Mac July 25, 2012

Things to take care of before installing OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 from App Store

Before putting hands on the latest generation of OS X Mountain Lion one needs to take care of a few things.

Check out System Requirements and Compatibility – the majority of new Macs run on Mac OS X 10.8 but for resting assured that your device copes with the new operating system one could check the list with the supported gadgets: iMac (Mid 2007 or newer), MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer), MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer), Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer), Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer), Xserve (Early 2009).

For checking all the details on your Mac you need to go to Apple menu, click “About this Mac” and afterwards on “More Info”. You can then check the name and date of your device for comparing it to the list above.

There are some Core 2 Duo Macs that can’t be updated and lose support. One needs at least 12GB of storage space for installing Mountain Lion but for best performing it’s recommended to have more space available.

Check App Compatibility – Devices that run OS X Lion 10.7 can upgrade to the latest version quite easily but those that cope with Snow Leopard may be faced with issues like apps not working. If apps are not compatible with OS X 10.8 find alternatives in App Store.
You never know when something goes wrong, so always make backup. Use Time Machine and go for a manual backup before installing the latest generation of operating system. For those that do not have the Time Machine set up a backup drive on an external hard drive.

For users that have bought a Mac recently Apple comes with good news, Mountain Lion being free to install. Others will have to pay $20 for getting their hands on the OS X 10.8 from App Store. The process takes between 30-45 minutes and does not require special knowledge in the domain for installing it.