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First time Mac user, First time upgrade.

Nyy8

Nyy8

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 12, 2011
524
198
New England
In May of 2012, I got an iMac. No, I have no care or need for a refresh, and Ive been using windows for the past 6 years, when a new OS comes out for windows (Vista, 7) its all hell breaks loose. Drivers, Incompatibly, and just a nightmare. Now, with Mac what am I expecting from 10.8? Im looking to upgrade the second I see it on the mac app store.
 
Expect everything to be slightly new and more polished, and a few nice new features. Almost every app will work as before, and the few that don't will be upgraded quickly.

In short, it will be painless, will not be a dramatic upgrade but will make your Mac even lovelier.
 
#$

danb77 said:
Expect everything to be slightly new and more polished, and a few nice new features. Almost every app will work as before, and the few that don't will be upgraded quickly.

In short, it will be painless, will not be a dramatic upgrade but will make your Mac even lovelier.
Click to expand...

Wow, quite a rosy prediction. Especially about vendors making upgrades available quickly....

While I'd say that most upgrades (and particularly ML, which isn't likely to have many major changes) are painless, the devil is in the details. My advice would be to wait a bit and see if anyone has trouble with the SAME peripherals, software, utilities that you depend on. Upgrades always break something that somebody likes (what##@#? ML doesn't support my 1998 IBM impact printer?? I'M OUTRAGED! :D ). So if you wait just a sec you'll see if there are any insurmountable problems.

Or, if you've got a good backup and like to live dangerously, take the plunge.

And remember when you read all the complaining that will result, that software upgrades also FIX innumerable bugs and security holes. No one posts about that.

Rob
 
Wait for a few months before you upgrade so Apple can squash the major bugs.
After the few months, if you have some software you absolutely need to work, check it is compatible with ML before you upgrade.
 
hakuin said:
Wait for a few months before you upgrade so Apple can squash the major bugs.
Click to expand...

There are no major bugs. If there were, it wouldn't ship.

Any bugs are minor. I've always upgraded to the GM as soon as it's been released and while I've run into minor little bugs every now and then (like in Lion, ctrl-scroll would often fail to zoom the screen, and now in ML every now and then the three-finger swipe fwd/back is wonky), none of those things have been major pains in my rear end.

If you must, wait until 10.8.1, which should be out about two to three weeks after ML, but I see no reason for waiting longer than that.
 
Nyy8 said:
In May of 2012, I got an iMac. No, I have no care or need for a refresh, and Ive been using windows for the past 6 years, when a new OS comes out for windows (Vista, 7) its all hell breaks loose. Drivers, Incompatibly, and just a nightmare. Now, with Mac what am I expecting from 10.8? Im looking to upgrade the second I see it on the mac app store.
Click to expand...

Similar to you, I enjoy upgrading and seeing the latest and greatest. Though upgrading to Lion was probably a bit foolish in hindsight, I was just really excited to see the changes, and this caused several issues when it comes to application support, etc. However, as others have said, this upgrade is more of a refinement on top of Lion rather than a big overhaul like Lion was. Lion changed a lot of UI features, where as ML simply adds a few features and refines a (now) pretty stable OS. If I were you, I wouldn't hold back. From what it sounds like, ML seems like a very stable update. If I wasn't lazy I would've downloaded it on one of my laptops already. Most Windows upgrades are huuuuge and very different, and although the Mac OS's sometimes change lots of things, this update isn't one of them. Enjoy the new features and your iMac!
 
CyBeRino said:
There are no major bugs. If there were, it wouldn't ship.
Click to expand...

-1. Remember how Snow Leopard would play Russian Roulette with your user folder if the guest account was used? That was a hell of a surprise.

Generally, OSX updates are painless, but there are a few things to beware of. The two biggest are anything Adobe and Microsoft Office. If those have any problems, you will see it all over macrumors and 9to5mac mere hours after the OS is released. Otherwise, go ahead and grab the 10.8.0 release.

Just backup your files first. Mac is more stable, but it is still a complex machine.
 
mentaluproar said:
-1. Remember how Snow Leopard would play Russian Roulette with your user folder if the guest account was used? That was a hell of a surprise.
Click to expand...

True, I forgot about that one. But admit, those issues are quite rare.

