Going from Leopard to, SL, to Lion...

[orange42]

This is a lot to read, but I'd appreciate any recommendations you guys can give me.

I now have the new iPad, new ATV, and the iPhone 4S. I haven't opened the iPad/ATV yet because it was a birthday present and I'm probably going to exchange it from a 64gb to 16gb.

I also have a MacBook, but it's the original "new" silver/black MacBook that came out I think in late 2008 (purchased in December 2008). I am still running Leopard on it, currently 10.5.8, just got MacKeeper to improve performance and it seemed to barely do anything, and I have just noticed it finally started to slow down a little bit overall, which brings me to my next point.

If I have the iPad, ATV, and 4S, would it make sense for me to finally upgrade to Snow Leopard (waste of $30 since I only need it to get to Lion, if anyone knows a way to get it for cheap/free please let me know) and then buy Lion? This way I will be able to take advantage of iCloud between all these devices, essentially having all/most of my stuff sync? Since I've noticed the computer slow down a little bit, would adding both of these new software slow it down even more, making it not even worth the upgrade?

I have 13,000 songs and NO iPod since it got stolen a few months ago. I am going to go to Apple tomorrow to return an iHome and get a new iPod Classic. Since I have so much music, I suppose it would even make sense to buy iTunes Match for $25 a year rather than ever have to deal with getting the larger gb iPad and iPhone.

Help? Thanks.

PS - What are the chances Apple would give me a free Snow Leopard download or something if they see I'm loyal and have all these products of theirs?

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

SL will most likely run as good or better than Leopard. Lion will likely run slower on your machine.

 

[east85]

You should look to do a clean install at some point and possibly upgrade the ram or HD. I upgraded the RAM and HD in my late 2008 and it's very fast.

SL is going to be your best option as far as speed goes. I don't think it's going to do that much for you unless you clean install.

 

[limo79]

SL will most likely run as good or better than Leopard. Lion will likely run slower on your machine.

It depends. Regarding power management Leopard is much better than SL or Lion. Applications also run faster under Leopard.

Lion is really good and fast, but it depends what you are doing on your machine. If you are using your laptop mostly to surf over internet, check mail, office documents etc - try it. If you are going to create music loops, edit photos prepare for RAM upgrade. It is also good to replace HDD to SSD.

 

[orange42]

It depends. Regarding power management Leopard is much better than SL or Lion. Applications also run faster under Leopard.

Lion is really good and fast, but it depends what you are doing on your machine. If you are using your laptop mostly to surf over internet, check mail, office documents etc - try it. If you are going to create music loops, edit photos prepare for RAM upgrade. It is also good to replace HDD to SSD.

At this point, I pretty much use it to browse the internet and listen to music.

I should have mentioned that my entire music library is on an external hard drive.

How much would it cost to upgrade the RAM?

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

I think RAM is still pretty cheap. I got mine from OWC

 

[GGJstudios]

I am still running Leopard on it, currently 10.5.8, just got MacKeeper to improve performance and it seemed to barely do anything,

I recommend you uninstall MacKeeper. You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths​

For general performance improvement, this may help: Performance Tips For Mac OS X

What are the chances Apple would give me a free Snow Leopard download or something if they see I'm loyal and have all these products of theirs?

1. Slim
2. None

 

[orange42]

You should look to do a clean install at some point and possibly upgrade the ram or HD. I upgraded the RAM and HD in my late 2008 and it's very fast.

SL is going to be your best option as far as speed goes. I don't think it's going to do that much for you unless you clean install.

Do you have the silver/black MacBook? I'm wondering if I would have to get the Pro or MacBook option on this site http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade

Do you have the silver/black MacBook? I'm wondering if I would have to get the Pro or MacBook option on this site http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade

Wait never mind I think I'm blind.