thoroughly.
Also awaiting this, v1.2 keeps freezing and only loads 1 week worth of blocks each run... that had take endless hours and x weeks to update to near 755k...
For now, it's recommended to just use 1.2
https://mega.co.nz/#!QUtQlYQA!tS3UVz0xMv7KlYgQeAHZp3W1MVMYKjd7IbR732QEdUk
We may delay the hardfork a little later.
If you don't have an SSD, syncing will be very slow (on windows you may see "not responding", just leave it). Although. Once you get passed block 255k syncing is fast (first natural disaster).
The easiest way is to download the chain as pointed out by domob.
The slow initial syncing will be fixed in a future update - using a number of methods - i.e. huntercore (based on namecore, based on bitcoin core), pruning and lite clients.
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the Unity Client has now been updated for the Hardfork (will release when it's live).