Why You Should Upgrade to Lion

There are many good reasons to upgrade to the Mac’s current operating system, Lion. In addition to being affordable and easy as pie to install, Lion offers lots of great new features.

Lion feels more organized; its interface is also pleasant. Lion incorporates some bits of its famously fun iOS (the operating system used by the iPhone) into Lion, allowing the system to be controlled by intuitive finger swipes. And Launchpad allows you to launch, uninstall and organize your apps like you do on your iDevices.

Another feature, AirDrop, is really useful for all-Mac offices or homes. AirDrop simplifies file sharing on a network, by allowing files to be sent back and forth between computers in the same network, similar to Bluetooth transfers.

And instead of having to launch or switch to a browser to search Wikipedia, Spotlight will now allow Wikipedia searches from right within OS X. Choosing the “Search Wikipedia” option will launch Lion’s built-in dictionary app and display the relevant entry.

Lion offers free HD video chatting; it comes with FaceTime built in, allowing you to start video chats with any Lion, iPhone, iPod touch or iPad user. The service is integrated right into Address Book, allowing contacts to be reached easily.

If you use iCal and Mail a lot, you’ll like the contemporary new Lion features of these apps, which improve workflow significantly. Mail, for example, offers new, more user-friendly conversation views.

If you’re currently running Snow Leopard (10.6), an upgrade to Lion costs only $29.99 at the App store. If you have Leopard, you’ll have to upgrade to Snow Leopard first ($29.99). If you have an older version of the Mac OS, drop by Austin MacWorks to determine your best upgrade path.