from the same app stacked together, and the app icon on the bottom edge of the stacked windows. Just click to pick which window you want. Quick, clear, easy, awesome.
Eye Candy: Lion improves the Mac’s graphical interface. It feels lighter & cleaner, more refined, yet more friendly. It not obvious. I can’t quite put my finger on the changes – the progress bar pulses and it lighter, window corners seem different sometimes, the shadows are better perhaps, Finder icons have been revised, elements slide, move, contract and expand… The elements aren’t obvious, but collectively Lion feels quite different to previous OS X releases.
Lion looks and feels different. It’s got more life in it. It’s simpler, lighter, more effective more fun.
Lion Application Compatibility
Application compatibility has been good so far. I’ve tested Firefox, Opera, Chrome & Outlook. I still need to test Word, Excel, Photoshop and the like. An app I use to stream music throughout my house – Airfoil – falls over after suspend, but I’ve got no doubt that will be fixed very soon. My PHP configuration got broken by the Lion upgrade, taking down a WordPress site I working on, but that’s fixed now.
How to Get Lion
Mac OS X Lion is available only through the Mac App Store. Go the the Apple menu, choose the third item down “App Store…“.
Requirements to Upgrade to Lion
You need to be running Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or higher, and have 4GB of free disk space to upgrade to Lion.
Lion Download
Lion downloaded ridiculously quickly for me, at almost 10 megabytes per seconds. Apple’s obviously done the work so if you’ve got a fast Internet connection, they’ll use every bit of it.
Time to Install Lion
It took about 40 minutes to install on my MacBook Air 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo.
Lion Pricing
Pricing is $29.99 in the U.S. and AUD$31.99 in Australia.
Performance
All the new Lion features respond smoothly & quickly on my late-2010 MacBook Air. My Air runs Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz., which is a slow processor compared to current Macs like the mid-2011 MacBook Air with a i5 or i7. Macs made in the last couple of years should run Lion well.
Conclusion
I highly recommend upgrading to Lion! It’s a big upgrade to OS X with lots of useful improvements you’ll use daily. I’m meant to keep my MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard so I can test on Snow Leopard, but to be honest, I don’t think I can resist upgrading.
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When you upgrade to macOS Catalina, you get more of everything you love about Mac. Experience dedicated apps for music, TV, and podcasts. Smart new features in the apps you use every day. And Sidecar, which lets you use iPad as a second Mac display. Best of all, upgrading is free and easy.
Chances are, your Mac can run macOS Catalina.
Mac computers with Metal-capable graphics processors (GPUs) can upgrade to macOS Catalina. Piano lessons mac software.
Make sure you’re ready to upgrade.
Before you upgrade, we recommend that you back up your Mac. Then, if your Mac is running OS X Mavericks 10.9 or later, you can upgrade directly to macOS Catalina.
Upgrading is free. And easier than you think.
Upgrading from macOS Mojave?
Go to Software Update in System Preferences to find the macOS Catalina upgrade. Click Upgrade Now and follow the onscreen instructions to begin your upgrade. If you don’t have broadband access, you can upgrade your Mac at any Apple Store.
Upgrading from an older version of macOS?
If you’re running High Sierra (10.13), Sierra (10.12), or El Capitan (10.11), upgrade to macOS Catalina from the App Store. If you’re running Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8), you will need to upgrade to El Capitan (10.11) first. If you don’t have broadband access, you can upgrade your Mac at any Apple Store.
- OS X 10.9 or later
- 4GB of memory
- 12.5GB of available storage (OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 or later)*
- Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
- Some features require a compatible internet service provider; fees may apply.
For details about your Mac model, click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen and choose About This Mac. These Mac models are compatible with macOS Catalina:
- MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
- Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013 or newer)
Siri
Requires a broadband internet connection and microphone (built-in or external).
Hey Siri
Supported by the following Mac models:
- MacBook Pro (2018 or newer)
- MacBook Air (2018 or newer)
- iMac Pro
Dictation, Voice Control, and Voice Memos
Requires a microphone (built-in or external).
Spotlight Suggestions
Requires a broadband internet connection.
Gestures
Apple Os Lion Requirements Pc
Requires a Multi-Touch trackpad, Force Touch trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse.
Force Touch gestures require a Force Touch trackpad. Software compatible with cricut explore.
VoiceOver gestures require a Multi-Touch trackpad, Force Touch trackpad, or Magic Trackpad.
Photo Booth
Requires a FaceTime or iSight camera (built-in or external), or USB video class (UVC) camera.
FaceTime
Audio calls require a microphone (built-in or external) and broadband internet connection.
