According to Apple, Mountain Lion is going to be released within the next ten days. So if you are thinking of upgrading it is time to get ready. The first thing you will want to do is to check to see if your machine is eligible for Mountain Lion. To do this take the following steps:
- Click on the Apple logo in the upper left hand corner of your screen
- Then About this Mac.
- Then click on More Info and copy the year and time of year your mac was produced, for example mine was mid 2011.
- Then go to the Apple Mountain Lion Spec Page and see if it is on the list.
If it isn’t on the list you cannot upgrade, Not all Macs that run Lion will be eligible for Mountain Lion. For example my early 2008 Macbook runs Lion fine, however it is not eligible for the Mountain Lion upgrade. If your machine is on the list, congratulation you are eligible for the upgrade. Now make sure you have at least 4GB of memory, although 8GB is recommended by most experts, also make sure you have at least 8 GB of space available. Do a backup, in case something goes wrong. This is also a good time to do some tidying up, clear out your download folder, empty the trash and perhaps get rid of those applications you downloaded but never use. A good application that can help you do this is Disk Doctor available through the Mac app store for $1.99. It will clear out your trash, cache, download folder and languages you don’t use. As always, if you are not sure-don’t delete. Now you are ready for Mountain Lion, which according to all rumors should come out on Wednesday in the Mac App store for $20.00.
Just because you are ready to upgrade to Mountain Lion doesn’t mean you should. Mountain Lion is an evolutionary not revolutionary upgrade. There are some cool things that are being added such as Dictation, Reminders, Messages, and Notes to name a few. However there is nothing that is a must have for most people. So before you upgrade check to see if your favorite applications can run under Mountain Lion. You can check the app compatibility table at RoaringApp. If the app has a question mark next to it, doesn’t mean it will not run under Mountain Lion, it just means it hasn’t been tested and you should proceed with caution. This is especial true if you are running a small business.
If you decide that you want to take the leap, remember that everyone else is taking the leap at the same time and the download may take some time, so be patient, make some tea or have a beer and relax. Getting frustrate will not make the download and install go any faster.