Worth upgrading to Mountain Lion or stick with Snow Leopard?

A few weeks ago some of you helped me navigate the pros/cons of buying a spanking new Imac vs a mid 2011 (I decided the 2011 was plenty worthy).   I thank you for that, and now I want to ask: if I were to get a mid 2011 Imac, is it worth to upgrade to the latest OS, or is sticking with Snow Leopard (my current OS) fine?
I'm using some older software like FCP 6 and its associated suite of programs, and probably plenty of other applications I'm not thinking of at the moment, that I got back in '08 or so when I got the Imac I have now.   I think I've heard that Lion/Mountain is a total overhaul of the OS compared to Snow Leopard, and that makes me wonder if there are compatibility issues/problems associated with trying to use these older pieces of software with the new OS.  What are the super amazing benefits of Lion or Mountain Lion vs Snow Leopard?  Are they worth it?  Do the aforementioned issues exist? Thanks.

Someone else will need to answer your Time Machine question because I do not use it. It may work because it should port over all the applications, settings, etc. I was going on the assumption that you would be reinstalling your apps from scratch (I guess I thought that because that is what I did - I wanted as clean an install as possible). Anyway, TM should just transfer things - just remember, if any of those transferred apps have PPC installers and you get rid of your Snow Leopard machine, you'll never be able to reinstall them.
You might want to check these links (and by doing a search here on the forums, there'll be more):
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18179294#18179294
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16964725#16964725
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17434537#17434537

Similar Messages

  • After upgrade to mountain lion a hd with snow leopard will not boot and run the MBP

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    Does the Apple store upgrade process alter the internal MacBook Pro or its software in any way? I was not, am not aware of such software. I want to be able to carry along two hard drives, swappable, with different OSX and applications when I go out to help people out of their problems. Something I have done successfully for the past 15 years - free of charge, I might add.
    This is the first time that I am stumped. I am not a programmer btw.
    Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Meanwhile I shall keep on muckng about.

    Your problem is that your old HD is no longer blessed. if you can, connect both drives at  the smae time, then
    First, open the “Startup Disk” preference pane and select “Mac OS X” as the operating system to boot. This will re-bless your Mac OS X volume on the older install.
    No need to delete or zero the drive at all.
    What makes a volume bootable? / Frequently Asked Questions and ...

  • Is OSX Mountain Lion Server Compatible with Snow Leopard

    Is Mountain Lion Server compatible with Clients running on Snow Leopard?

    We haven't had any problems with Home Directories hosted on 10.8.2 on a small number ol 10.6 clients. The only issue is that you can't use Workgroup Manager 10.8 on the 10.6 machines to allow 10.6-only apps. If you have a mixture of 10.6, 10.8 or 10.7 clients the user's prefs for things like Mail get screwy due to the different schema.

  • Before upgrade the mountain lion need to uninstall snow leopard ?? or its automatically upgrade?

    please help me

    You can just upgrade to Mountain Lion.  You do not need to uninstall Snow Leopard.

  • Upgrading to Mountain Lion... with a virus?

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    2) Repair the hard drive with Disk Utility.
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    4) Ideally, make a second full backup of your whole system using something else, like Carbon Copy Cloner. (I consider two backups to be the minimum.)
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    6) Install the upgrade.
    Some people recommend erasing your hard drive and installing the new system "cleanly." That certainly helps ensure that you don't have any problems with the new system, but is often unnecessary. I prefer to save clean installs for when they are actually necessary, but that is only an opinion. You can choose to do a clean install if you prefer.

  • How do I upgrade to mountain lion if I'm running leopard?

    How do I upgrade to mountain lion if I'm running leopard?

    Before you buy anything, first make sure your Mac is compatible.
    Minimum specs for Snow Leopard.  Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard -       Read the Technical Specifications
    For Mountain Lion.                     Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Read the technical specifications.
    Once you've upgraded you will need to apply the Combo updater for Snow Leopard.          Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1
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    Upgrading to Mountain Lion.    Start by buying the Snow Leopard retail disc
    10.6.3, then update to 10.6.8 via the combo updater >>>
    You can no longer buy Snow Leopard from Apple retail, only as follows.  If you are in North America ... Buying Snow leopard from Apple.      Last I read, you must call them (1-800-MY-APPLE). It is $29 plus tax for family pack and $19 plus tax for a single.
    In Europe or otherwise call your National Apple Helpline … http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57

  • Mountain  Lion Time Machine over Snow Leopard TM

    Is it save to create a Mountain Lion Time Machine backup on an external hard drive with a Snow Leopard Time Machine backup? The TM Preference panel is showing "Oldest backup: None" and "Latest Backup: None". Will Mountain Lion erase the prior Snow Leopard TM backup? I don't want to lose my prior backups.

    I intended to ask: "Is it SAFE....."

  • I downloaded Mountain Lion from being on Snow Leopard and lost my entire Office 2004 suite, including Entourage which was my main email server. If I download Office 2008, will I retrieve all my lost Entourage email folders?

    I downloaded Mountain Lion from being on Snow Leopard and lost my entire Office 2004 suite, including Entourage which was my main email server. If I download Office 2008, will I retrieve all my lost Entourage email folders?
    Other options?

    It's not that simple. You didn't lose your Office 2004 suite. Office 2004 won't run in Mountain Lion. You need to update your Office software. You need to purchase either Office 2008 or 2011. Either one can run in Mountain Lion.

  • I just downloaded and installed mountain lion on my macbook pro but it didn't change the picture on desktop to mountain lion in is still snow leopard is that supposed to be that way.

