Installation
Lion is currently only available via a 3.5GB App Store download (only on Snow Leopard) for $29.99. It's also available on a USB stick for $69. If you’re balking at the huge download, you can get assistance from an Apple store.
If you’re doing it yourself, make sure you create a bootable USB disk or DVD before you get started as the install file will be automatically deleted once Lion is installed, making it impossible to install the OS on any other computer.
The installation is easy to run through, though it took almost 2 hours to complete the backup, install, and data restore. Time Machine restored my data and set up all my applications without a hitch.
Getting started
You’ll probably want to head straight over to the System Preferences as soon as you install Lion to turn off the natural scrolling -- which makes scrolling on the trackpad and mouse scrollbar the opposite of what you’re used to.
While you really do get used to natural scrolling fairly quickly, if you move between your Lion computer and any other computer, it will be very frustrating. The other option I changed immediately was to make the scrollbars visible. By default, scrollbars are hidden until you use them – making it unnecessarily difficult to see how far down you are in a document or webpage.
Enhancements
Mulitouch gestures are a core part of Lion. However, they still feel more useful on an iPhone or iPad. I’m not going to study the many gestures and their functions when I find it easy enough to navigate my laptop without them.
Finder is much improved, with options to view “All My Files” categorised by filetype, and you can easily sort the list according to your preferences. Spotlight, the search on the top right of your screen, has been extended to include web and Wikipedia results, with pop-up windows showing you a “Quick Look” preview of the results when you hover. You can drag and drop search results from Spotlight onto your desktop.
Launchpad helped clean up my over-crowded dock with quick, easy access to all applications grouped in an iPad/ iPhone-like interface. Once in Launchpad, hold down option key for the option to delete apps, and a two-finger-swipe right and left on the touchpad to moves from screen to screen.
Versions (or whatever happened to good ol' “save as”?)
Versions is one of those features that I found annoying at first as I simply couldn’t understand why essential options like “save” and “save as” had been removed. Having used and understood it better, I now find it one of the most useful features in Lion. Essentially, Lion applications autosave documents while storing a copy of the previous version. You now “save a version” of a document instead of simply “saving” a document.
You can also lock a document, duplicate it, revert to an old version, or browse all versions -- simply by clicking the title bar. “Browse all versions” opens up a window resembling Time Machine, allowing you to navigate through previous versions of your document alongside your current document. You can now restore an older version of your document, or simply copy parts of an earlier version of your document without losing any of your newer changes. Confused? Just click on the title bar. Trust me, you’ll find it useful.
I’ve already found Resume to be a handy time-saver. Resume is a little like the feature in web browsers where your last opened windows automatically open after a browser crash, only better. It remembers not only what you were doing the last time you used an app, but also the window sizes and placement on the screen. It even worked in third-party apps like Photoshop.
I have never been a fan of Mac Mail, generally finding its lack of features too limiting to manage a large inbox. The new Mac Mail, however, is a substantial improvement. The interface is enhanced with a three-pane wide-screen view and a full-screen option. Mail setup is largely automated and very quick and easy to configure. The feature that impressed, though, is the search. It is simply the fastest mail search I’ve seen.
Safari now includes a small eyeglasses icon in the bookmarks bar, which opens the “Reading List” feature, essentially integrating an “Instapaper”-like option into Safari. It’s a quick list of pages you want to read, but not add to a crowded list of bookmarks you probably won’t get to. Although useful, it’s doubtful that that those already using Instapaper will be converted. Safari now also includes the ability to drag a downloaded file from the downloads window straight into the Finder – I’ve always been frustrated that this wasn’t possible previously.
Is it worth the upgrade?
For the $29.99 download, I’d say yes, but don’t rush over to the App Store just yet. First, check if your current favourite applications are supported in Lion. Backup your computer. And give yourself some time to get used to the changes, which, although small, do impact on the user experience enough to be frustrating until you learn your way around again. But ultimately, it’s worth it.
Turn Ons
- Airdrop file transfer: using Wi-Fi to quickly and easily transfer files between nearby Lion computers (though they have to be at least late-2008 computers)
- Versions of documents protects data
- Resume restores previous state of applications, including re-opening last opened documents in the last used size and position on your screen
- Full screen options for applications, making more efficient use of small laptop screen
Turn Offs
- No more Power PC support
- Some program incompatibility
- ‘Natural scrolling’ can be frustrating to get used to
- Inexplicably, no more Front Row, the media centre software you could control with the remote control
