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Buy now or wait for Snow Leopard?

C

Cmnelson.net

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 3, 2009
4
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Being a PC user since...forever... I'd know better than to jump on a new OS until after it's blown a few places up and been fixed. Does the same apply for upgrading the OS on a Mac?

If the new OS is out in September, does it make sense to buy now and upgrade or wait to get it shipped? Are Mac OS upgrades anywhere near as painful as PC? Will I be worrying about app or hardware compatibility issues? File loss? Hair loss?
 
Snow Leopard should be stable right out of the gate
Most glitches in the Mac OS upgrades have been minor

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Cmnelson.net said:
Being a PC user since...forever... I'd know better than to jump on a new OS until after it's blown a few places up and been fixed. Does the same apply for upgrading the OS on a Mac?

If the new OS is out in September, does it make sense to buy now and upgrade or wait to get it shipped? Are Mac OS upgrades anywhere near as painful as PC? Will I be worrying about app or hardware compatibility issues? File loss? Hair loss?
Click to expand...
I'm right there with ya... :) and I have the same questions.

Add one to the list: will we need to buy a new version of iLife once Snow Leopard comes out?
 
Sounds Good said:
Add one to the list: will we need to buy a new version of iLife once Snow Leopard comes out?
Click to expand...

No. You can do an upgrade installation which won't delete your apps and files, I think. And Your Mac came with 2 DVDs, OS X disk and applications installation disk, you can install them from there

OS X upgrades are not as painful as PC ones
 
There were bumps and bruises when Leopard came out.

NFS didn't work properly (with my setup) until 10.5.4 (I skipped 10.5.3).

10.5.0 had a couple of stupid visual settings (I fixed the translucent menu bar by redoing my desktop background with a white stripe at the top for example).

Don't think the spring loaded dock folders were right until 10.5.3 or so.

These are little things and 98% of users were good to go with 10.5.0 and 99% with 10.5.1.

---

When Tiger (10.4) came out a bunch of drivers and stuff broke. I know my 3rd party mouse could use any of its special features until the driver was updated.
 
Even if you buy now, when the new OS comes out you can buy the install DVDs for $9.95, or have it loaded for free at the apple store. You won't get the discs and it takes about an hour, but it won't cost you anything.

I would say buy now, because once the new OS comes out you have no choice, every new mac will have it pre-loaded, so if it has any issues you're stuck with them.
 
If they priced it like Leopard, I would say wait it out but seeing how it will cost you $20 max for Snow Leopard ($10 for Mac's today, $20 for existing Leopard users), can't really lose.
 
You can always justify waiting somehow...however snow leopard seems to be a poor one since it will be so cheap.
 
In terms of the OS, it won't matter. The upgrade is painless and will only cost you $10.

There just was a rumor about an iMac update coming later this year, so you way want to wait. It likely will not be a big difference though, except for a price drop...but you never know. If you need a computer, go for it now.
 
Cmnelson.net said:
Will I be worrying about app or hardware compatibility issues?
Click to expand...

Yes, you should ALWAYS take this into account with any OS upgrade.

Doubly so with Apple, as they do not support older OS versions running on new hardware. If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to.
 
MacDawg said:
Sorry, but that is simply not true

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

Can you explain your opinion further, as I believe you are incorrect? Please try and run 10.4 on a new Mac Pro or Unibody MacBook Pro and see.

My perspective is from enterprise Mac support. Apple do not *support* older versions of OS X running on new Macs. It causes big headaches when you're purchasing large quantities of Macs over the course of 2 or more major OS X versions. It's usually difficult to get older OS X versions working on new hardware due to the absence of driver support.

This time around Leopard may indeed be supported (or at least possible to run) on future hardware for a while due to the support for the likes of Nehalem and Nvidia GPUs. But history suggests not.
 
drlunanerd said:
Can you explain your opinion further, as I believe you are incorrect? Please try and run 10.4 on a new Mac Pro or Unibody MacBook Pro and see.

My perspective is from enterprise Mac support. Apple do not *support* older versions of OS X running on new Macs. It causes big headaches when you're purchasing large quantities of Macs over the course of 2 or more major OS X versions. It's usually difficult to get older OS X versions working on new hardware due to the absence of driver support.

This time around Leopard may indeed be supported (or at least possible to run) on future hardware for a while due to the support for the likes of Nehalem and Nvidia GPUs. But history suggests not.
Click to expand...

Your statement was "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

If you buy a Mac in September that ships with Snow Leopard, it will be exactly the same Mac available today that is running Leopard. Now, down the road in time your statement may eventually be true as new hardware is released.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
I would say just buy now. Experience, enjoy, and love your new computer as long as it stays new. It'll get obsolete if you don't start enjoying it now :p Snow Leopard can come later ;)
 
MacDawg said:
Your statement was "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

If you buy a Mac in September that ships with Snow Leopard, it will be exactly the same Mac available today that is running Leopard. Now, down the road in time your statement may eventually be true as new hardware is released.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

No, you are making an assumption there on future hardware - and being this is MacRumors I'd have thought you'd learnt by now not to second-guess Apple ;)

The current fact is that Apple do not support OS X versions on their Macs other than those which ship with them.

I do hope however that Leopard is supported for as long as possible on any future hardware and bucks this trend.
 
drlunanerd said:
No, you are making an assumption there on future hardware - and being this is MacRumors I'd have thought you'd learnt by now not to second-guess Apple ;)

The current fact is that Apple do not support OS X versions on their Macs other than those which ship with them.

I do hope however that Leopard is supported for as long as possible on any future hardware and bucks this trend.
Click to expand...

Did you not read your own statement you wrote??
You wrote: "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

You say nothing about "supported by Apple", you said specifically "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

I am saying if you buy a Mac in September that ships with Snow Leopard you will be able to do a clean install of Leopard on it and run it no different than you can today. And you will be able to do it on any Mac that ships with Snow Leopard until Apple changes the hardware in some way that does not allow it. And I don't see that happening in September to coincide with the release of Snow Leopard.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
MacDawg said:
Did you not read your own statement you wrote??
You wrote: "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

You say nothing about "supported by Apple", you said specifically "If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

I am saying if you buy a Mac in September that ships with Snow Leopard you will be able to do a clean install of Leopard on it and run it no different than you can today. And you will be able to do it on any Mac that ships with Snow Leopard until Apple changes the hardware in some way that does not allow it. And I don't see that happening in September to coincide with the release of Snow Leopard.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Click to expand...

Grasping at straws now, sigh... :)

Please re-read my original post:

"Yes, you should ALWAYS take this into account with any OS upgrade.

Doubly so with Apple, as they do not support older OS versions running on new hardware. If you buy a new Mac that ships with Snow Leopard it's unlikely you will be able to run Leopard on it if you need to."

Can you find the word "support" kids? :p :)

Now, can you give the OP a full step-by-step of how they should get Leopard running on hardware that ships with Snow Leopard? Without making any assumptions please ;)
 
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