Apple selling Mac OS X Lion thumb drive version in August

By Jeff Hughes July 20, 2011

Wednesday is definitely being dominated by Apple releases, foremost of which is the much anticipated Mac OS X Lion. The new operating system replaces Snow Leopard and is being available for download from the Mac App Store for $29.99.For those customers who for whatever reasons would like an alternative option to the Mac App Store, Apple says they’ll be putting out a USB drive version of the OS X Lion next month.

Apple Insider is saying that the USB OS X upgrade “later this August” will come at the cost of $69.99, or more than double the amount of downloading through the app store. The thumb drive will be available through Apple’s online store.

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The $40 markup may seem steep, but the having a physical copy for reinstall is a necessary crutch for some. Apple drew much attention when the company began to ditch optical and replace the back-up OS X DVDs packaged with their computers with thumb drives.

There are also those with slow or unreliable connection speeds who may not relish having to download the 4GB upgrade. However, for these customers as well as those with no online access, the company is allowing Lion to be downloaded and installed while inside Apple stores.

The new Lion OS X incorporates 250 new features including the ability to perform multi-touch gestures through trackpads on laptops and iMacs, security upgrades, auto-hiding scrollbars and various other productivity boosting changes. Wednesday also heralded the releases of the Macbook Air refresh and the new Mac Mini with Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge. For those who are buying a new Mac, downloading Lion won’t be an issue as computers sold at a Mac Store will have the OS preinstalled.

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