Just backup your files first. Mac is more stable, but it is still a complex machine.
Click to expand...

Of course having a backup is always a good idea. And with time machine making this as painless as it is, there's really no excuse not to.
 
Thanks for the input everyone, I dont have anything "Critical" on my Mac, this is just a Few games here, and browsing the internet there. I have the $20 on my iTunes Account, or MAS account whatever :p and Im willing to take some risks. First time its out, expect me to be back with any Bugs or glitches I find (If I find any)
 
Nyy8 said:
Thanks for the input everyone, I dont have anything "Critical" on my Mac, this is just a Few games here, and browsing the internet here and there. I have the $20 on my iTunes Account, or MAS account whatever :p and Im willing to take some risks. First time its out, expect me to be back with any Bugs or glitches I find (If I find any)
Click to expand...

I think the reason you're getting conflicting replies is the difference in expectation between different posters. My personal opinion is that the cost difference you pay for Mac means that the ammount of issues that crop up, if any, pale in comparison to those found in Microsoft. It's a philosophy/emphasis thing: mac wants the technology to not even be noticed by the user while others are hoping to add more features. So if there is an issue with a Mac upgrade, it's a really big deal whereas with windows, it's something to be addressed with the upcoming scheduled service pack (*shudders*).
 
I only ask this because you (the OP) mentioned you used Windows for 6 years prior; do you currently use Parallels Desktop in order to still run some Windows apps? Because Parallels doesn't work in Mountain Lion yet.
 
I will be in the same boat as the OP, this is my first Mac and first upgrade. I'm just going to backup my system, then just do the regular install. I don't see a point in a clean install, my Mac is only a few months old.

But there is some good info in there, thanks guys.
 

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Last year I was in the same situation as you and upgraded a perfectly stable Snow Lion to Lion. I learned that Apple is like every other software company out there, generally you shouldn't buy a .0 version.
 
I always wait until the .2 version (like 10.8.2) to allow developers to catch up and for Apple to fix the bugs that inevitably show up in the first general release. I would never install a .0 unless it was a totally spare computer.
 
Nyy8 said:
In May of 2012, I got an iMac. No, I have no care or need for a refresh, and Ive been using windows for the past 6 years, when a new OS comes out for windows (Vista, 7) its all hell breaks loose. Drivers, Incompatibly, and just a nightmare. Now, with Mac what am I expecting from 10.8? Im looking to upgrade the second I see it on the mac app store.
Click to expand...

Nothing has really changed from lion really it is pretty much the same as before , but you get some IOS apps built in . But it is a fairly cheap upgrade so you can not really complain . A upgrade should work fine for you . But make sure you create a back up of the Mountain Lion install when you get it from the app store . You should make a install dvd or usb drive out of it when you get it in case you ever want to replace your hard drive or do a new install . There should be instructions online when it is released to the app store for download on how to do this .
 
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Meyvn said:
I only ask this because you (the OP) mentioned you used Windows for 6 years prior; do you currently use Parallels Desktop in order to still run some Windows apps? Because Parallels doesn't work in Mountain Lion yet.
Click to expand...

The few apps I did have for windows, Ive ditched them. Im how do you say, done with windows :D
 
mentaluproar said:
The average user. For server clusters and administrators, they need something more advanced, but most people could get by without virtualization on a mac.
Click to expand...

I think you overestimate the savvy of the average user. Virtualization is more expensive and space-consuming, and has more features than WW. It's also a heck of a lot easier to use. With PD, if you download an .exe file on your Mac, and double-click it, it'll automatically open in your Windows environment in Parallels. That's a heck of a lot more complex a learning curve than WW.
 
Meyvn said:
I think you overestimate the savvy of the average user. Virtualization is more expensive and space-consuming, and has more features than WW. It's also a heck of a lot easier to use. With PD, if you download an .exe file on your Mac, and double-click it, it'll automatically open in your Windows environment in Parallels. That's a heck of a lot more complex a learning curve than WW.
Click to expand...

Having a guest OS running wastes resources though. bah!
 
I know this is going to sound like a noob question, but as I mentioned before, this is my first OS upgrade.


When you download it from the MAS, you will still have to click it to begin the install right? Or is it going to begin the install once it's finished downloading?
 
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