Amazon Begins Accepting Pre-Orders for Mac OS X Snow Leopard

[PVguy]

"Will they have no detection under the assumption that if you are running Tiger, the box set is so compelling with iLife (given one would have to upgrade anyway)"

That assumption is flawed. My mini is the the stereo cabinet, and runs Tiger. It also runs iTunes and eyeTV. It does not run any part of iLife. So my interest in paying extra to put iLife on it is zero.

I would like to put snow Leopard on it if for no other reason than to keep the security updates coming, and keep to iTunes compatability for as long as possible. But I'll wait to see how much improvement 10.6 will provide my Yonah-based mini, given the lack of a 64 bit processor and the Intel 950 graphics.

 

[Povilas]

#1) After MacOS 8.1, the 68040 chips were not supported, but there were tons of PowerPC upgrade cards for various machines for many years afterwards that could have kept those machines running for a long time. Mac users tend to use their machines longer than Windows/Intel switcher PC types are used to. I've had MacOS 10.2 JAGUAR running on both a PowerMac 8600 and a Performa 6500! So no, I didn't really feel abandoned by Apple since there were lots of options out there, unlike with Snow Leopard. And yes, that PowerMac 8600 will still boot MacOS X today, although I've retired the machine obviously.
I bet if I tried hard enough, I could get Tiger booted and working on it, but its not worth the effort obviously.

#2) People have posted over and over about how the vast majority of Snow Leopard's BUG FIXES could be applied to PowerPC since G5s, both towers and iMacs are 64bit machines. Only some of the video-related things in Snow Leopard technically won't work on most PowerPC machines, well at least not with the stock underpowered video card that Apple usually shipped on all PowerPC Macs. And btw, those features also won't work on many INTEL Macs either! That's something you INTEL people have yet to realize.
Yes, even many INTEL users are being left out in the cold on Snow Leopard.
They just don't know it yet.

#3) Like I stated previously, comparing retro gaming to iPhones and PowerPC Macs is a completely nonsensical Apples to Oranges comparison that makes no compelling point. Plus, the NES is ridiculously much older. That would be like me complaining that my Powermac 6100 won't run Snow Leopard, which I'm obviously not.

I'm simply complaining that Apple is abandoning people who spent $129 on Leopard within the last year and a half and sold them that $129 Leopard without them knowing their computer would no longer be supported with the Snow Leopard BUG FIXES.

Basically this is a $29 BUG FIX release that's limited to INTEL people only.
And I suspect there will be some kind of class action lawsuit since the 2 products are even called almost THE SAME THING!


PS: I still have a working Mac that can run Apple ][e software!
And yes, Apple produced that card to support Apple ][ compatibility.
This PowerPC Snow Leopard decision goes against Apple's long standing policies going back decades.

Cry some more please.

 

[Minimoose 360]

So wait...should I get it from Amazon or Apple?

 

[Povilas]

I have iMac 7,1 or 2 Ghz, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD and ATI HD2400XT. From what I know OpenCL does not support ATI HD2400XT and I'm not sure about 64 bit kernel? The only thing that will come in handy is Grand Central. Should I be angry? Maybe, but I'm not.

Could someone provide more information about 64 bit kernel? Why not all Macs with 64 bit CPU (C2D and higher) will be able to run SL@64 bit?

 

[OllyW]

It was 2006 and early 2006. We're almost to 2010. So you're wrong.

The Mac Pro the last Mac to go Intel and was introduced on the 7th August 2006. How is that not roughly 3 years ago?

 

[ortuno2k]

I've put in my order for the $29.00 upgrade using MR's link. I am an Amazon Prime customer, so the package will be at my doorstep in a jiffy.
On another note, first installing Leopard and then SL on top of Leopard without the option of doing a clean install will be a huge bummer.
I really hope I can do a "clean install" on SL.

 

[fleshman03]

The Mac Pro the last Mac to go Intel and was introduced on the 7th August 2006. How is that not roughly 3 years ago?

It's 21 in Dog Years!

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I'll correct a bunch of people in this post (I don't have time to quote you all, you'll all know who you are, hehe)...

