Apple Mac OS X Lion: How to Get It

Apple Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is officially in the wild. After learning some Multi-Touch tricks from iOS, the latest iteration of Mac OS X has been loosed exclusively on the Mac App Store for an app-like price of just $29. The result: The best consumer OS on the market today. You can check out our Apple Mac OS X Lion review for the full dish. So if you have a Mac, how are you going to catch this cat? Here's what you need to know.

Snow Leopards Only
If you want to upgrade to Lion from an earlier version of OS X, you'll need Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Sorry, Leopard (OS X 10.5) users: Because you'll need the Mac App Store—a Snow Leopard exclusive—there's no upgrade path to Lion except through Snow Leopard. Not just any version of Snow Leopard will do, either. You'll also want the latest version of Snow Leopard to ensure an easy jump.

Setting the Trap
Upgrades aside, it's best practice to run system updates. You know it, I know it, but it's easy to forget, especially if you don't reboot your Mac often—and you are a Mac user, yes? Before upgrading, open System Preferences and run Software Update.

View Slideshow See all (22) slides

MoreFor aspirant Lion tamers, there are two updates of note: Mac OS 10.6.8 and today's release of the Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The latest patch for Snow Leopard includes: "Enhancements to the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion." Considering this is a Mac App Store exclusive, it's in your best interests to embrace "enhancements." The second patch, made available today, is intended to assist in transferring data from one Mac to another. While Mac-to-Mac transfers aren't relevant for direct updates to Lion, why wouldn't you run a 312-kilobyte patch that aims to smooth out future migrations?

Other Ways to Play
For users with sluggish Internet connections, the prospect of downloading a 4GB OS may be a daunting one. While Apple will not offer a boxed version of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, there will be other ways to catch the cat. For example, Apple suggests that you can download it wirelessly in any brick-and-mortar Apple Store—though that may not be practical if you use a desktop Mac and the nearest Apple Store is hours away—or wait until August, when Apple will make Lion available on a USB stick, for $69. Better late than never, right?

Apple will also offer specialized licensing for business and education customers. SMBs can purchase the Lion client and server directly from Apple or through Apple's Business Store with volume licensing at $29.99 per license or $49.99 maintenance contracts (minimum purchase requirement of 20 licenses). Education administrators can use Image Utility included with Mac OS X Lion Server to create custom images or deploy the OS to multiple systems by copying the Install Mac OS X Lion application to the target system and running the installer.

Stay tuned for our hands-on experience of installing Mac OS X Lion using the Mac App Store

Posted in: MAC OSX