Apple preparing first external betas of OS X 10.7.5
Work on OS X 10.7.5, the next performance and maintenance update for Lion, is far enough along that Apple is preparing to issue a preview of the software to its developers for testing.
A pre-release build of OS X 10.7.5 is set to be released to a limited number of members of Apple's development community in the coming days, people familiar with the software indicated to AppleInsider on Monday. Public testing among all members of the Apple Developer Connection will likely begin soon after.
Details on what fixes or updates OS X 10.7.5 might include remain unknown. But any changes are likely to be relatively insignificant, as Apple is gearing up to launch the next major version of its Mac operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, next month.
The last update to Lion, OS X 10.7.4, was publicly released in early May. It included a fix for a potential security flaw in FileBug.
OS X 10.7.4 also quietly added support for Retina display Macs, more than a month before Apple officially announced its next-generation MacBook Pro with 15-inch Retina display. That notebook began shipping last week with OS X 10.7.4 installed, featuring high-resolution support for icons and native applications.
Apple announced last week that Mountain Lion will arrive on the Mac App Store in July for $19.99. Those who purchase a qualifying Mac between now and the date Mountain Lion hits the App Store will be eligible for a free upgrade to OS X 10.8.
A pre-release build of OS X 10.7.5 is set to be released to a limited number of members of Apple's development community in the coming days, people familiar with the software indicated to AppleInsider on Monday. Public testing among all members of the Apple Developer Connection will likely begin soon after.
Details on what fixes or updates OS X 10.7.5 might include remain unknown. But any changes are likely to be relatively insignificant, as Apple is gearing up to launch the next major version of its Mac operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, next month.
The last update to Lion, OS X 10.7.4, was publicly released in early May. It included a fix for a potential security flaw in FileBug.
OS X 10.7.4 also quietly added support for Retina display Macs, more than a month before Apple officially announced its next-generation MacBook Pro with 15-inch Retina display. That notebook began shipping last week with OS X 10.7.4 installed, featuring high-resolution support for icons and native applications.
Apple announced last week that Mountain Lion will arrive on the Mac App Store in July for $19.99. Those who purchase a qualifying Mac between now and the date Mountain Lion hits the App Store will be eligible for a free upgrade to OS X 10.8.
Comments
Though I know iOS 5 won't get another update…
I had no idea how Lion dragged my system down until I installed Mountain Lion. It's fast!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
So much for the people saying they're abandoning Lion.
Though I know iOS 5 won't get another update…
What the hell are you talking about???
Yeah.... My Lion's in winter.
Way past Lion over here.
Been running ML as main OS since DP 1. It's been a great ride so far.
People always say that after the new OS X is announced, the current one won't be getting any more updates. This story shows otherwise.
However, I would imagine there won't be any more updates to iOS 5.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Way past Lion over here.
Been running ML as main OS since DP 1. It's been a great ride so far.
Really? is it faster?
Do you think that it is an worthy upgrade for an i7 2011 air?
2011? Sure! I plan to install it on my Penryn pre-unibody from aught eight, even. But that's me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
Really? is it faster?
Do you think that it is an worthy upgrade for an i7 2011 air?
Faster, yes (quite a bit.) Feature-rich, yes. Love the new Notification Centre.
It's certainly a worthy upgrade for an early 2008 15-inch MBP 2.4Ghz, 6GB RAM.
YMMV but there's no way I'm sticking with Lion.
I have zero interest in most of the iOS features they're adding in ML, but definitely looking forward to a new OS that doesn't make my 2010 MBP feel slow. Hopefully RAM usage is back under control too. I have both Snow Leopard and Lion partitions. Despite being clogged with more 3rd party add-ons 10.6 uses less RAM and yields noticeably better performance.
How much do I hate Lion?
When I partitioned my hard drive I named the second partition Cougar instead of Lion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bregalad
I have zero interest in most of the iOS features they're adding in ML, but definitely looking forward to a new OS that doesn't make my 2010 MBP feel slow. Hopefully RAM usage is back under control too. I have both Snow Leopard and Lion partitions. Despite being clogged with more 3rd party add-ons 10.6 uses less RAM and yields noticeably better performance.
How much do I hate Lion?
When I partitioned my hard drive I named the second partition Cougar instead of Lion.
That's because Lion is top-to-bottom 64-bit. And 64-bit apps use more RAM than their 32-bit counterpart. It's part of the cost of going fully 64-bit. You can easily see this for yourself by opening up Activity Monitor and looking at the RAM usage for, say, Mac Mail. Then quit Mail, "get info" on it and set it to open in 32-bit mode instead, and relaunch. Notice how it's almost (but not quite) half?
This invariably leads to the debate, "do we *need* to be 64-bit?!" There arguments for both sides, of course. But, me, I side on "64-bit is the future" and you might as well not fight the future. 64-bit leads to certain faster operations, like a faster javascript interpreter in Safari, makes possible anti-hacking technology like ALSR (Address Space Layout Randomization), and generally make the computer more responsive.
In a few years, when 8Gb becomes the standard RAM on every laptop, we'll forget all about these "only 4Gb" days. Just like we have when we migrated from 16-bit to 32-bit.