The latest version of Apple’s Mac OS, known as “Lion”, was released this morning to a flood of demand. No surprise that the tech-smart Reddit audience has already begun discussing the upgrade process.
Reporting slow download speeds from Mac’s App store and spotty download availability from Apple’s foreign stores, some Redditors have turned to alternate methods to acquire their upgrade. User xero9 used a virtual private network (VPN) to hide their Canadian IP address, bypassing the slowness with an American IP address.
Other users are reporting problems with the free upgrade program for MacBook buyers who qualify for the new OS if they bought it between June 6 and July 20.
Redditor stoptherobots called Apple support and got this answer: “Was just on with tech support for an hour, at the beginning of the call they said that I was the first one to call in with this problem, and by the end they said that many others had called in with it as well. Told me to try again every hour and it should be resolved within a couple hours.”
Cautious Reddit users warned their fellow early adopters to be careful downloading Lion if they rely on a specific application as it might not yet be updated to support Lion. The community recommended RoaringApps.com to check compatibility of their favorite apps.
In true Reddit fashion, some users are comparing download speed of their new operating system. The global community is measuring download rates of 1.5MB/s over public WiFi in Helsinki and 30MB/s in Norway.
Additionally, eagle-eyed Redditors noticed that Apple scrapped its $999 entry level white MacBook for a similar priced MacBook Air. However, users weren’t sad to see it go. User calpa wrote it was “overpriced, badly built product made out of flimsy materials.” Another user noticed the Mac Mini optical drive is also gone.