<stuff>

Intel is not an acronym, thus it is not in all caps.

but this is awesome and no word from MacRumors. The tablet has supposedly been handled.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/02/barrons-analyst-handled-apple-tablet-says-competitors-have-pa/#comments

We'll see it on Monday, page 2.

 

[cohibadad]

Basically this is a $29 BUG FIX release that's limited to INTEL people only.
And I suspect there will be some kind of class action lawsuit since the 2 products are even called almost THE SAME THING!

Wow. Where to begin with this rant. Why you would want or expect Snow Leopard to support PPC is beyond me. It is primarily an optimization of Leopard for the newest Intel architecture going forward. There are some additional features including Exchange support. It's not a bug fix. Those things that pop up in your Software Update list are bug fixes.

 

[NetScheduler]

Whining...

Cry some more please.

I know I will be labeled a "whiner" in the Mac community, but there is still something wrong with Leopard. My new Mini Freezes occasionally when I walk away from it for an hour or so. I have to hit the power button and reboot it since neither the KB or mouse responds - and sometimes when it comes up it tells me it can't find the USB mouse and spouts some nonsense about hooking up a bluetooth mouse....

None of my other Macs do anything remotely like this (even my original Intel Mini never did).... I'm guessing it is a Driver issue with the Nvidia chipset. I was hoping it would fix when I went to 10.5.6 and then 10.5.7 but it acts the same....

I think Apple really needs to address issues such as this before moving on to SL. I know expecting a computer to operate properly is considered "whining" and "crying" around here, but there is definitely a problem....

 

[Maserati7200]

That's not fair. I have a Macbook I bought in September 2007 with the Intel GMA 950. My computer still runs great and I have no reason to upgrade it yet. Why won't open CL support my graphics? My computer is still under Apple care and is still just as good from the day I bought it!

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

That's not fair. I have a Macbook I bought in September 2007 with the Intel GMA 950. My computer still runs great and I have no reason to upgrade it yet. Why won't open CL support my graphics? My computer is still under Apple care and is still just as good from the day I bought it!

That's technology. Get used to it.

Although my mid-'07 mini won't be able to use Open CL, so I'm a bit ticked about that. I'm going to try for an iMac next time.

 

[AidenShaw]

Why won't open CL support my graphics?

Easy - because Apple would like you to buy a new computer.

They make a lot more than $29 if you upgrade your system to a 10.6 compatible computer.

On the other hand, you can wait for the 10.6 release - and if there are lots of "OpenCL is a joke, it's no faster" reports on the web, then you can smile and be happy with your system.

I suspect that you may end up smiling - OpenCL won't do much or anything for the applications already out there (they don't use the OpenCL interface), so even if Apple supported OpenCL on your recent system it would not make much difference.

When you're ready to upgrade your laptop, not only will the new laptop support OpenCL but by then there will be applications that support it as well.

My advice is to chill - if you're happy with a GMA950 today, you'll like it with 10.6. OpenCL will be a big "yawn" for most people at introduction - it will take a year or two before common apps are available to exploit it.

 

[JGowan]

I'm sorry, but did you honestly expect anything different? 10.1 worked like this. If Apple allowed you to install w/o leopard, then nobody would buy the full version. Besides, a SL install takes only ten minutes.

IMO, it's a small price to pay for not having to deal with cumbersome CD keys.

Here, here! Completely in agreement -- and speaking of small price... it's amazing that so many here pissing and moaning about the possibility of double installations for a clean install, seem to magically forget that they will only pay a measly $29 to get Snow Leopard.

At this point, we don't know HOW it all will work for those who own run Leopard but want to do a clean install... why complain?

 

[andiwm2003]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

are the iLife versions in the box set any different from the current ilife09?

are they snow leopard optimized?

 

[rich2k4]

i looked through google, and on apples website about how installation and upgrade discs worked in the past.

both upgrade and installation discs allow you to do erase and install, but the default option is just upgrade. you can change it in installation preferences.

why would this next upgrade disc be any different?

 

[mgridgaway]

The so-called family pack makes me laugh. Apple doesn't even implement anything to check how many times you've installed OS X, so they're really only holding people to an honor code or betting on their ignorance.

