How to Upgrade to Mac OS X Lion

Are you ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion? If so, grab a sturdy chair, and your favorite leather whip, and join me for my amazing Lion taming routine! The process is relatively simple, and should be painless enough, but there are definitely some things that you need to know before you attempt that all important upgrade.

Apple has worked hard at making the process as simple as possible, but installing a new operating system can still sound like a daunting task. Here's a step-by step guide for all that you need to know to get it done right.

Here are the basic system requirements of Mac OS X Lion. This is the minimum specification you will need to comply with in order to be able to run Lion on your Mac.

• A Mac with an Intel processor
• 2Gb RAM
• Snow Leopard 10.6.8
• 4Gb of free hard drive space

How do you know if your Mac has all this? Easy. Simply click the apple in the top left hand corner of your screen and and select 'About this Mac'. From top to bottom this will give you the version of Mac OS X that is currently installed, the type of processor you have, and the amount of RAM that is installed on your Mac.

What should you do if you fall foul of one or more of these requirements? Consider the following:

• If you have a PowerPC processor then I am afraid your Mac is probably too old to successfully run OS X Lion. Time for a hardware upgrade.
• If you have less than 2Gb of RAM, then you need to buy some more and install it before you upgrade to Mac OS X Lion. Note that although 2Gb is the stated requirement, 4Gb or more will make things run smoother and faster.
• If you are running OS X 10.5, or have a version even older than that, then you will first need to purchase an upgrade to OS X 10.6. Amazon and others have this at a very reasonable price.
• If you are running an early version of OS X 10.6, make sure you install the latest upgrades to upgrade to 10.6.8. This will ensure that you have access to the Mac App Store and have all the latest security patches in place before you make the move to Lion.
• If you don't have enough hard drive space then it's time to delete those apps you never use, and back up some of your files to the cloud and/or an external hard drive.

The installation of OS X Lion is a relatively straightforward affair, so follow the steps below:

1. Purchase your copy of OS X Lion from the Mac App Store. If it is not on your dock, the App Store can be found in your Applications folder. Lion can only be bought from the Mac App Store, but at $29.99 it is good value for money.

2. Wait for the download to complete. OS X Lion is a 4Gb file so depending on your Internet connection speed, this could take a while! Plan accordingly...

3. Although you shouldn't need to, backing up your important files is always a good idea before a major installation like this. So, if you were wondering what to do while Lion was downloading, you now have something to do! Fire up Time Machine, and get it done.

4. Once the download is complete, a series of onscreen instructions will prompt you to begin the installation of your new operating system. You can expect this process to take between 15 and 20 minutes.

5. When the installation is complete, your Mac will restart and boot up with OS X version 10.7 Lion!

If you don't have an internet connection that is reliable enough or fast enough to download OSX Lion from the App Store, Apple have announced that you can download the new operating system at any of its retail Apple Stores. See in-store for more details.

If you don't live near an Apple store, you can buy a copy of Lion on a USB flash drive, but expect to pay a premium for doing so. In the US this will cost you $69 from Apple.com.