Should install or wait?

Discussion in 'MacBook Air' started by gman901, Sep 3, 2009.

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  1. gman901, Sep 3, 2009

    gman901 macrumors 6502a

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    #1
    I been hearing about a lot of issues with the new SL OS... CNET's BOL was comparing SL to Microsoft Vista today. Regardless, I have a copy and was wondering if I should install now or wait for Apple to do a couple updates? I wanted to do a clean install and use Time Machine to restore some data files, like my photos and iTunes library.
     
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  2. faxao, Sep 3, 2009

    faxao macrumors regular

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    #2
    I have decided to wait mainly because some of the applications I use are not yet "SL ready" (Nikon Capture NX2, View NX).

    I honestly think that it is definitetely wrong to make any comparison between SL and Vista......anyway my current Leopard setup is perfectly "balanced" and 1 month wait will not cause any problem.;)
     
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  3. maflynn, Sep 3, 2009

    maflynn Moderator

    maflynn

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    #3
    Should you wait or install SL is entirely up to you and whether your applications you need will run.

    You can see what programs run or have issues here :http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

    Personally I was waiting until Canon released a new set of printer drivers because my P9000 MKII wasn't working under Snow Leopard. I now have those drivers in hand and I'll be install SL tonight.

    There's too many improvements under the hood to avoid SL - provided everything you need runs under SL. I had not read that article and I'll probably not because its a silly comparison. This was a minor update and most of the work was under the hood. Vista was a major rewrite that was supposed to include everything including the kitchen sink. MS over promised and cut every new feature it promised. Its a bloated slow OS. SL is a sleek stable effecient OS
     
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  4. Scottsdale, Sep 3, 2009

    Scottsdale macrumors 601

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    #4
    I would say wait unless you really WANT SL now. The truth is SL is problematic for a lot of people. Lots of people have reported fans going nuts and MBAs overheating. Others have apps that are crashing. There have been reports of doing common things like saving a file and OS X failure.

    I really wanted to install SL so I did. But I honestly think I regret it. While it is faster by three seconds on startup and shutdown is nearly instant. However, Xbench is reporting something like 35 point reduction??? My CS3.3 isn't supported and have been several problems reported.

    Snow Leopard doesn't seem ready for 64-bit kernel. The rev B/C are fully 64-bit CPU, EFI, and drivers are there. But Apple decided to not allow 64-bit kernel on the "consumer" Macs. I think that's BS. But here's the thing, people that do boot into 64-bit kernel are having problems! Their Macs slow down to a crawl.

    It really seems like Apple rushed this at the end. Apple didn't even write drivers for Macs sold two years ago. I would be most pissed if I were those people as they will not be taking advantage of the very things Snow Leopard was designed for like OpenCL.

    Lastly, the biggest problem with SL is that there are no third party apps currently taking advantage of OpenCL or Grand Central. It will probably be a year or two before SL technologies are being used. And I have read a few things that say Macs with 2/4 GB of RAM do not benefit from 64-bit apps in the first place.

    I think two years from now my 2.13 GHz MBA with SSD will be far more capable than it is today because of the advancements of Snow Leopard. But for right now, Leopard may be the better choice.

    I am seriously considering doing a reformat and clean install of Leopard. Then switch to Snow Leopard when it makes more sense. But I am going to wait and see what happens before I go through the hassle. Maybe 10.6.1 will help and maybe we will learn more about when future apps will take advantage of SL technologies...
     
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  5. gman901, Sep 3, 2009

    gman901 thread starter macrumors 6502a

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    #5
    Thanks, Scottsdale! I decided to go for it! I have to say it was a good (albeit, lucky) decision for me! I customized the install and it completed after about 45 minutes (maybe a little less time). I was surprised that it left everything intact... I thought I was going to have to install everything, including my data and applications. It looks like it just updated everything and it seems that it all works and just as snappy. I ran a Geekbench and it went from 2533 in Leopard to 2509 in Snow Leopard. I am sure that the numbers fluctuate. I am not sure what I did wrong to miss the "clean install" option; however the end result works for me. The fans went on for about 5-7 minutes full blaze after I rebooted, but they went back to normal. I have to say I am very happy with Snow Leopard... so far! :D
     
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  6. Scottsdale, Sep 3, 2009

    Scottsdale macrumors 601

    Scottsdale

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    #6
    My Xbench went from approx 160 with Leopard to 125 with Snow Leopard.
     
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