I wonder if SL will even perform a check for a Leopard disc/install. They might just be holding us to the same honor code. Even with a validity check, hackers will have a workaround in about 24 hours, so it's fairly pointless for people who are already intent on not paying.

Not that it really matters; I bought my iMac with Leopard installed.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

are the iLife versions in the box set any different from the current ilife09?

are they snow leopard optimized?

I doubt it. iLife '10 will probably be able to use Open CL and GCD.

The so-called family pack makes me laugh. Apple doesn't even implement anything to check how many times you've installing OS X, so they're really only holding people to an honor code or betting on their ignorance.

I wonder if SL will even perform a check for a Leopard disc/install. They might just be holding us to the same honor code. Even with a validity check, hackers will have a workaround in about 24 hours, so it's fairly pointless for people who are already intent on not paying.

Not that it really matters; I bought my iMac with Leopard installed.

I'm thinking the same thing. They'll probably be the same disc.

 

[mgridgaway]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

are the iLife versions in the box set any different from the current ilife09?

are they snow leopard optimized?

They are most certainly the same applications. They may release updates to trim some of the fat/enhance performance/improve stability, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're going to be "optimized." iLife 09 is already about halfway through it's life cycle; I assume they'll save the big performance bumps (if any) for '10 since they're running out of ways to add value as is..

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I assume they'll save the big performance bumps (if any) for '10 since they're running out of ways to add value as is..

Here's one: Put the real timeline back in iMovie. Until that happens, I'm going to soldier on with HD 6. As a result, I won't be able to get a new camcorder.

 

[mgridgaway]

I know I will be labeled a "whiner" in the Mac community, but there is still something wrong with Leopard. My new Mini Freezes occasionally when I walk away from it for an hour or so. I have to hit the power button and reboot it since neither the KB or mouse responds - and sometimes when it comes up it tells me it can't find the USB mouse and spouts some nonsense about hooking up a bluetooth mouse....

None of my other Macs do anything remotely like this (even my original Intel Mini never did).... I'm guessing it is a Driver issue with the Nvidia chipset. I was hoping it would fix when I went to 10.5.6 and then 10.5.7 but it acts the same....

I think Apple really needs to address issues such as this before moving on to SL. I know expecting a computer to operate properly is considered "whining" and "crying" around here, but there is definitely a problem....

You're not a whiner at all, but you have to understand this one point: SL itself is how Apple is addressing these issues.

It's pretty obvious that Leopard was a bit half baked. They were dealing with 2 completely different architectures on top of other things they wanted to incorporate, and they ended up with a bit of a dud. Now, granted, Leopard is not bad (and the service packs have ironed out most of the biggies), but it's clearly not as stable as Tiger is. It's on the level of... well, Vista (which, despite what you say, has come a long way. I still prefer XP when it comes to Windows, but Vista is certainly useable).

So, simply think of Snow Leopard as Apple's version of Windows 7.

Even Apple knows they failed to an extent on this one--why else do you think they kept Leopard in the name and are offering it for so cheap? At least they have the courtesy to do that, unlike MS.

 

[mgridgaway]

Here's one: Put the real timeline back in iMovie. Until that happens, I'm going to soldier on with HD 6. As a result, I won't be able to get a new camcorder.

Apple? Listening to it's costumers?

I think I'll have a religious breakthrough the day that happens. Then I'll promptly go buy a gaming capable, consumer level, headless Mac for under $1500.

 

[leomac08]

wait if the software cost $29! bucks, does it come in a CD form? or in a downloadable file?

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

wait if the software cost $29! bucks, does it come in a CD form? or in a downloadable file?

Dual layer DVD.

 

[jive turkey]

I understand people being upset that SL won't fully support their machines. I spent almost $4,000 on a Mac Pro less than a year and half ago, and it won't support some of the aspects of SL, like OpenCL. But it is what it is. I'm guessing that I won't know what I'm missing, so I won't miss it too much.

What I do know is that technology evolves VERY fast, and one has to accept that in most areas, what you buy today will be out-dated by the end of next year. It is not a grand conspiracy by Apple or anyone else to goad you into buying a new computer. It is nothing more than the fact that technology advances at an exponential speed.