Your Mac and Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0, let you get the most value from your Cricut whether it is a Personal Cutter, Create or Expression.
Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 runs great on Intel-based Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard systems.
I am committed to supporting the Mac community and have extensive Mac experience. I have owned nine Macs and currently own a Mac book Pro running Snow Leopard running SCAL 2.0.
SCAL does require your that your Cricut have one of the following firmware versions:
Personal Cutting System: version 1.1 or 1.3
Create: version 1.51
Expression: version 2.1 or 2.3
Also, the Cricut manufacturer makes its firmware available in its software product called Cricut Design Studio; also known as "CDS." You can use the free trial version of CDS to do this. However, because a Mac version of CDS is not available, you do need to update your Cricut firmware with a Windows-based PC.
Updating your firmware is easy and I encourage you to use my step-by-step instructions located at the bottom of my Help with Cricut Firmware page. Please be assured that this is not some type of "hack" workaround. Rather, Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 simply sends open-source vector instructions to your Cricut. The firmware lets your Cricut understand instructions from Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 whether they are being sent from a PC or Mac. I personally use the same Cricut on my Windows and Mac systems.
If you're a serious "Mac head", you may be wondering if I recommend updating your Cricut firmware with CDS on Windows running on Boot Camp, Parallels or VMWare's Fusion. I realize that emulation, virtualization and translation software have come a long way since my first Mac but I generally prefer "native" software and especially in this situation. Since I also own five PC's so I don't need to run Windows on my Mac. That said, I recently worked with a customer who used VMWare's Fusion to update her Cricut's firmware and it updated her Cricut very nicely and without any issues.
SCAL 2.0 on the Mac
The Mac version of Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 is essentially identical to the PC version and the features work in the same way but with a slight Mac twist as is common with other programs. For example, you still have access to the Apple menu across the top of your desktop and the Dock appears at the bottom of the deskop.
In the two images below, I first show you SCAL 2.0 on the Mac followed by SCAL 2.0 for Windows. As you can see, they are very similar in appearance and function.
SCAL 2.0 Mac Version
SCAL 2.0 Windows Version
How to Check Your Mac OS X Version
To get started with Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0, you should first check your operating system's version number. You need to have at least 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 but note that you do not need to have 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 exactly. For example, my Mac's version is 10.56.
Step 1: Select the "Apple Menu." This is located in the upper left corner of your computer screen. A menu will drop-down.
Step 2:Select the "About this Mac." A small window will appear in the middle of your screen. You'll see the version number listed. Once again, you do not need to have 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 exactly but your version must begin with "1.4", "1.5" or "1.6."
Step 3: Once you have confirmed your Mac OS version number and your Cricut's firmware version suitability, simply click any of the "Buy Now" buttons.
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