    I just downloaded and installed mountain lion but it kept snow leopard on my screen is that supposed to happen or did i miss something?

    Then you're good to go.  Updating your OS doesnt change your desktop background, you can do that manually, if you wish.

  • I have mac mini os x mountain lion can i put snow leopard on the partition

    I have a mac mini os x mountain lion can i put snow leopard on the partition

    on the same partition?  no.  you'll need to create another partition if you want to dual boot, and install SL there.

  • Is there a way to get rid of Mountain Lion and return to Snow Leopard?

    Eversince apple replaced my hard drive due to a recall and I installed mountain lion because it was touted as the greatest, i have been greatly disappointed. My system has slowed to a crawl, and there's just too much going on. I don't see the benefit and feel ripped off.
    Is there a way to remove mountain lion and replace with my old system, Snow Leopard?

    macnally wrote:
    Eversince apple replaced my hard drive due to a recall and I installed mountain lion because it was touted as the greatest, i have been greatly disappointed. My system has slowed to a crawl, and there's just too much going on. I don't see the benefit and feel ripped off.
    Is there a way to remove mountain lion and replace with my old system, Snow Leopard?
    Restore your backup. (The one you made prior to replacing the operating system)

  • I upgraded iTunes to 11.1.5 with Snow Leopard.  I was told that shouldn't have taken place despite being suggested by the software update notice.  At that point it wouldn't open.  I then upgraded to Mavericks, but it still doesn't start despite clicking.

    I had been using an old iTunes program.  This was with Snow Leopard.  I bought a Nano 7, but it wouldn't work with the old iTunes.  I upgraded to the newest edition, but then iTunes wouldn't open.  I was told by Apple that the computer shouldn't have downloaded the latest iTunes (but it did).  I was told I needed to upgrade to Mavericks.
    So I di.  iTunes still won't open, whether from the doc or the Application file.  I tried to delete it and reinstall, but the computer won't let me.  So how can I get iTunes to work?
    Thanks!

    Version 11.1.5.5 of iTunes was just released today. If you update to that, does that help with the recognition troubles?
    http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

  • Upgrading to mountain lion and problems with time machine

    I recently upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion. Now Time Machine does these huge hourly backups even when nothing has been updated. When I have VMware running, the update aborts, eventhough nothing in the virtual machine is supposed to be backed up. I am wondering if TM is trying to back up some work files that were created during the conversion. Has anybody seen this before? Any ideas?

    If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
    View ▹ Show Log List
    from the menu bar.
    Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message. Clear the text field and scroll back in the log to that time. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them (command-C) to the Clipboard. Paste (command-V) into a reply to this message.
    If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
    When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included — anonymize before posting.

  • Is it worth upgrading to Mountain Lion

    Hi All,
    I have a late 2011 MBP 2.4 Ghz 8GB RAM.
    I would like ot use the airplay on my Apple TV to stream some films. I understand that to be able to do this, I will need to update my OS to Mountain Lion. Is there any issues I should be aware of, I am a complete novice when it comes to my macbook and I don't like the thought of any issues arising that were'nt there before and me having to try to fix them!
    Many Thanks for your help
    Chris

    Gnomie wrote:
    Hi All,
    I have a late 2011 MBP 2.4 Ghz 8GB RAM.
    I would like ot use the airplay on my Apple TV to stream some films. I understand that to be able to do this, I will need to update my OS to Mountain Lion. Is there any issues I should be aware of, I am a complete novice when it comes to my macbook and I don't like the thought of any issues arising that were'nt there before and me having to try to fix them!
    Many Thanks for your help
    Chris
    You are already using Lion, so Mountain Lion will be no drastic change. Just Lion on steroids.
    Cheers
    Pete

  • Opinions please on Lion or stay with snow leopard.

    I have a 24in imac with a 2.8intel core 2 duo w/ 2 g of ram. Everything works perfectly now and after weeks of browsing the discussions and the web I am really afraid to upgrade to lion. The only reason I might have to is because of all my .mac /.me mail accounts. After years of use most of my mail accounts are with mobile me and I would be lost trying to change everyone of them. I moved all my galleries to Picassa and I never used idisk. Does anyone with this computer and processor have anything encouraging to say about lion? Many have said it slowed their computers down considerably. Thank you for any advice. 

    Lion will not slow down your computer unless you do not have adequate RAM. 2 GBs is the required minimum, but practically you need at least 4 GBs. That said unless you have some specific need to use Lion there's no need to upgrade. Eventually you will have to if you want to use iCloud.
    How to Install Lion Successfully - You must have Snow Leopard 10.6.7 or 10.6.8 Installed
    A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
    Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally. 
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.3.) if DW cannot fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard.
    B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
    Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
    Select the destination volume from the left side list.
    Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    Check the box labeled Erase destination.
    Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
    Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the backup volume. Source means the internal startup volume.
    C. Important: Please read before installing:
    If you have a FireWire hard drive connected, disconnect it before installing the update unless you will boot from this drive and install the update on it. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.
    You may experience unexpected results if you have installed third-party system software modifications, or if you have modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)
    The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update.  While the installation is in progress do not use the computer.
    D. To upgrade to Lion:
    Purchase the Lion Installer from the Mac App Store. The download will start quickly. Lion is nearly 4 GBs so a fast internet connection is essential. Download time could run upwards of 4 hours depending upon network conditions and server demands at the time.
    Boot From The Lion Installer which is located in your Applications folder.
    Follow instructions for installation.

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