OS X Leopard: Upgrade?

11:35 pm EST October 27th, 2007 | Uncategorized | 13 Comments

My main home machine nowadays is mostly a Macbook. I haven’t looked up the info very strongly, but is there really a compelling reason to upgrade to OS X Leopard? I tooled around for it a bit at the Apple Store today, but I couldn’t see anything cosmetic worth $100+ dollars. No, universal “cover flow” doesn’t do it for me. I’m really wary of unnecessary OS updates that slow down your system that’s working just fine (Microsoft I’m looking right at you) and I don’t have the high-end Macbook with all the RAM and horsepower of the Pro.

So anyone think it’s a worthy upgrade?

(I’m planning in the next 6-8 months to replace my HP desktop with one of the new tricked-out iMacs, though if anyone wants to gimme a Mac Pro with a gigantic cinema display for free I’m down with that as well)

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13 Responses to “OS X Leopard: Upgrade?”

  1. Richard Welty says:
    October 28, 2007 at 12:35 am

    looking over the features being plugged, i see two of interest to me: spaces (multiple desktops you can switch between) and the backup/snapshot stuff.
    multiple desktops has been kicking around the unix world since the early 90s, and it’s one thing i miss from my old linux laptop. all the credible window systems that run on un*x/linux have something similar, and it’s damned convenient once you get used to it.

  2. Mark Barton says:
    October 28, 2007 at 9:08 am

    Not only is speed not a problem, it’s my favorite feature. Leopard is distinctly snappier in every respect than Tiger, even with the eye candy.

  3. Gedeon says:
    October 28, 2007 at 10:09 am

    Here are some little reasons why Leopard is worth the upgrade.

  4. OrganicGeorge says:
    October 28, 2007 at 10:55 am

    Leopard is written in 64 bit code.

    The new apple machines to be released shortly will have Intel 64 bit processors.

    After the first of the year a software add on by Apple will allow you to run Mac and Windows simultaneously so no need for a PC.

    The new apple tablet to be released in March 08.
    This will be a computer screen that operates like an Iphone. VERRY COOL !!!!! You need Leopard to use the tablet computer.

  5. Phil Barron says:
    October 28, 2007 at 11:01 am

    Do you backup your hard drive regularly? Me, neither. Leopard’s Time Machine should make that necessary chore much easier to remember and actually perform; that’s the biggest draw for me.

    Even so, I never jump on the initial release of any software, and certainly not an OS. Let the early adopters do their thing and expose any flaws in the OS, then upgrade after Apple releases the fixes.

  6. Alex says:
    October 28, 2007 at 3:15 pm

    I just upgraded my MacBook (not Pro) with it last night, and it feels a lot snappier to me! Everything opens a little faster and runs a little smoother.

    I’d recommend it, but I’m kind of a nerd that way.

  7. Ian says:
    October 28, 2007 at 4:25 pm

    Oliver says: (Microsoft I’m looking right at you)

    What? 400MB of RAM is too much for you? /sarcasm

  8. megamoze says:
    October 28, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    To me, the compelling reason to upgrade is Time Machine. I’m lazy about backups because I haven’t found anything that makes it easy and incremental enough for me. I think TM is the answer.

    Unfortunately, I can’t upgrade yet because After Effects won’t be compatible until DECEMBER. Bummer!

  9. james says:
    October 28, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    Mac OS upgrades generally don’t slow down your system until you computer is several generations old. You’re still thinking in microsoft terms.

  10. here4tehbeer says:
    October 28, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    I wouldn’t upgrade a mission-critical or production machine until at least the .1 and possibly .2 release comes out. As megamoze points out above, many “pro” applications are going to take a while to catch up, and that includes Apple’s own suite of (primarily) video-oriented apps.

    I’m holding off for a while, and even when I do take the plunge – I’m replacing the drive in my MBP with a 250GB model and partitioning it so that I can run both Tiger and Leopard. Some things won’t be compatible for a while, and others (like Director) will likely never be happy in Leopard-Land.

    On a related note, someone told me that some PC pundits refer to Windows Vista as “XP – Service Pack 3″.

    That made me LOL ;-)

  11. Lettuce says:
    October 29, 2007 at 2:26 am

    I wouldn’t think twice about adding a new Mac OS, it’s very easy and very predictable,

  12. Joe DiTomassi says:
    October 29, 2007 at 6:02 pm

    Oliver, glad to hear you’re a Mac guy. I’ve been using Macs ever since the Windows 98 debacle. I’d love to get Leopard but I’m using an original flat panel iMac, which is only 800Mhz.

    Here’s somewhere I go to get a lot of my Mac info:

    http://www.macworld.com/

  13. Yetanotherguy says:
    November 8, 2007 at 5:17 pm

    Personally… I thought it was a waste of $120.. I was stupid.. I admit it.. I fell for the hype and it was hype. I haven’t used time machine, but I believe it requires another disk.. I already have 6 disks and a raid server tied to my machine.. I’m not buying another one at this point. After it loaded and rebooted.. it looked identical to the last version, I could tell a difference in anything except HP Director stopped working and some external mount points got screwed up.

    So.. I say save your money.

    Yetanotherguy