Apple Mac OS X 10.7 Lion > Reviews (1)

After looking through my Apple orchard empire I suddenly got worried- I suddenly realised that I had completed my Apple collection- including, iMac, Macbook Pro iPad and the iPhone- and a myriad of other Apple Tech. So now what to buy? Well it was then I received a present as a "Get well soon" gift- I couldn't believe my luck when I found it was an Apple iTunes voucher for £25!!! It then twigged from the moment I got hold of it in my hand- I was going to buy OS X Lion Upgrade for my MacBook Pro- this was partially to keep up with my Dads Desktop Apple iMac too! As he is struggling a little with it as he is so used to the (terrible) Windows Computer system and has only just switched to Apple- as has my mother- who got used to it quickly- though she does need my help from time to time! So I thought if I upgraded to OSX Lion I could help allot more- as we would be on the same level. I also simply WANTED OSX Lion- anyway simply because Apple makes it! It seems also that Apple are confident that customers will enjoy it as after all they have called it after the King of the Jungle!!!

Instructions: I have to admit I was a little worried that Lion would wipe away all my paid extras on my MacBook Pro- for example I thought it may wipe away or delete my Microsoft Office area- including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Messenger. I was also concerned that it may clear away my extra security and my Windows system, which allows me too play all my Microsoft games on my MacBook Pro. I can say that NONE of my documents were deleted at all or Microsoft was deleted.

Ease Installation and Manufacture Support; I was a little disappointed that downloading Lion on to my MacBook Pro took 6 hours- however it was incredibly simple to do- I turned on the house Wi-Fi and attached the power supply to my MacBook Pro. I then made Apple a little richer and pressed the "Lion OSX download" button from the Application Store and then I went to bed... It really was a simple as that! You see Apple has recently been realising Software upgrades VIA the Application Store compared to other companies that launch them on disks. Should you find yourself struggling with the download, Apple have made a Lion page on the Internet with telephone numbers which will give you guidelines on how to download Lion. Should the person experience problems after purchasing an Apple download- then the person can take in the receipt sent to their email address.

What are the extra features I will get from the previous generation of Apple Software Snow Leopard? There are 250+ extras on the Lion operating system- I had explained just a few of them, as there are so many;

Launchpad; One of my favourite features of Lion is the Launchpad. This is because I can easily launch any of the computers applications or utilities- such as the system information. It is like one big folder on my computer that it is simple to navigate and use.

Mission Control; This is the is the controlling system to switch between open pages on the MacBook (Pro in this case) It works in the same way it did on Snow Leopard after pressing F3- it just seems to be renamed on Lion.

Extra Trackpad Multi-Touch Commands- I love the Multi Touch Trackpad (Touchscreen)- as it was on the Snow Leopard operating system- however I have found that upgrading to Lion has made the touchscreen more responsive for example the pinch to zoom method is allot smoother- in fact as smooth as it is on our iPad. I also love the scrolling methods to go back through Internet pages you previously visited- with the 2-finger side scroll. The 2 finger rotating gesture is also a nice feature as you can rotate photos from portrait to landscape- and vise versa. The 3-finger zoom out gesture is also handy for switching between open applications. For a full range of gestures please visit the Apple website!

Different Backgrounds; The Lion upgrade also means you will get extra desktop backgrounds- Original desktop background is the Andromeda Galaxy over the Leopard Aurora (I shall be uploading my photographs later.)

FaceTime and other applications; While on the Snow Leopard operating system I accidently deleted the content of this application- I am pleased to report however that after upgrading to this Lion Operating System it has restored FaceTime (Apple's free version and answer to Skype calling.) I can also report that some minor updates to the mainstream applications such as Apple's Internet browser Safari have also been upgraded to launch and run faster.

IOS 5 Software; Some of the software, familiar from the iPad 2 appears to be of taken from IOS5 Phone/Tablet Software this is because the Apple spell check, now can auto correct certain words- however I have found it frustrating, in a way- as "mom" for example is shown to be a correct way of spelling rather tan the British way of spelling "mum" even though I downloaded it from the British application store. Other than this- I am very happy with the extra features the software update gives over the Snow Leopard Operating system.

Ease of Use; Please remember that this Software cannot be downloaded for Windows PC users as this software is exclusive to Apple users- so I shan't be explaining the difference from the current Windows system to Lion- rather I shall be explaining the difference to the previous Apple software - Snow Leopard for Apple Computer Users. So long as you are used to Apple's usual software and it's capabilities- there is very little that is different from the interface. The only major difference- for me is the scrolling down of pages- it has been reversed- and is un-reversible. Should one wish to learn about the Multi Touch gestures- then the person can visit the Apple store and explore the interface of Lion, though I doubt there will be a need for this, as it is very simple to use!

System Requirements; I will admit that the Lion upgrade will take more than 3GB of space of your hardrive- and is more demanding in RAM requirements than the Snow Leopard upgrade was, as you need more RAM than you did when upgrading to Snow Leopard (at 1GB) and Lion needs 2GB RAM- however for all the modern Apple computers- these requirements pose no problems!

Another point to remember is that you must be running the most modern Apple operating system (Snow Leopard) to upgrade to Lion.

Value For Money; It cost's £20.99 for the Lion upgrade in the UK. I feel this is very good value for money- though it is cheaper to upgrade in Mainland Europe at 23.99 in EUROS- though strangely more expensive to buy Apple Products such as the iPad. I believe it is good value because it offers a much smoother and faster experience. It also offers more features- most of which I love!

Verdict; I shall leave Apple to explain my feelings of OSX Lion it truly is "The most advanced desktop operating system advances even further"!

I hope you enjoyed my review, as it may be my last for a while- I would also like to add that this review will be published on Dooyoo as JonathonCross