The big question most mac users face is whether or not it’s worth upgrading their operating system to the ‘latest and greatest’.
Sometimes, the latest operating system release is a must have offering much wanted new features and enhance the users experience but sometimes an upgrade can be more of a headache than it’s worth. In any case it’s important to check before you make the jump.
Should I upgrade to Mountain Lion?
First off, if you are running OSX Lion, then you should be fine to make the modest jump to Mountain Lion. There is nothing terribly different or machine breaking about the 10.8 release, so most users will find that their experience should continue much the same with Mountain Lion as it did in Lion.
If you’re on Snow Leopard (10.6) or earlier then you have to ask the same questions as were asked when Lion was released;
What applications do you run and use that are PowerPC Applications?
Like OSX Lion, Mountain Lion has no support for PowerPC Applications and as such it’s important to check that nothing will break at an inopportune time.
You can check this in System Profiler, which you get to by clicking ‘More Info’ on the About This Mac box from the Apple menu. Select Applications under Software in the left hand column and after a moment or three you will receive a snapshot of all the Applications currently installed on your Mac. Identify any PowerPC listings in the ‘Kind’ column and make movements to see if there is a Universal/Lion/Mountain Lion ready version available for each. If there isn’t an update available then perhaps this creates a serious factor stopping you from making the update to Mountain Lion at this point.
Roaring apps is a great site that can reveal the compatibility of various versions of an Application. Check it out..
Is your computer compatible?
Mountain Lion requires the following: OS X v10.6.8 or later, 2GB of memory, 8GB of available storage space.
The Supported models: MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer), MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer), MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer), Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer), iMac (mid-2007 or newer), Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
It is worthwhile to mention that while 2GB of memory on an early Mac might run Mountain Lion it may not give the best experience perhaps by being slow and unresponsive.
In Summary
Remember the upgrade is not essential and you’re not losing out by not upgrading now. You can make the move at a later date perhaps when your software is Lion compatible or a suitable alternative is found.
Also please back up everything possible before making the move as things can go wrong and you want to be protected in the slim chance that it does, but you were backing up anyway weren’t you?
For more info about OSX Mountain Lion have a read at http://www.apple.com/au/osx/
