need some clearing up on snow leopard upgrade, clean installs etc

[rich2k4]

ok, i assume that when i get my mac, a snow leopard drop in disc will be inside.

1. As soon as i finish the setup, and am presented with the desktop, i will immediately put in the snow leopard disc. in this scenario, is it ok to just do a normal upgrade since the system is pretty much untouched?

2. My understanding is that if i do a clean install, i will lose iLife, and will have to reinstall it using the discs that came with my machine, is this correct?

3. I'm confused about archive and install. Will all my applications (iLife, etc) be left alone? Is this sort of like a clean install, except you have a copy of your old system files? Is it ok to delete the old system files afterwards?

4. From the scenario i described in #1 which of the 3 installation methods is the best to do?

 

[Sky Blue]

1. You could just boot off of it if you want.
2. Yes
3. Yes, yes, yes.
4. Erase and Install

 

[celticpride678]

1. You actually might be better off doing a clean install to get only Snow Leopard files in there.

2. Yes. You would need to reinstall those applications as far as I know.

3. Archive and Install keeps all applications and files were they are. It removes all system files and reinstalls clean system files after. Yes, if everything is working properly, it is safe to just remove those files. However, you might want to put it in a disk image for safe keeping (just incase something goes wrong).

4. For your situation, Clean Install because it would be right out of the box.