Lion: Some good, bad and ugly

[Steve's Barber]

So… after a long day of trimming Steve's hair he gave me a copy of Lion instead of a tip. After about 6 hours of checking it out I think I'd rather have the tip.

The next time I see him I'm going to suggest a few things like...

Give me the option to disable Spaces. (But keep Expose'). Screen real estate is at a premium on a 13" MBP and I'd rather use it to see all my windows. I've never used Spaces and don't understand why I'd ever want multiple desktops in a multi-taking environment anyway. So now I basically have Expose' and a useless image of my desktop up top hoarding 20 percent of my screen. I'll go out on a limb here to say that the vast majority of users don't ever use Spaces so why do we have to get dragged into this just for the few that do?

And why does a full screen app get it's own space anyway? Is it special? I do like how you can tell OSX not to rearrange the window order in Expose'. They stay put now - just where I left 'em.

P.S. Has anyone seen my minimized windows? They're here somewhere.

Stop loading all my crap from last session when I boot up. Sure, I can "untick" that option when I shutdown to prevent this but at least remember that I unticked it so I don't have to keep unticking the damn thing. The tab key doesn't work in the shutdown screen so I have to chase down that "tick" box with a mouse arrow each time. This really ticks me off.

Scrolling without inertia doesn't work. I can't turn inertia off. (Well, one time I managed to do it but inertia is back again). My eyes are starting to bleed from all that blurry scrolling.

HD3000 graphics are just a tad choppy. Fix the drivers please.

Gestures-Smestures. The mac community is too trackpad happy. God help the sorry bastard who has arthritis when he needs to 4 finger swipe something. I turned 'em all off. Just 2 finger scrolling and 2 finger tapping for me. The rest is handled by setting up hot corners. One flick of the mouse arrow to a corner and I get the same results… plus, hot corners work with a plain old mouse.

Unlike Steve's hair, Lion is rich with "reversal" settings for us whiners and I like this. Lion seems to be spunkier than snow leopard as well. (But I still think it's just because I've done a clean install and my copy isn't cluttered up yet).

Still don't understand what all the fuss is about with this Launchpad thing. With app names like this and "Mission Control" I think somebody at Apple has a NASA fetish and way too much time on his hands. (That and the guy that thinks his idea to put a leather header on iCal and make the Address book look like a King James Bible is cool. It's not)

I was happy to see "Drag Lock" still there. (But under universal access. Go figure). That would have been a deal breaker for me.

 

[markrox7]

Most of those things are bugs, so you can expect those to get fixed. And as for your assumption that most people don't use spaces, I beg to differ. Spaces is a life saver and I really like how Apple's progressed with it in Lion. I think that most people use spaces more often than not.

 

[Steve's Barber]

I think that most people use spaces more often than not.

Wanna bet? Maybe here on the forums because we're all geeks but not the "general" population. I'd bet money on it.

It doesn't matter. Spaces never bothered me in SL because I didn't have to use it. Now I do.

 

[Atarikid]

Stop loading all my crap from last session when I boot up. Sure, I can "untick" that option when I shutdown to prevent this but at least remember that I unticked it so I don't have to keep unticking the damn thing. The tab key doesn't work in the shutdown screen so I have to chase down that "tick" box with a mouse arrow each time. This really ticks me off.

+1

Scrolling without inertia doesn't work. I can't turn inertia off. (Well, one time I managed to do it but inertia is back again). My eyes are starting to bleed from all that blurry scrolling.

+1

HD3000 graphics are just a tad choppy. Fix the drivers please.

Yes, I really really (REALLY) cannot understand this. Why is Apple releasing a OS X which doesn't run smoothly with Intel 3000HD. I mean, every new Macbook Pro has this chipset.
As I said several times, this is a HUGH let down for me and one of the main reasons I stick to SL.

 

[Patrick J]

I have a 2.23Ghz mid 2009 Macbook Pro with a 9400m.

FPS in the system is acceptable, and I have noticed no big slowdowns except for:
-When I click the reading list in Safari, the animation is sometimes extremely slow
-In Safari, scrolling is noticeably more jumpy than Snow Leopard. It's not annoying, but it is definitely not as smooth as SL.
-In Launchpad, when I open a folder, the animation is very jumpy.

