On the 25th of July Apple releases (or has released, depending on when you are reading this) their latest kitty operating system; Mountain Lion. This is very likely the last operating system to be named after a feline because, frankly, there ain’t any left.
This upgrade is well worth a look but before you take the plunge make sure you are ready.
Step 1: Is your hardware included?
Mountain Lion has some specific hardware requirements so unfortunately some macs have been left out of the celebrations. To check your status have a look at this previous article.
Step2: Consider more Ram
Unless you are a serial downloader I doubt very much that you are low on disk space. That said however, make sure that you have at least 10GB free before you think about moving to Mountain Lion. However there is a very high probability that when it comes to ram the situation is in the reverse. Almost no one has enough ram. Before upgrading I would always recommend a ram upgrade to the highest – if budget allows – your Mac can handle. In any event it is recommended that you have at least 4GB of ram.
Step3: Make sure your software is compatible
Making sure that all your applications, printers and scanners are compatible is very important because nothing ruins the upgrade event faster than your favourite application crashing. Fortunately there is an excellent resource in the form of Roaringapps. Simply visit this page and have a look at the compatibility of all your essential applications. In most cases you’ll find that the fix is probably a free upgrade.
Step4: Backups
Make sure that your Time Machine backups are up to date. If you don’t have a Time Machine backup I would stop what you are doing – mid sentence if necessary- and go and get an external hard disk, plug it in and get a Time Machine backup in the can before you go any further.
Step 5: Download or Claim your free copy
Hop onto the MacApp Store and download your upgrade. Or, if you don’t have a generous internet download limit, go to the Apple store and purchase the Mountain Lion USB key.
or
If you purchased a new Mac after June 30 2012 then you may be entitled to a free copy of Mountain Lion. You can find out more at the Apple Up-to-date website.
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