Apple announced the much-anticipated last wild cat version in your OS collection: OS X Mountain Lion, which will bring several new features. We can now upgrade our Macs to the latest version of Apple’s operating system, and to do so, we have prepared a guide with everything you need to know to do this quick and easy.
First things First
Not all Macs will be able to upgrade. Since the previous version of the OSX, Apple had left out some of its old models and this is no exception. In order to have Mountain Lion for our Mac, we have to ensure that our device is compatible with it. Below is the list of Mac Models that Support OS X Mountain Lion:
- iMac (mid 2007)
- MacBook (late 2008 and aluminum models)
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2007)
- MacBook Air (mid 2008)
- Mac Mini (Early 2009)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008)
How to Install OS X Mountain Lion
To install Mountain Lion, we obviously need to buy it. On this occasion, I want to point that the Mac App Store is the only way to buy OS X Mountain Lion. There is no involvement of physical media, showing a clear intention on the part of Apple, and also positioning the Mac App Store as one of the strongest section of the company.
Thanks to the manner of distribution, the purchase price has been reduced to $ 19.99 or € 15.99, due to the absence of a physical media. When we purchase, we will download an installer that can also be copied to a flash drive.
We have two options to upgrade. The first is a complete update from scratch which should not bring much problem. The second is an update based on the previous version. It is therefore important to look if we already have applications installed on the Mac compatible with Mountain Lion. Installation is simple, we just have to run the installer and do the rest. As recommended always, we must not forget to make a backup of important files and software before proceeding.
Important: if your Mac is new, you have the ability to upgrade to Mountain Lion without paying. This is only valid for equipment purchased after June 11. To do this, we must obtain a special code that is available at the Apple website, after filling out a form with our purchase information.
What’s new with Mountain Lion
As we are moving to a newer version of Mac OS X, we are expecting something new and good for the price we are paying. And indeed, Apple takes care of that. There are some notable features of OS X Mountain Lion which are mentioned below:
- AirPlay : AirPlay, one of the most important part of iOS in now available for Mountain Lion, which allows wireless streaming of audio, video, and photos, together with related metadata between devices. One of the applications in real life for this is Keynote and iMovie.
- Twitter Integration: The Micro Blogging site Twitter is becoming popular day by day, and Apple cannot afford to ignore adding it to their systems. Now, native applications such as Safari, Photo Booth, and others developed by third parties will have the option to add a button to send an update to Twitter. It can be also be found in the Notification Centre of Mountain Lion.
- Notification Centre: Just above I mentioned how Twitter notifications appear at the new Notification Centre, which is also taken from iOS 5. It will be located on the right side of the screen, and is virtually identical to iOS 5. It will also provide notifications as pop-up screen will appear above.
- iCloud Storage : One of the biggest feature that Apple’s Mountain Lion can’t miss. First introduced with iOS 5 last year, we can synchronize our email, calendar, calendars and documents between different devices with the help of iCloud.
- Gatekeeper: While many still think that Mac is virus free, Apple took up the matter and presents options to protect the system from malicious applications. For example, we choose to install only Mac apps downloaded from the App Store, a very profitable decision for Apple or companies with an Apple Developer ID, no doubt. Much of this was influenced by the virus that affected thousands of Macs around the world this summer.
- iMessage: Mountain Lion in line to become more mobile gets benefitted from iMessage, one of the most popular features of IOS because it avoids the use of text messages. In this case, it will replace iChat Messages. Just this little difference!!! The application can be used to send messages to any Mac with iMessage installed or any device with IOS 5 or above.
- Reminders: For the forgetful, Reminders allow reminders to be synchronized between multiple Apple devices that have been registered. We can see how the multi-device spirit is present in almost all these new features.
- Game Centre: Game Centre of IOS will also be at Mountain Lion, with social networking features that will also sync to mobile devices.
- Save As: It’s not new, instead it is one of the triumphant returns. One can use the keyboard shortcut Cmd + Option + Shift + S to implement it.
- Power Nap: This function will update the Mac in the background efficiently; making backups without us have to bother and without us noticing.
The truth is that Apple really has doubled the bet with Mountain Lion, and as we see with some of the innovations that were just mentioned, Mountain Lion makes itself identical to the side of iOS.
If you have already installed Mountain Lion, then kindly spare a minute to share your view through comments.
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