 

[Atarikid]

I have a 2.23Ghz mid 2009 Macbook Pro with a 9400m.

FPS in the system is acceptable, and I have noticed no big slowdowns except for:
-When I click the reading list in Safari, the animation is sometimes extremely slow
-In Safari, scrolling is noticeably more jumpy than Snow Leopard. It's not annoying, but it is definitely not as smooth as SL.
-In Launchpad, when I open a folder, the animation is very jumpy.

And thats why Lion isn't good. I mean, OS X is always been a pleasure to use because it has a fast, smooth and clean GUI.
OS X 10.0, 10.2 and 10.7 GM are the worst OS X versions ever concerning smooth working pleasure.
Yes, it work good on a iMac, Mac Pro but it fails considerably on a MacBook Pro with Intel 3000HD.

 

[Stok3]

+1



Yes, I really really (REALLY) cannot understand this. Why is Apple releasing a OS X which doesn't run smoothly with Intel 3000HD. I mean, every new Macbook Pro has this chipset.
As I said several times, this is a HUGH let down for me and one of the main reasons I stick to SL.

Yet these same people dont understand why everyone was bitching about the new MBP's with that chipset.

 

[Steve's Barber]

Yet these same people dont understand why everyone was bitching about the new MBP's with that chipset.[/QUOT]Apple will polish up the drivers for the HD3000. I have no doubts about this. There were similar problems when SL was released.

Anyway... I bought my MBP within the dates that allow me a free Lion copy. I'm going to grab it when it's released then stow it away until at least 10.7.1.

 

[DJJAZZYJET]

my teacher uses spaces all the time, he has many applications and documents open.

 

[Patrick J]

And thats why Lion isn't good. I mean, OS X is always been a pleasure to use because it has a fast, smooth and clean GUI.
OS X 10.0, 10.2 and 10.7 GM are the worst OS X versions ever concerning smooth working pleasure.
Yes, it work good on a iMac, Mac Pro but it fails considerably on a MacBook Pro with Intel 3000HD.

I don't necessarily agree with you.

Lion feels like it is made out of smooth glass. The three finger swipe between spaces, the windows pop up effects are completely smooth.

It's those little things that one notices when the rest is so polished.

 

[CyBeRino]

You can turn off inertial scrolling under Universal Access.

What annoys me is the lack of an option to turn of rubberbanding.

 

[elberggreno]

Give me the option to disable Spaces. (But keep Expose'). Screen real estate is at a premium on a 13" MBP and I'd rather use it to see all my windows.

P.S. Has anyone seen my minimized windows? They're here somewhere.

+2, this is my biggest and so far only gripe with Lion. Otherwise I just love it, much snappier than SL, even the graphics and speed of the gui. Don't know why it's so slow for others on 3000HD. Maybe my SL was really messed up and Lion fixed it, or I'm just lucky to catch Lion on a good day =).

Btw, did an regular update from SL, works amazingly well.

 

[Steve's Barber]

You can turn off inertial scrolling under Universal Access.

Yes, I know. I said as much in my post. But the change doesn't always "stick". Actually, I've only been able to get it to work one time. There's a file write not being written when it's supposed to be. I even backed out of System Preferences all the way.

 

[CyBeRino]

Yes, I know. I said as much in my post. But the change doesn't always "stick". Actually, I've only been able to get it to work one time. There's a file write not being written when it's supposed to be. I even backed out of System Preferences all the way.

Must be a bug then, because it's so sticky here I had to be told where to turn it on (to try.. I don't like it.)

 

[Steve's Barber]

Must be a bug then, because it's so sticky here I had to be told where to turn it on (to try.. I don't like it.)

Mine sticks until I reboot. Then it's back to full inertia.

 

[CyBeRino]

Mine sticks until I reboot. Then it's back to full inertia.

Try resetting your Dock's preferences by deleting ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist.

The Dock has its tentacles over many things, btw, so apart from the dock itself that will also reset prefs for dashboard, spaces, launchpad and mission control.

 

[Jagardn]

That's all I got.