Video calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built-in or external), or a USB video class (UVC) camera; and broadband internet connection.
Apple TV
High Dynamic Range (HDR) video playback is supported by the following Mac models:
- MacBook Pro (2018 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac Pro (2019) with Pro Display XDR
Dolby Atmos soundtrack playback is supported by the following Mac models:
- MacBook Air (2018 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (2018 or newer)
Sidecar
![Lion Lion](https://support.apple.com/library/content/dam/edam/applecare/images/en_US/mac/macos-mojave-get-software-hero.jpg)
Supported by the following Mac models:
- MacBook (2016 or newer)
- MacBook Air (2018 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (2016 or newer)
- Mac mini (2018 or newer)
- iMac (late 2015 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017 or newer)
- Mac Pro (2019)
Supported by all iPad models with Apple Pencil support:
- 12.9-inch iPad Pro
- 11-inch iPad Pro
- 10.5-inch iPad Pro
- 9.7-inch iPad Pro
- iPad (6th generation or later)
- iPad mini (5th generation)
- iPad Air (3rd generation)
Continuity Camera
Requires an iPhone or iPad with a Lightning connector and iOS 12 or later.
Continuity Sketch and Continuity Markup
Requires an iPhone with iOS 13 or an iPad with iPadOS.
Handoff
Requires an iPhone or iPad with a Lightning connector and iOS 8 or later.
Instant Hotspot
Requires an iPhone or iPad with cellular connectivity, a Lightning connector, and iOS 8.1 or later. Requires Personal Hotspot service through your carrier.
Universal Clipboard
Requires an iPhone or iPad with a Lightning connector and iOS 10 or later.
Auto Unlock
Os X Lion Mac
Supported by Mac models introduced in mid 2013 or later.
Requires an Apple Watch with watchOS 3 or later or an iPhone 5 or later.
Approve with Apple Watch
Supported by Mac models introduced in mid 2013 or later.
Requires an Apple Watch with watchOS 6 or later or an iPhone 6s or later with iOS 13.
Apple Pay on the Web
Requires MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 10 or later, or an Apple Watch with watchOS 3 or later.
Phone Calling
Requires an iPhone with iOS 8 or later and an activated carrier plan.
SMS
Requires an iPhone with iOS 8.1 or later and an activated carrier plan.
Home
Requires an iPhone with iOS 12 or later and a configured Home app.
AirDrop
AirDrop to iOS and iPadOS devices requires an iPhone or iPad with a Lightning connector and iOS 7 or later.
AirPlay
AirPlay Mirroring requires an Apple TV (2nd generation or later).
AirPlay for web video requires an Apple TV (2nd generation or later).
Peer-to-peer AirPlay requires a Mac (2012 or later) and an Apple TV (3rd generation rev A, model A1469 or later) with Apple TV software 7.0 or later.
Time Machine
Requires an external storage device (sold separately).
Power Nap
Supported by the following Mac models:
- MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
- MacBook Pro with Retina display (Mid 2012 or newer)
- Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013 or newer)
Boot Camp
Allows Boot Camp installations of Windows 10 on supported Mac models.
Exchange Support
Requires Microsoft Office 365, Exchange 2016, Exchange 2013, or Exchange Server 2010. Installing the latest Service Packs is recommended.
Windows Migration
Supports OS X 10.7 or later and Windows 7 or later.
App Store
Available only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. and many other countries and regions.
- Apple Books
- Apple News
- App Store
- Automator
- Calculator
- Calendar
- Chess
- Contacts
- Dictionary
- DVD Player
- FaceTime
- Find My
- Font Book
- Home
- Image Capture
- Launchpad
- Maps
- Messages
- Mission Control
- Music
- Notes
- Photo Booth
- Photos
- Podcasts
- Preview
- QuickTime Player
- Reminders
- Safari
- Siri
- Stickies
- Stocks
- System Preferences
- TextEdit
- Time Machine
- TV
- Voice Memos
- Activity Monitor
- AirPort Utility
- Audio MIDI Setup
- Bluetooth File Exchange
- Boot Camp Assistant
- ColorSync Utility
- Console
- Digital Color Meter
- Disk Utility
- Grapher
- Keychain Access
- Migration Assistant
- Screenshot
- Screen Time
- Script Editor
- Sidecar
- System Information
- Terminal
- VoiceOver Utility
- Arabic
- Catalan
- Croatian
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English (Australia)
- English (UK)
- English (U.S.)
- Finnish
- French
- French (Canada)
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Malay
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Spanish (Latin America)
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese