[PeterParker]

Hey!

My mum has a 4 or 5 years old 20" iMac (already Intel) that is still running great. She is using OS X 10.5 for years, though and now the first programs are complaining...

Now what? I thought we could take the big leap and install 10.8 when it is released (when is that, though?) - or install 10.7 and be ok with that. Any advice?
I know I need to check about compatibility, but I'm not so sure - we have Photoshop CS 2 for instance and an older version of Office, I hope we don't have to upgrade everything; but I thought the new smaller features, and of them plenty, of the newer versions would be good.

Any help?
Thanks!
Pete

[Eug]

Which model? Depending on the model, you might only be able to install 10.6 on it.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion System Requirements

Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of RAM
Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later with the Mac App Store installed
At least 4GB of additional disk space to accommodate the download, but more is obviously recommended

[mduell]

I'd say only go to 10.6.

[PeterParker]

Alright... It has the latest design, but I think the first or second generation with that. According to apple-history.com it has an Intel Core 2 Duo (can't check now, but later) and it can run 10.7 ... I thought 10.7 includes some great improvements for everyday work, no...?

[jmiddel]

If by 'the first programs are complaining..' you mean newer stuff does not install, there is no way that Photoshop CS2 is going to work under the OS required for a lot of new apps, which is Lion. If PS2 works with 10.6.8 (SL), I'm with mduell, that's the best you can do. And a lot of new apps work with it, just not some important ones that you may or may not need. BTW, I'm still happy on SL, although I am missing iCloud.

[Thorzdad]

I agree with mduell...Put 10.6.8 on it and she'll be very happy for what she probably actually needs. CS2 will run just fine in 10.6.8. Office should, too.

I thought 10.7 includes some great improvements for everyday work, no...?

Many would say that 10.7 includes some great improvements that get in the way of everyday work. If mom is used to working in 10.5, then she'll be seamlessly at-home in 10.6. Not so much with 10.7.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by PeterParker 

I thought 10.7 includes some great improvements for everyday work, no...?

No, it's mostly obnoxious.

[Eug]

I run 10.7, but I find it annoying. I concur with sticking with 10.6.

[PeterParker]

Hey, thanks for the many replies!
(I'm not starting a general debate on 10.7, I know it is sort of controversial...)

This is my latest plan:
10.7
Photoshop Elements 10
Office 2011 Home & Student

Look: She is 66 and paints a lot and does some digital photography. She is bright and knows well how to use computers, she's no senior... I think the change would be good, a system that is just more modern, probably using the 20" screen better than 10.5 did and much to explore for a while. I thought 10.7 would be 4 years ahead of 10.5, so that's something.
As for Photoshop, neither she nor me are Pro users. I studied design for a while and, professionally, she's an interior architect - so we know how to use that and, somewow, we had a copy of CS 2 for many years and used it rather much. I wanted to switch to Photoshop Elements anyway, thinking it more modern and more appropriate for most of what I do these days. Same would probably true with her.

So unresonable? I hope not. As for the iMac itself, it's this one.
What do you think? Pete

[Edit: I wonder, don't laugh, can you open old AppleWorks documents in other programs? She used that in 10.5, but I suppose it's not going to work in the future. And can you open Photoshop documents in Photoshop Elements?]

[reader50]

AppleWorks will work in 10.6 but not 10.7 - they removed Rosetta from 10.7. I don't know if other programs will open AW files. AW can export its own files in a few other formats, which might be enough. Which modules does she use?

Photoshop Elements uses the same file formats as PS. Though PSE has fewer features. Jumping from an older CS to the latest PSE will reduce that gap.

The PS files will open, but some features of an image may not be editable, if they used a feature your PSE doesn't have. At least that's been my experience.

[Spheric Harlot]

iWork CAN open AppleWorks documents, as long as they're not too old. Older documents need to be opened in a later version of AW and re-saved.

I don't know about the database documents.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by PeterParker 

probably using the 20" screen better than 10.5 did

Your expectations are set a bit high.

[PeterParker]

Hey!

There are some open questions, though.
Q1: I never understood how 10.7 recovery really works and why I have to buy 10.6. The AppleStore offers a 60 € USB stick with 10.7, do I need 10.6 there, too? (10.6 is 30 € and 10.7 in the Mac App Store is 24 €, so...) And is 10.7 actually on the stick, or does it download, too? I never really understood that and some advice would be great.
Q2: (The plan still is: Moving over to Photoshop Elements 10 and Office 2011) I have googled for a while for device compatibility and everything looks rather great so far, but I'll check more. I wonder much about document compatibility, too. My mother used Photoshop CS 2, Word 2004, some Excel 2004, and PowerPoint documents from various versions. And she used Mail from OS X 10.5. And there are many 'normal' files - RTF, JPG, TIF, PNG. Any compatibility issues? And this is real, so I don't want any broken formatting in text files, and I wonder about migrating Office files here. Anything else to consider here?
Q3: How demanding is it for real? And what is so demanding about it? I meet all of the official system requirements and 10.5 has been very fast IMO - startup, Photoshop, browsing whatever complex website etc. Is it really slower, or so?
Q4: Apparently, I created some controversy on 10.7; so, shoot: What's the thing you love most about Lion? What was the biggest letdown? What do you believe is really 'better' in the very sense, more useful, easier; a short and pointed answer would be fantastic, sure you can do it ;-)

Thanks in advance!
Pete

[P]

Originally Posted by PeterParker 

Hey!

There are some open questions, though.
Q1: I never understood how 10.7 recovery really works and why I have to buy 10.6. The AppleStore offers a 60 € USB stick with 10.7, do I need 10.6 there, too? (10.6 is 30 € and 10.7 in the Mac App Store is 24 €, so...) And is 10.7 actually on the stick, or does it download, too? I never really understood that and some advice would be great.

If you have MobileMe, 10.6 is free.

Not sure how it works if you get 10.7 on the USB stick. No reason it shouldn't work, I guess.

Recovery works by making a partition with enough of the OS to contact Apple and download a full copy, which you can then install.

Originally Posted by PeterParker 

Q3: How demanding is it for real? And what is so demanding about it? I meet all of the official system requirements and 10.5 has been very fast IMO - startup, Photoshop, browsing whatever complex website etc. Is it really slower, or so?

10.7 is not more demanding - in fact, I think the boost from 10.6 means that it will likely be a net positive. The problems people have about 10.7 are mainly about the changes it makes to parts of the interface (Autosave and Exposé, mainly).

Originally Posted by PeterParker 

Q4: Apparently, I created some controversy on 10.7; so, shoot: What's the thing you love most about Lion? What was the biggest letdown? What do you believe is really 'better' in the very sense, more useful, easier; a short and pointed answer would be fantastic, sure you can do it ;-)

There are so many threads on this, but...

Positive: The new multitouch controls combined with the new Full Screen mode is great on an MBA with a small screen. They make much less sense on a desktop with a mouse, though.
Negative: Rosetta is gone. Autosave takes some getting used to. Zero movement on the one big missing piece.

[CharlesS]

If you want to be current, don't get Lion. Wait a few months, and Mountain Lion will be out. It will be a huge improvement over Lion, which is a pretty annoying OS.

If you don't care about being current, go ahead with Snow Leopard. It's a great OS, really, and I'd probably still be running it if I didn't have to be running the latest OS for development purposes.

[jmiddel]

I totally concur.