 

[BlackMangoTree]

Minimised windows where are they gone in Mission Control ? Are Apple serious ? With no way to work with minimised windows makes Mission Control a joke.

I'm in the market for a new Mac i doubt very much i will be able to instal SL.

Lion should be free clearly not worth ay upgrade price.

 

[Beavix]

I have a Mac mini (early 2009) with 9400M graphics. Sometimes the GUI speed in Lion is terrible comparing to SL. Mission Control, scrolling in Safari, entering full screen... I'm quite disappointed, it's a 2 years old computer with a decent graphics chip. It's a damn GUI, not a heavy 3D game, it should run without hiccups.

I really miss Tiger.

 

[Steve's Barber]

Minimised windows where are they gone in Mission Control ? Are Apple serious ?

Some are there. It's called "Auto Expose'" in system preferences. For me it's a 3-finger swipe to see them but only application windows show up like minimized safari pages and text edit documents. If you minimize an application like address book, then 3-finger swipe down to show minimized stuff (like in SL now) sometimes they show up as minimized but the rest of the screen is blank, other times they don't show at all.

Of course we can all take comfort in the fact that we have a cute and redundant miniature icon of our lone desktop up top as a "space" which is totally useless for those of us that don't use multiple spaces or need the dashboard hanging around up there.

Mission Control is effed up. Both in design and bugs. The bugs don't bother me because they'll get fixed but Apple took this concept too far by morphing the old Expose+Spaces into a single app which everyone is forced to use. Those of use who want the functionality of one or the other (but not both) have no choice now.

And this "merging" of spaces and expose' is not the result of some mass user suggestion. Nobody is that stupid. Some wet-behind-the-ears coder at Apple with a 57" display got rambunctious and Mission Control was born. It's funny how Apple goes to great pains to allow us the ability to fiddle with scroll bars in so many ways, and allow us to turn the pretty lights on/off beneath the apps in the dock... yet shove this "my way or the highway" MC thing down our throats.

Dear Steve:

1.) Give us the ability to hide "spaces" in mission control.
2.) Keep the improvements you made to Expose' (They're really quite good).
3.) Take the reclaimed screen space and show us our minimized icons down below again.

Do this or I'll nick your ear again.

I'm in the market for a new Mac i doubt very much i will be able to instal SL.

That's why I got mine last month. I have SL copies from previous macs but didn't want my new one to show up with Lion on it. (But I did time my purchase so I could get a free copy).

Lion should be free clearly not worth ay upgrade price.

Disagree here. $30 U.S. is more than fair. As much as I complain about MC there are a lot of things in Lion that are pretty damned good. (Again, once the inherent bugs of a dot-zero release are worked out).

 

[AnneStuarto238]

Dear Steve:

1.) Give us the Expose from 10.4/5 back!!!

*fixed*

 

[hakr100]

I was hoping for something *I* would find really useful in Lion, something like...RESOLUTION INDEPENDENCE.

No such luck.

I'm not sure the "improvements" in Lion are worth $30 to me.

 

[Atarikid]

I have a Mac mini (early 2009) with 9400M graphics. Sometimes the GUI speed in Lion is terrible comparing to SL. Mission Control, scrolling in Safari, entering full screen... I'm quite disappointed, it's a 2 years old computer with a decent graphics chip. It's a damn GUI, not a heavy 3D game, it should run without hiccups.

It doesn't even run smoothly with the latest MBPs.

 

[Atarikid]

I'm not sure the "improvements" in Lion are worth $30 to me.

For me its not the $30 or whatever but I sadly have to say it is the first new OS X version I will skip (until a decent version comes) because it doesn't feel right (graphic performance wise).
And in the past I updated from 10.0 -> 10.6 promptly.

I am hugh OS X fan but for me, OS X 10.7 is hugh disappointment.

 

[stefan1975]

I have a 2010 mbp 15" with the intel igp and the nvidia. I used to run on intel exclusively to save battery time (intel only lasts over an hour longer). However lion doesn't even run smoothly on the nvidia let alone the igp. Full screen safari is a joke on the intel, stuttering all over the place. It made me have to switch to nvidia only, draining the battery. Sigh.