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How to upgrade to Lion without Snow Leopard

At WWDC, it was just announced that OSX 10.7 Lion will ONLY be available via the App Store. Good idea EXCEPT that App Store isn't available unless you have OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard already. Surely Apple don't expect Leopard users to upgrade to Snow Leopard first before they can upgrade to Lion?

iMac 20" & 24", MBpro, iPad, iPhone-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 12:59 PM

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61 replies

Jun 6, 2011 2:20 PM in response to Robert Longhurst

As of now apple has not established a clear path to upgrade from Leopard to Lion. I would suggest to wait for an announcement as the launch date gets closer. Right now the only solution for Leopard users is to upgrade to Snow Leopard and Subsequently to OSX Lion. Both upgrades are for 29 dollars and is significantly less than the previous 129 dollar OS price point.

Jun 9, 2011 3:56 AM in response to Anto55

As you say, its not a matter of cost. I have two members of our family who bought iMacs on the basis that I can support them remotely. When I can get them upgraded to Lion, this will be much easier. BUT, I have to get them there first, which will mean physically travelling quite a distance to do the upgrades.


I'd really like to be able to upgrade them remotely too.

Jun 9, 2011 7:59 PM in response to Robert Longhurst

For some of us, 60 $ is a lot compared to 30 $. Don't forget that not everyone is sitting easy on a pile of loot in this economy. I struggle to pay bills, and the 60 $ path from Leopard to Lion will probably mean that I won't get a new mac OS for a long, long time, and consequently not ever get to download any of the old downloads for my OS that used to be available without the app store.

Jun 11, 2011 9:35 PM in response to Robert Longhurst

Robert Longhurst wrote:


At WWDC, it was just announced that OSX 10.7 Lion will ONLY be available via the App Store. Good idea EXCEPT that App Store isn't available unless you have OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard already. Surely Apple don't expect Leopard users to upgrade to Snow Leopard first before they can upgrade to Lion?

We really don't know that yet. The recent announcement was the "gee whiz" stuff; no details. Apple's page explaining it very clearly says "to upgrade on day one" requires downloading from the App store, which of course requires Snow Leopard. No mention of day two, or twenty.


When the actual release date is announced, so will more details. Somehow I can't see Apple saying that if you don't have a broadband connection, they no longer want you as a customer, so surely there will be an option (perhaps for a nominal extra fee) to get it on a DVD or USB stick. From that, you might be able to install on a Leopard (or erased) Mac.


Patience. 😉

Jul 7, 2011 11:32 PM in response to Robert Longhurst

What if you install a third party ssd drive? Right now we can just install snow leopard via the disc and then upgrade from that, but that wont last forever and in the future snow leopard will be very, very out dated .. no one will be upgrading from that. So how do you resolve that?


And correct me if I am wrong, but to me it seems like apple is trying to get everyone to buy only apple ssds or hdds or new macs all together. It really looks like apple is trying to have way more control over what we can do with our computers. Am I wrong here? Please address this.

How to upgrade to Lion without Snow Leopard

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