Will Leopard be buggy? (based on past History?)

My general impression is that big releases like this are quite good without too many bugs for the average user. And, Apple usually addresses any larger issues quickly. And I think this is even more the case now that Os X has matured.

Every new os will have it flaws, so will Leopard. Of course Apple has been pretty quick fixing the biggest issues in new releases.

Tiger was buggy, so I'm very sure that Leopard will have its own bugs right from the beginning, but still...gonna order it the same day they release it anyway

I upgraded three computers (two PowerBook G4's and one G5 Tower) with Tiger the day it came out. I had no problems what so ever... so based on my 'past history' I'd say it will be fine.

Same here.

I'm in the same boat. I'd love to purchase an MBP now, but know that when Leopard comes out, I'll have to buy it for that plus the desktop I have at home. It would be nice to have it bundled with the MBP.

I'll probably be buying from macMall.com, which should save a couple bucks. Actually, since I'm loading it with the 4GB RAM through them, the savings will be ~$900! [No sales tax, and ~$320 vs Apple's $750 for the RAM.]

The other thing that keeps me holding out is that I keep wondering if they'll do another release of the MBP right after I buy it. That's always annoying. Around October will be about 4 months from the latest release of June. Historically, they update products every 6 months or so.

Oh decisions!

Define "Buggy"

My past history with 10.X upgrades has been very good. Yes, there were bugs fixed, security issues patched, other performance issues addressed, but none of them affected me. As someone already said, there will be bugs, but you run a pretty good chance that "performance issue in intel macs running 10.5 streaming itunes through remote computer library running 10.4" or some such problem won't affect your day to day computing experience. As a suggestion, I would say waiting will be fine if this is just a "day to day" home/some work computer (and it would save you$). If this is a mission critical machine, buy now. All current software applications have been through any growing pains of 10.4, and are potentially more stable than they will be on 10.5.

zabbadu said:

I'll probably be buying from macMall.com, which should save a couple bucks. Actually, since I'm loading it with the 4GB RAM through them, the savings will be ~$900! [No sales tax, and ~$320 vs Apple's $750 for the RAM.]

The other thing that keeps me holding out is that I keep wondering if they'll do another release of the MBP right after I buy it.

Oh decisions!

Click to expand...

you can buy the ram for half that from frys or newegg

they always "might" be doing another update, but the last one was in june, so its only been a lil over a month, buy now

I think that afer leopard comes out, I will wait about a month just in case it is a bit buggy. But to be honest I don't really know if it will be b/c I have only recently switched to mac and have only had 10.4.9. and now 10.4.10.

Sounds Good said:

That's true about the hardware, but if a non-student (like me) buys now we'll have to pay $129 for Leopard (plus $79 for iLife if it gets updated).

If it were a 2 1/2 week wait the choice would be easy. I'd wait. But since it's a 2 1/2 month wait, the choice is harder.

Click to expand...

I have one important question for you: do you need it? If your current computer is working fine, then don't buy now. If you think you can make it until late October (most likeley there should be new macbook pros by late October or early November), you can get an updated computer with a brand new OS and iLife. This is the best bang for your buck, and that is important.

Yep..

squeeks said:

you can buy the ram for half that from frys or newegg

they always "might" be doing another update, but the last one was in june, so its only been a lil over a month, buy now

Click to expand...

Since I'd be waiting 'til at least October, it would be more than the 1 month since update. And, since I'm also anticipating possible model update [as CalBoy mentions below] around October or November, it does make sense to wait if I want the latest & greatest [and really, who doesn't?]

CalBoy said:

I have one important question for you: do you need it? If your current computer is working fine, then don't buy now. If you think you can make it until late October (most likeley there should be new macbook pros by late October or early November), you can get an updated computer with a brand new OS and iLife. This is the best bang for your buck, and that is important.

Click to expand...

Sounds Good said:

Need? No.

Want? Yes.

Click to expand...

Then my recommendation is to exercise restraint. Yeah, you want it now, but you're just going to spend more for that instant gratification.

Nermal said:

Tiger had its share of bugs at release (including one that is still present in 10.4.10 and apparently also in the WWDC Leopard beta) so I'm going to try to wait for a while.

Click to expand...

I'm just curious: can you describe this bug? If it's still in Leopard, maybe it's graduated to "feature" status.

aside from mac os x v.10.0, i think every initial point release has been useable. it seemed as though tiger had more bugs in it than panther, but it still operated fine enough, and i'm hoping leopard will be the same. i don't think i'll wait for 10.5.1.

Sounds Good said:

Okay, I know that nobody really knows if Leopard will be buggy or not... but based on past releases of Mac OSs, what do you guys think?

Click to expand...

Based on any major software release, we know that the first release tends to have a higher bug rate. Some of those bugs won't effect you, so you might be happy with the first release, but if it is critical for you to have a stable and reliable computer system, then wait a bit.

My experience with Tiger was positive on the OS side but negative regarding 3rd party software, not being ready for Tiger on time. I think this will be the bigger concern for Leopard. How compatible is it with Tiger and how long will it take for other software manufacturers to be Leopard ready?

I tested a few apps with Leopard and most of them worked well but since Leopard is far from being final, it is too early to draw any conclusions.

Sounds Good said:

Great point... I never thought of that. Will the routers all work with Leopard? How about the external hard drives, etc.

Definitely something to think about. Thanks.

Click to expand...

All routers should work fine...Apple would be dumb not to check compatability with many routers before a final release candidate. Also, external hard drives should work, assuming Leopard has good USB drivers. (They probably won't have to rewrite any of them because most of the core OS is the same.)