should i upgrade to lion on my 2010 macbook pro

That is entirely your call. I have the Mid-2010 MacBook Pro just like you and it works fine for me.

I don't see why not, your machine was released with 10.6, it's those that were released with 10.5 that have slowdown issues.

However there are a lot of reports of graphics issues with your year and Lion on these forums. 😟

If you don't need to, then don't bother, 10.6 is faster anyway, you'll need to put 2-4GB in that machine for Lion cakes.

BTW any PPC based software you have installed and got by with Rosetta is not going to work in 10.7

check first before you burn

http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Also note that Mountain Lion, 10.8 and the next version of Mac OS X, is coming out this summer. It is unclear as to whether or not Lion will be required to upgrade to Mountain Lion.

Nope. 🙂

I just finished upgrading my MacBook Pro of about the same era as yours to Lion and it is slow and freezing frequently. I upgraded primarily to get the instantaneous save capacity and the interconnectivity with my iphone and ipad. At this point, however, I would have to say that the upgrade has done more harm than good for me. I have a feeling that something on my computer is not playing well with Lion but its hard to tell what it is. I don't have anything exotic on board.

If you have snow leopard and it is running smoothly, I haven't found much about Lion that has made my life better at this point. I'm hoping that there will be some more upgrades and improved stability soon.

I use my computer for work every day and not being able to trust it as much as in the past is bothersome.

If you don't have any favourite PPC apps that cannot be replaced and have checkled that the apps you need will work OK with Lion.. Why Not?.

Keep a clone for insurance though just in case you want to go back..

My Mac is a July 2008 MBP that came with OSX 10.5, I doubled the Ram to 4Gig and it runs Lion without a problem.

How to revert your Mac to Snow Leopard

do yourself a favor and DON'T upgrade.

I had a perfectly functioning snow leopard and did the BIG mistake upgrading. since then i had to get extra memory, mail crashes frequently, CD/DVD stopped working, WiFi is unstable.

AND it seems apple wants you to lock into apple products, decreasinf my flexibility and file transfer capability. you are locked into itunes, which is not desirable.

I've started to use less and less apple products AND will probably go back to PC Slim, UNLESS someone at apple can convince me otherwise.

GLcash wrote:

Should i upgrade to lion on my macbook pro released April of 2010?

A big YES from me. Just do the general housekeeping as most have mentioned here and you should have a trouble free upgrade like most Mac users.

Good Luck

Pete

I, also, have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro. Lion get's a big "thumbs up" from me. The only reason that I would say "no" to an upgrade would be if you have any Power PC applications that you still need to use. If you want Lion, you'll want to upgrade or replace those applications.

If you upgrade the "right" way, you shouldn't have any issues. My upgrade checklist, for best results:

• Make sure your computer can run Lion. System requirements -->http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html. Go to Apple Menu --> About This Mac to check your specs.
• Validate that your applications will work with Lion. Open System Profiler (Applications --> Utilities --> System Profiler). Select "Applications", give it a few moments to let the window populate with all your installed apps, then sort by "Kind". Anything catagorized as "Intel" or "Universal" should, in general, work with Lion. Anything catagorized as "Power PC" won't. Use this site -->http://roaringapps.com/apps:table --> to validate specific software compatibility. Perform software updates or upgrades as required.
• Check with the manufacturers of your peripherals to ensure compatibility. Install updated drivers, if needed.
• Run Disk Utility (Applications --> Utilities --> Disk Utility). Installing a new OS on a bad system won't do you any favors. Select the disk you want to install on and "Verify" it. If any problems are found "Repair" it. Repeat, if necessary, until no problems are detected. Repair permissions, too.
• Lastly, and most importantly, back up your current system. You can back up to an external volume using Time Machine. I would, highly, recommend also creating a bootable clone of your existing system on an external disk. You can do this with Carbon Copy Cloner (freeware, http://www.bombich.com/), SuperDuper (shareware,http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html), or any other similar application.

I would definitely NOT upgrade to Lion ! I recently buy a new Macbook Pro, 17 inch i7, 2.4 Quad core, with 4GB's of RAM. It's supposedly a beast of a machine, but this lazy Lion needs a real kick up the ***! Everything is slow. This Lion needs to stop eating super fatty Mac meals, trim down and get some lean mean processing power. I consider myself a power user, working in the video and animation industry, I don't need my operating system eating up my much needed resources. Bouncy windows and auto correct everything just takes up my time, which eventually eats into my free time. I just don't need it!

