Mac OS X Lion Pocket Guide

Installing Lion

Before Lion, you had to cram a DVD into your computer to upgrade OS X. With Lion, things have become slightly easier. No more restarting your machine from the comparatively slow DVD; instead, you simply download the installer from the Mac App Store.

Note

You don’t have to download Lion from the Mac App Store. Apple will start selling thumb drives (small memory sticks that plug into a USB port) with the Lion installer on them in August 2011. If you’re thinking the thumb drive is a no-brainer, since you get a free drive and all, don’t get too excited: it comes at a premium. Instead of paying $29 to download Lion, you pay $69 for the drive. You can order it from www.store.apple.com.

Don’t want to pay the premium or download the installer over a slow Internet connection? Then you can visit an Apple Store and download Lion while you browse all the cool Apple hardware.

Whether you plan on downloading the installer or using a USB thumb drive with the installer on it, the process is dead simple. First, make sure you're running the latest version of Snow Leopard (if not, head to →Software Update). Then, if you’re going the download route, open the Mac App Store (click its icon in your Dock), purchase Lion, and wait for it to download. If you’re using a thumb drive, plug it into one of the USB slots on your Mac. (If you’re just after a physical installer for Lion, ...