Which OS X?

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Level 1

6 points

Which OS X?

I'm running 10.6.8 on two iMacs and a Macbook Pro.

I haven't had any particular reason to upgrade to Lion, or to Mountain Lion, until I discovered some of the value in the new Bento 4, which provides a full version for the iPad (we have both iPhones and iPad minis at home), as well as syncing with more than one mobile device.

I looked at product reviews for Mountain Lion, and they are dismal. Many issues about performance, as well as incompatibility with third-party software (e.g., I run MS Office as well as the iWork suite; and am also a big user of Finale -- for me, this latter is essential to running my quartet).

So, I'm wondering whether I should postpone upgrading until the upcoming OS X Mavericks.

Thoughts?

Mac OS X (10.6.8), iMac/MacBook Pro/iPhone/iPod/iPad m

Posted on Aug 1, 2013 11:34 AM

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Answer 1

BigMacUser Author

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Aug 1, 2013 11:38 AM in response to BigMacUser

A follow-up question:

Would OS X Lion be a worthwhile choice?

Does it have similar performance or compatibiity problems to Mountain Lion?
Does it support Bento 4?

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Answer 2

Csound1

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Aug 1, 2013 11:38 AM in response to BigMacUser

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Aug 1, 2013 11:39 AM in response to BigMacUser

If your software is not compatible with Lion or Mountain Lion, then it will not be compatible with Mavericks. Look to the software developers to upgrade their products.

There is nothing wrong with Mountain Lion. It works fine on all of my computers, but not much can be done about incompatible third-party software.

Office 2008 and 2011 work with Mountain Lion.

iWork works with Mountain Lion.

As for other software check:

Are my applications compatible?

See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.

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Answer 4

Kappy

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Aug 1, 2013 11:41 AM in response to BigMacUser

It does support Bento.

If your computer supports Mountain Lion then you cannot install Lion.

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Answer 5

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Aug 1, 2013 11:41 AM in response to BigMacUser

See below regarding Bento.

Unless you need to use iCloud I would stay with Snow Leopard for now, Lion won't get a recommendation from me but Mountain Lion is excellent, and may require that you upgrade some of your applications (all PPC apps will stop running)

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Answer 6

BigMacUser Author

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6 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:30 PM in response to Csound1

Wow! This is huge! Thanks so much for this news!

Do you have any experience using FileMaker Pro? How does it compare? Are there iPad and iPhone versions?

I'll also explore the link, but if you have experience with them, I'm all ears.

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Answer 7

BigMacUser Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:34 PM in response to Kappy

This is a great help. Not sure why there are so many complaints about Mountain Lion. This is why I asked in this forum, where the participants tend to be more knowledgeable and experienced than your average consumer who is responding on the main Apple page.

I'll check out the compatibility table, too. Thanks for the direct link.

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Answer 8

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:37 PM in response to BigMacUser

I have used Filemaker, but not much, coming from Access I found the learning curve for FM more than I wanted to deal with (and it's expensive).

It does have a version for IOS devices however.

I suggest that you start a new post for the Filemaker question, others here have more experience with it than I, but they may not notice the swerve of the thread.

🙂

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Answer 9

Kappy

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361,741 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:40 PM in response to BigMacUser

Filemaker does have an iDevice database app called Filemaker Go.

Filemaker is a heavy duty relational database program, and it's pretty expensive. Unless you have major database needs you might look for something less expensive but with fewer capabilities. For example, iData 3.1.18 which has an iDevice mate called iData Mobile.

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Answer 10

BigMacUser Author

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Aug 1, 2013 12:41 PM in response to Kappy

Ok, interesting. Lion must've been problematic. Well, this helps me hone my choices and choose my upgrade path.

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Answer 11

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:45 PM in response to BigMacUser

BigMacUser wrote:

Ok, interesting. Lion must've been problematic. Well, this helps me hone my choices and choose my upgrade path.

I wouldn't call Lion 'problematic' but Mountain Lion is a whole lot better, how's that for a PC answer 🙂

Just check the compatibility of your applications prior to jumping off of the edge, one common problem is old versions of Office (2004 or earlier) and some older versions of the Adobe Creative Suite (CS2 and prior), CS3 and up work.

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Answer 12

BigMacUser Author

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Aug 1, 2013 12:48 PM in response to Csound1

Thanks for the suggestion. Too bad they're MDing Bento. It's simple to use for consumer-grade needs, and inexpensive. A great product for what it does and it's mobile device portability. It's a loss to people like me, but maybe FileMaker didn't achieve the market draw required to make it a key product for their portfolio. Too bad.

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Answer 13

Kappy

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361,741 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:51 PM in response to BigMacUser

Just because Bento will no longer be updated does not mean it stops working. If it's doing what you need done, then continue to use it while you can.

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Answer 14

BigMacUser Author

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6 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:53 PM in response to Csound1

Good info. We have 2008 & 2009 iMacs and a MacBook Pro bought after those, so your benchmark helps. We'll therefore be ok with our versions of MSOffice and my CS3. It's other third-party stuff such as Finale that I'll need to check. My current versions are 2010 and 2012 (I believe), and they've kept pretty current, since much of the artistic (music) market are Mac users.

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Answer 15

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Aug 1, 2013 12:55 PM in response to BigMacUser

BigMacUser wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. Too bad they're MDing Bento. It's simple to use for consumer-grade needs, and inexpensive. A great product for what it does and it's mobile device portability. It's a loss to people like me, but maybe FileMaker didn't achieve the market draw required to make it a key product for their portfolio. Too bad.

I agree, and I agree with Kappy, it is likely that Bento will continue to work after Mountain Lion has been replaced, just how many OSX revisions it will withstand is a guess, but the price is right and a few years is probable.

I use Bento for all the same reasons that you do, it's cheap, easy to learn and although limited it's not so limited that I can't do what I need to do.

Thanks to Kappy for the iData suggestion, I am looking at it in case I need it for future use.

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