Mac OS Lion Help

Grundlestiltskin

So I've heard this Lion stuff will make my computer run faster. I go to get it, apparently it's only available via the app store. I go to get the app store...but can''t run it without Snow Leopard, which I also don't have (running version 10.5.8). Is there another way for me to get Lion, or is it actually intended that I have to buy Snow Leopard just to install the OS after it?


Edit: After poking around it seems that it's exactly what Apple intends. Fair enough, I just wish I could just pay $60 for a direct upgrade instead of having two install two OSes.

KitAlexHarrison

As far as I'm aware, Lion requires Snow Leopard to install - your only way to get Lion is to install Snow Leopard then Lion on top of it. This, I think, is because Lion's installation simply swaps out bits of Snow Leopard with Lion's new features rather than overwriting it entirely.

However, while a disc-based installation will never be offered, I understand Apple will be offering USB flash drives (at an increased price) containing Lion in August. I'm unsure, however, if it will again be a delta (change-only) upgrade, or if it will be a full installation you can use on all Macs.

ben0207

The USB version coming in August will upgrade any capable machine (even if Apple won't admit it).

It's worth it.

useless4

Honestly in your situation, I would borrow a snow leopard disc if you can just to get to 10.6.6/8 then buy and install Lion.
Legally, your license will be covered. The Lion license grants you full license on every mac you buy regardless of what came before it.

Weirdly, same with the Lion Server license.

Echo

You can burn Lion to disc or make a bootable USB stick to make a clean install to a wiped drive. It's what I did.

Grundlestiltskin

useless4 wrote:

Honestly in your situation, I would borrow a snow leopard disc if you can just to get to 10.6.6/8 then buy and install Lion.
Legally, your license will be covered. The Lion license grants you full license on every mac you buy regardless of what came before it.

Weirdly, same with the Lion Server license.

Can I get in trouble for installing SL from someone else's disc? Would a Lion install check for that?

Smasher

Grundlestiltskin wrote:

useless4 wrote:

Honestly in your situation, I would borrow a snow leopard disc if you can just to get to 10.6.6/8 then buy and install Lion.
Legally, your license will be covered. The Lion license grants you full license on every mac you buy regardless of what came before it.

Weirdly, same with the Lion Server license.

Can I get in trouble for installing SL from someone else's disc? Would a Lion install check for that?

No. To the best of my knowledge OS X performs no OS registration checks of any sort.

Grundlestiltskin

So I went to the Apple store down the street to see if I could just pick up a copy of Snow Leopard; they told me they don't carry it any more, and that I can just buy it and download it off the Apple site. However, the site only references a physical copy that won't ship for 5-7 days. Am I missing something, or was the store clerk misinformed?

Esh

Grundlestiltskin wrote:

So I went to the Apple store down the street to see if I could just pick up a copy of Snow Leopard; they told me they don't carry it any more, and that I can just buy it and download it off the Apple site. However, the site only references a physical copy that won't ship for 5-7 days. Am I missing something, or was the store clerk misinformed?

The store clerk was mistaken. I bet if you go on Craigslist you can find a copy for cheap if you don't want to wait for shipping.

Grundlestiltskin

Esh wrote:

Grundlestiltskin wrote:

So I went to the Apple store down the street to see if I could just pick up a copy of Snow Leopard; they told me they don't carry it any more, and that I can just buy it and download it off the Apple site. However, the site only references a physical copy that won't ship for 5-7 days. Am I missing something, or was the store clerk misinformed?

The store clerk was mistaken. I bet if you go on Craigslist you can find a copy for cheap if you don't want to wait for shipping.

Yeah I found it available at the Best Buy down the street so I'm just going to pick it up, figured I'd ask before I went back out. A digital distribution, install from desktop OS sounded weird to me, but she was quite insistent that it was the case.