I suggest having at least two options for users i) a blinged, bouncy interface that auto corrects and dumbs down everything for you ii) a trimmed down power version without all the bells and whistles that manages programs awesomely.

Apple, please cut the crap and give us the power back ! Time is monay, I don't have the time to wait for my computer to bounce and hang, when I've spent loads of money buying a high performance computer.

This has been my worse upgrade EVER! I'm a big Apple fan, but this is seriously depressing !

P.S. I have done everything I have read up about optimizing this system, removing all the bounciness, auto-corrects, repairing disk permissions, upgrading to version 10.7.3, but still soooo slooooooow 😟

Don't assume that everyone has the same problem as you. If the OP updates, he probably won't have those problems.

I apologize for the length of the reply in advance.

It's crazy how so many offer up FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) to a simple question. They spew it with little to back it up. However, asking a broadbrush question like this begs those kinds of responses.

I updated to 10.7.1 months ago on my 2009 MacBook Pro 13' months ago. It was smooth and took about 30-45 minutes. After getting used to it and knowing what to expect, I then my 2010 27" iMac, my daughters 2011 MacBook Pro 13", and my 2010 Mac Mini.

I have no problems with a slow system. I have all the "power" I had before. Some of it looks different, is in a different place, requires a little tweaking to get it back, or even a third party tool. Not a problem for me. Mail doesn't crash, Wifi is stable. I have had an occasional problem with not connecting after waking from sleep, but it's not a big deal for me to wait for it or even re-connect manually. None of the machines freeze.

The updates were all painless because as a couple suggested above, I did my homework before hand. I knew what was and wasn't going to work and how important that was to ME, not someone else. I knew the risks of updating and had clones of each machine before plugging in the USB and updating.

I'm currently running 10.7.3 on them all and love it. I love the new full screen look and being able to swipe between them. I installed the Messages Beta and being able to get my text messages on my MBP, my iPad (3rd gen), and my iPhone 4s is awesome. I enjoy iCloud for syncing all my calendars and contacts. I even share calendars with my daughter so we'll can plan our time better.

Yes, I also use iTunes match so all my music, over 6000 songs, is available to me on every device.

So, GLCash, please do some research on how to prepare for a Lion upgrade. Everything you need to know is easily found on the internet. Make sure you look at your hardware to ensure it will support Lion. Make sure you know what Apps will work and which won't. Evaluate them for your needs and if a non-negotioable app isn't supported, then don't go. Or search for an alternative app and evaluate it. Cerebro gave the links to do this so I don't need to. (props to you Cerebro).

Many complain that Apple killed off Rosetta support. I look at it differently. I think that 5 years notice is more than enough time for developers to re-code their app if they want to keep their loyal customers (can you say Intuit?). Many complain that Apple doesn't support Flash. I say great! I didn't need the bloat and troubles Flash brought with it. But I did have a work-around available to me just in case a site I absolutely needed to view had Flash.

Did I drink the "cool-aid?" I don't think so. Do I have problems? Yes, but most of them are caused by me and most becasue of ignorance or not being willing to change my way of thinking. Am I a "fanboy?" Perhaps you can call me that, but I'm not out there blindly following Apple's every move, or jumping on a band-wagon for them. I am a dedicated user.

I have been a Mac AND Windows user for years. I've made an incredibly good living installing and maintianing both systems and networks for each. I am equally well versed in Windows from 3.11 through Windows 7, including Windows Small Business Server through Windows 2008 Server Enterprise. OS 9 and all versions of OS X, includi Snow Leopard and Lion Server (sorry, no XServe). By far, I have much fewer visits for Mac issues than for Windows.

My first attempt at setting up iCloud wasn't easy and painless and I did have to make a number of changes in how I did things, how I saw things, and had to struggle a bit at times to understand what Apple was doing. However, it's been worth the journey. I did not say Lion. As I said above that went well.

hey dscoti,

just don't tell me you work for the job factory cos lion ***. If anyone can tell me a simple way to backgrade to snow I'll easily pay $100 for the trouble. AND I'm serious.

I don't mind buying a new copy or whatever but this lion **** has caused me more heartburn than anything else as stated above. snow worked PERFECTLY with mighty speed and ZERO problems. I want to downgrade. PLEASE somebody help.

Bells

oh and please don't tell me that 1 hour of upgrading to lion made the world perfect cos everything just went BAD - 1 hour. in addition i've told all my mac friends not to upgrade and not to get a pad3. pad 2 is bad enough. SAMSUNG works perfect to me