Apple's Existing Mac Lines Tweaked for OS X Lion

Thursday July 28, 2011 10:12 am PDT by Eric Slivka
While Apple released new MacBook Air and Mac mini models alongside OS X Lion last week, the company also updated its other Mac lines to begin shipping them with Lion. But Apple changed a bit more than just the operating system on those models, as MacTrast details with a comparison of a new MacBook Pro with Lion pre-installed to another MacBook Pro purchased just a few months ago.


The difference between the two versions is immediately obvious from the product packaging, as the artwork now shows a machine with the OS X Lion default desktop image rather than the Mac OS X Snow Leopard one. Apple has also tweaked part numbers and manuals to reflect the change to Lion.

And, as seen in Apple's standalone keyboards, the company has also quietly tweaked the MacBook Pro's keyboard to convert the F3 key's function from Exposé to Mission Control and the F4 key's function from Dashboard to Launchpad.

Finally, Apple no longer includes restore discs of any sort, a move that could cause difficulties for the occasional user who finds the need or desire to perform a clean install of Lion on a bare hard drive. Apple's new MacBook Air and Mac mini models support a Lion feature called Internet Recovery that allows the operating system to be reinstalled to a bare hard drive, but other current hardware now shipping with Lion does not support the feature.

For its part, Apple does not consider hard drives to be user-replaceable components on most machines and would expect users experiencing failures of their hard drives to go through Apple for replacement during the one-year warranty period, under which circumstances Apple would of course provide a replacement drive with Lion installed. But for other circumstances, Apple has clearly made it difficult for users to perform clean installs of OS X Lion on new hard drives on their own. The Lion USB thumb drive set to debut next month will offer one solution for the problem, but represents a separate $69 purchase for users who are already licensed to use Lion through their machine purchases.

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WiiDSmoker
111 months ago

Good luck with Windows 8.

Sincerely

Lion users


Windows 7 is amazing. So is Snow Leopard and Lion. You do know that two great products can co-exists right?
Rating: 28 Votes
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Mattie Num Nums
111 months ago

Windows 7 is amazing in the windows world, but I think we can all agree it would make a poor replacement for OS X. The value of a glass of water in the desert is far greater than in the middle of the sea. ;)


Try drinking a few glasses of salt water and call me when you need a kidney transplant.
Rating: 18 Votes
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Derekuda
111 months ago
This is just one more reason as to why I finally called it quits on Apple after being a mac user for 9 years. I went back to Windows, and I gotta say I love me some Windows 7.

I don't mean to sound soo negative, but Steve's thoughts that no one uses CD's anymore is recockulous. Not everyone has high speed internet...and sadly...some people still don't have internet at all (shudders).

Also.. Apple sure has gotten a lot more greedy in the last few years. $69 for a USB stick!!!
Don't get me wrong... I really like OSX, but Apple is dumbing down the idea of owning a computer soo much. I actually enjoy cracking open my stuff and swaping out parts. I don't want to pay Apple to replace a hard drive for $200 when I can buy a hard drive at best buy for $40 and do it myself.
Rating: 16 Votes
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Elven
111 months ago

Wow them changing the keyboard to Mission Control officially ********* expose.... now there is no turning back. Dang it! I am moving back to Windows when SL isn't supported anymore...


Good luck with Windows 8.

Sincerely

Lion users
Rating: 16 Votes
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KnightWRX
111 months ago

Wow... I'll explain it then: The desert is what we would call a "hot" place, as in, it is not a cold place. In such an environment, water is valued because it's what we humans use to keep our bodies cool. In the middle of the ocean, there is plenty of water. In such an environment, water is less valued because there is a ton of it all around you.


That is a very flawed and basic assumption that ignores the fact that you will die in 5 days in both cases without access to clean drinking water. The reason you need water is to keep your body hydrated. Salt water does not keep your body hydrated.

And people keep cool in the desert by dressing in full clothes that block out sun and control body temperature, not by drinking water. Water is again to keep you hydrated, something you need to do at sea also.

Water is valued both at sea and in the desert. Your "philosophy" wasn't quite that deep or profound, quite the contrary, you basically just showed us how you don't scratch farther from the surface for the truth. You basically blurted out some non-sense that while might have seemed sensical at first glance, fell apart upon the most basic of detailed analysis.


Yet another example of missing the point. I give up.


Yes, give up before you end up not being able to climb out of the hole you're digging yourself into. ;)
Rating: 13 Votes
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gullySn0wCat
111 months ago
Kidney-friendly version: A glass of water is worth more in the desert than in the middle of a big lake.
Rating: 12 Votes
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mattnotis
111 months ago

Windows 7 is amazing. So is Snow Leopard and Lion. You do know that two great products can co-exists right?


Rating: 10 Votes
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matthew12
111 months ago
No Physical media? Wrong.

You don't have to purchase Apple's flash drive installation option if you've already purchased Lion from the app store. All you have to do is buy an 8GB flash drive from Best Buy or somewhere and copy the installation image to the drive using Disk Utility. Then you've only spent $20 or so extra instead of $69 extra.
Rating: 10 Votes
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bpaluzzi
111 months ago

Wow... I'll explain it then: The desert is what we would call a "hot" place, as in, it is not a cold place. In such an environment, water is valued because it's what we humans use to keep our bodies cool. In the middle of the ocean, there is plenty of water. In such an environment, water is less valued because there is a ton of it all around you. This compares to the windows world where, while windows 7 is sure a nice OS, it's only considered that relative to what the windows world is used to, such as Vista.

I guess philosophy is wasted on people here though... I think it was pretty clear. Oh well. :p


You really think the reason people need water is to keep us cool? Wow.
Although, I suppose if that's what you think, it explains why you don't understand that all of the water in the ocean is absolutely useless to a human (for the real reason we need water, that is)
Rating: 9 Votes
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paradox00
111 months ago

This is just one more reason as to why I finally called it quits on Apple after being a mac user for 9 years. I went back to Windows, and I gotta say I love me some Windows 7.

I don't mean to sound soo negative, but Steve's thoughts that no one uses CD's anymore is recockulous. Not everyone has high speed internet...and sadly...some people still don't have internet at all (shudders).

Also.. Apple sure has gotten a lot more greedy in the last few years. $69 for a USB stick!!!
Don't get me wrong... I really like OSX, but Apple is dumbing down the idea of owning a computer soo much. I actually enjoy cracking open my stuff and swaping out parts. I don't want to pay Apple to replace a hard drive for $200 when I can buy a hard drive at best buy for $40 and do it myself.


Got my mac mini yesterday, cloned the hard drive to a faster one and swapped it with the original in less than half an hour, and most of that time was spent cloning the drive. Upgraded the ram at the same time. Sounds like I just did what you claim you like to do, but can't on a mac.

$69 for a USB stick with OSX Lion installed??? What a ripoff!!! Enjoy going to Windows where OEM copies of Windows 7 Home Premium start at over $100 and retail copies cost even more. Wouldn't it be more sensible to make your own USB stick if Apple's solution costs too much for you, instead of going to Windows where OEMs also don't provide boot disks with new PCs (and provide no option to download a copy if your hard drive crashes)?
Rating: 8 Votes

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