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Is it "safe" to get Snow Leopard yet?

celticpride678

celticpride678

Guest
Original poster
Feb 15, 2009
5,486
2
Boston, MA
I have not yet upgraded to Snow Leopard because of all the negative things about it. But I am wondering now, with all the application updates, 10.6.1 and other Apple updates, is it "safe" to upgrade to Snow Leopard. I am really looking forward to all the new features, but am happy with Leopard right now. Thanks!
 
Is it worth updating to Snow Leopard?!

I am still indifferent with updating to snow leopard in fear that some of my programs will not run properly or even at all! i need your opinion! Another thing is if i do update to snow leopard and i do not like it can i downgrade back to leopard? or are there firmware updates that cause this to be not possible? thank you!
 
It's been "safe" since day one. I've not had any issues worth complaining about like everyone else on the forums does. Perhaps you're just *thinking* there are a lot of issues, when in fact your opinion is just being skewed by the majority of negative topics on the forums. Remember, all the people who are loving Snow Leopard are the ones who don't post. There's a lot more of them than there are people complaining.
 
Just do it. It works great and gives you a lot of features that simply make your Mac even better. Of course there are some third-party developers that haven't caught up yet to making their products Snow Leopard compatible... but those are few and far between. You'll love it.
 
ziggyonice said:
It's been "safe" since day one. I've not had any issues worth complaining about like everyone else on the forums does. Perhaps you're just *thinking* there are a lot of issues, when in fact your opinion is just being skewed by the majority of negative topics on the forums. Remember, all the people who are loving Snow Leopard are the ones who don't post. There's a lot more of them than there are people complaining.
Click to expand...

You make a good point there. The only thing is that there are a LOT of posts about Snow Leopard internet, Finder and Safari issues. I would rather not have any issues, like I do with Leopard. But then again, I think 64-bit looks nice.
 
I haven't had any real issues with Snow Leopard. Its been great. just make sure any apps you need have been updated if need be. The transition was much smoother than I thought it would be. I've only had to reinstall/update a couple apps. Individual mileage will differ of course.
 
I'm very happy with it, but it's not really all that different from Leopard. There are some nice touches, and everything feels snappier somehow. The question of is it worth it, is different for everyone. It won't let you do anything you can't do now, so if you're looking for more functionality, don't bother.

I went as far as calling it 'boring' in this thread... :p https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/776507/
 
thisisarcadia said:
Another thing is if i do update to snow leopard and i do not like it can i downgrade back to leopard?
Click to expand...

Before updating, you should make a clone of your system onto an external hard drive. Two applications that can create bootable clones are SuperDuper! (~ $30 - what I use) and Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC - free).

Then you can do one of the following:

1. Update your system with SL. If it works for you (like the vast majority of us) - GREAT!!! If not, you can restore your previous installation from the clone you created - just re-clone your previous instal from the external hard drive.

2. Update your CLONE with SL. If you like it, you can either clone your internal drive with the SL clone from your external, or you can just update your external with SL once you are satisfied your SL clone is fine. If you are not happy with your SL clone - no problem, your internal drive hasn't been touched.

Good luck!!!
 
Only you can answer the question. Its simple to do.

Partition the HD in half and clone the original partition, if there is enough free space. If not, nab an external HD (don't they have boot from USB these days?) and clone. If you have time machine (which would be a good idea if you are worried about the upgrade anyways), backing up right before installation is a good idea.

Also have your 10.5 disc (a good idea anyhow).

So, after either backing up or cloning, install Snow Leopard. (If you've cloned, on the clone partition). See if everything works. If it does, great! If not, get the 10.5 disc back out and update time machine, or for cloning, simply boot back into 10.5 and erase the clone (10.6) partition.

EDIT- Curses, sputacus, you beat me to it!

However,
Eidorian said:
Wait for 10.6.2 retail discs. I just went back to 10.5.8.
Click to expand...
^This is also a good idea.
 
Snow leopard is great although my speed increase disappeared after a few days. Perhaps i got used to it. Very minor glitches with safari and java but sure they will be resolved. im
 
oh so if you back up your computer with time machine you don't have to make a clone of your computer? because i have all my stuff backed up via time machine on my external HD
 
muxbox said:
Snow leopard is great although my speed increase disappeared after a few days. Perhaps i got used to it.
Click to expand...

I think you may have got used to the increased performance. I felt the same way after the first two weeks of using SL, so I ran my machine from my 10.5.8 clone I kept in case I needed to roll-back. All it took was a very few minutes of using 10.5.8 again to convince me the improved SL performance was real.

(now I no longer have my 10.5.8 clone for such reassurances...:D)
 
The only issue I have with Snow Leopard is the Apple Remote thing. It's small, but I was JUST getting to love Hulu Desktop, dammit!

Just in case you're wondering what I'm talking about, the remote in SL will always invoke iTunes (play/pause) or Front Row (menu), even if another application is using the remote (except for QuickTime). This makes using the remote for Hulu Desktop impossible. I have an alarm clock app that plays music and uses the remote for a snooze button, and every time I snooze it, that music stops but iTunes pops open and starts playing, so I have to hit it twice. Minor, but still annoying.
 
my experience with SL thus far:

1 install on my 2008 unibody macbook went fine

1 install on brand new macbook turned it into a slow as molasses piece of garbage. couldn't even save files properly. had to restore back to 10.5.8.
 
I've been using Snow Leopard on my iMac and MacBook since the WWDC leaked developer preview and have never actually experienced any issues with it. It's been quite stable, and thus I don't think you'd have any real major problems with 10.6.1.
 
Wait.

I've just downgraded to Leopard. It's still far to buggy and crashy and crappy.
 
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