I just purchased a MacBook as a work and development machine and naturally wanted to put Aperture on it. But how? When I bought Aperture 2.0 I did so by downloading the demo that was immediately available and buying an upgrade key immediately. After that I updated to 2.1. Since I don't have a DVD to install from, how should I get it onto my laptop?

Dragging the application over does not work because there are some pro application frameworks that are needed. How about downloading another demo and entering my key? That would probably be OK, but then I need to fill out the form and download the whole thing over again.

What worked was to install the original 2.0 demo that I had kept, and then enter the upgrade key I had paid for. When I did that it requested my original Aperture 1.1 key as well and was unlocked. Then I ran the 2.1 updater.

I was quite pleased to find that Aperture 2.1 runs just fine on my MacBook. It's the lowest spec machine, but with 4G RAM fitted. Processing 7MB CR2 files is easily fast enough for normal use, but noticeably slower than my iMac. The glossy screen is nice, but low-end, perfectly acceptable for normal use.

Tags: Aperture, Installing, Laptop