OS upgrade ?

[Schweats]

I received email from Spectrasonics that updates to all of their VIs are now available, however,
the OS requirement is for OS 10.7 Lion (and higher).
I'm using a 2008 MacPro desktop 2x2.8g quad core Intel and running 10.6.8 …
Is 10.7 stable and worth the $$ and effort on a machine that is now long in the tooth so to speak ?

I'd hate to not be able to take advantage of whatever is new, enhanced or anything mo' betta
for the Spectrasonics products that I really use and like all the time.

Any thoughts ?

Schweats

[stubbsonic]

That IS the quagmire of the update decision.

A stable system & workflow is a great and valuable thing. I'd say if there are features you'd like to have, then look at the other tools you are using and make sure they are all playing nice in the newer OS.

Mavericks (10.9) is a free OS upgrade. I suppose you could clone your drive to an external (with Carbon Copy Cloner), then perform the OS update and if all goes to hell restore from the back up. Not sure if that would cause problems with some of your authorizations.

[mikehalloran]

OS 10.7 was never ready for prime time. 10.9 is free and much better.



If you aren't certain, get a drive for one of your spare bays, install 10.9, use migration assistant to bring everything over and try it out.

You will need to update DP to 7.24 in order to authorize it in OS 10.7 or later. Download the updater from MOTU.com. You can update DP after you bring it over but it must be done before authorization can work. Your original 7.x CD is required to authorize (any version of 7 is fine).

[Thomas.B.]

I have been using Mavericks for a few month and it is a vast improvement over 10.7 and 10.8. That being said I still regard OS X 10.6.8 as Apple's golden child especially when it comes to reliability. Switching OS X might be worth it for a major DAW update but if the only advantage is to run the latest version of one or two virtual instruments or plug-ins I would stay with your current system. Especially since you are using older hardware. OS X 10.7 has always been a mixed bag and 10.8 only brought minor improvements.

[Schweats]

Thanks very much everyone !!!

Schweats

[mikehalloran]

I have been using Mavericks for a few month and it is a vast improvement over 10.7 and 10.8. That being said I still regard OS X 10.6.8 as Apple's golden child especially when it comes to reliability. Switching OS X might be worth it for a major DAW update but if the only advantage is to run the latest version of one or two virtual instruments or plug-ins I would stay with your current system. Especially since you are using older hardware. OS X 10.7 has always been a mixed bag and 10.8 only brought minor improvements.

It depends on what you are doing. Many of us found ML to be a major upgrade and would never go back. Certain scan functionality, for example, was lost in 10.6 and wasn't restored till 10.8.2 (and then it also worked over wireless!). Since DP isn't the only thing I use a Mac for, I found 10.8 to be a much larger improvement than any OS since 10.4.

[Prime Mover]

Just wondering if 10.6.8 was so damned good because the OSs on either side of it were so awful. 10.5 was a disgrace, let's admit it. And 10.7, while not quite so bad, was a step down from a very polished system. However, I remember 10.3 and 10.4 being pretty smokin' for their time too. I remember when 10.2 came out, actually, and everyone worshiped it for being the first "usable" OS X version, and by 10.4 it was cookin. 10.9 is pretty damn good too. But yeah, 10.6.8 is probably king, but there are others near by too.