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New iMac - Buy now or wait? Mac OS X - Reformat or Upgrade?

applemax

applemax

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 22, 2005
1,032
3
Hi

I'm looking to buy a new iMac. I will also definitely want Leopard. Should I buy an iMac now and upgrade to Leopard or wait until it's preinstalled. I need to buy the Leopard disc anyway for my other macs. So my main question is, will there be any performance difference between an iMac that shipped with Leopard and an iMac that was upgraded to Leopard.

Also, if I reformat will that show any performance difference as opposed to a Leopard-shipped iMac?

Thanks
 
If you upgrade to Leopard, you may lose the iLife suite. It depends - perhaps you can install that separately from the install discs that come with the iMac. Anyone know? If this is the case... I see no reason to wait because the iMac won't be upgraded again by October.
 
applemax said:
Hi

I'm looking to buy a new iMac. I will also definitely want Leopard. Should I buy an iMac now and upgrade to Leopard or wait until it's preinstalled. I need to buy the Leopard disc anyway for my other macs. So my main question is, will there be any performance difference between an iMac that shipped with Leopard and an iMac that was upgraded to Leopard.

Also, if I reformat will that show any performance difference as opposed to a Leopard-shipped iMac?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Buy now, then buy Leopard once it is released.

dops7107 said:
If you upgrade to Leopard, you may lose the iLife suite. It depends - perhaps you can install that separately from the install discs that come with the iMac. Anyone know? If this is the case... I see no reason to wait because the iMac won't be upgraded again by October.
Click to expand...

No you won't. iLife will still be there.
 
dops7107 said:
Sure, if you do an archive and install or whatever. But if you want to reformat... how do you go about reinstalling the applications that came with your computer?
Click to expand...
That's what your System Restore disk is for. BTW, reformatting is not something that you want to do. It is a last-resort option for serious system problems.
 
How desperate are you for this machine?

I'd wait. UNless you;re in a jam and desperately need the new machine ASAP, I see no reason to drop the extra cash on 10.5 when it gets released. It's not like Apple is going to go out of its way to NOT get your extra $120 when 10.5 gets released, right? Besides, the hassle of upgrading the OS is just that...a hassle. I have a 2.1 G5, and I'm waiting...very impatiently...until the Leopard release, and am recommending everyone else do the same.
 
I think a lot of us are under the PC mentality still. I for one was quick to reformat and install a fresh copy of Tiger as soon as I got my Mac last week. It was both something i automatically do and also a good learning process.

I will be doing the same once I get leopard. not because there is something wrong with the OS but because i will want to see if anything changed on the installation proccess and i like the clean feel you get from a reformat / fresh install.

In the end its just about personal preference. Remember that on a reformat you are gonna have to reinstall all your software again from scratch. you will also loose all your settings.
 
I personally did an erase and install with Tiger and it took an extra 2 hours or so to get all my applications installed again. When Leopard comes around i will do the same again. Over the past 2+ years I've had Leopard I have installed a lot of applications and modifications. I want to give Leopard every chance of working flawlessly and I believe i will regain a maybe as much as a gig of harddrive space. Plus i will go through the options and not install all of those printer drivers and extra languages.
 
MisterMe said:
That's what your System Restore disk is for. BTW, reformatting is not something that you want to do. It is a last-resort option for serious system problems.
Click to expand...

RebelScum said:
Just wanted to drive Mr. Me's point home...do NOT format if you can avoid it.
Click to expand...
Formatting is something you want to do especially with a major OS update. Clears out all the crud from the previous OS that could cause problems later down the road.

If you can, reformat.
 
^^Exactly. So, if like me you DO want to reformat when you upgrade to Leopard with retail discs... can you still get the iLife suite off your original system restore disks? Simple question!
 
edesignuk said:
Formatting is something you want to do especially with a major OS update. Clears out all the crud from the previous OS that could cause problems later down the road.

If you can, reformat.
Click to expand...

The exact reason why I reformat and install.

dops7107 said:
^^Exactly. So, if like me you DO want to reformat when you upgrade to Leopard with retail discs... can you still get the iLife suite off your original system restore disks? Simple question!
Click to expand...

Should be able to, you can test with your current installation. Pop the disk in a look for something called "Installed bundled applications" and check in there that the iLife suite is one of the options. I did this back when upgrading to Tiger.
 
xUKHCx said:
Should be able to, you can test with your current installation. Pop the disk in a look for something called "Installed bundled applications" and check in there that the iLife suite is one of the options. I did this back when upgrading to Tiger.
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry I was being a bit lazy as I don't have system restore discs for this computer at work... but maybe I'll check it out at home.
 
Something I did not see addressed above. Buying a new iMac soon but will not be installing Bootcamp immediately, waiting for Leopard. When Leopard comes out, with bootcamp as an integral part of the system, would that REQUIRE a clean install? It seems to me that if you are going to partition the drive for a windows install, you will HAVE to do a clean install of Leopard and not just an upgrade. Unless you have already installed bootcamp and windows? Perhaps I should do it after all.

Any thoughts? I'm not sure which way to go here.
 
dirtleg said:
Something I did not see addressed above. Buying a new iMac soon but will not be installing Bootcamp immediately, waiting for Leopard. When Leopard comes out, with bootcamp as an integral part of the system, would that REQUIRE a clean install? It seems to me that if you are going to partition the drive for a windows install, you will HAVE to do a clean install of Leopard and not just an upgrade. Unless you have already installed bootcamp and windows? Perhaps I should do it after all.

Any thoughts? I'm not sure which way to go here.
Click to expand...

I doubt you would need a clean install of Leopard to use bootcamp. If you already have boot camp then you can do whatever you want as it is on a separate partition.
 
A question the original poster asked that I'd also really an answer to: will there be any performance differences between an upgraded Leopard install and a fresh Leopard install?
 
brutusvimes said:
A question the original poster asked that I'd also really an answer to: will there be any performance differences between an upgraded Leopard install and a fresh Leopard install?
Click to expand...

Theorectially no, but there will be some differences. For example with my current install it take a little while to load everything after Logging in, i throughly expect this to decrease after an erase and install because i will only decide to install the things that i actually use. Also there may be some incompatability causing a slow down which you may not know about.
 
does anyone know that if i purchase one of the new iMac's in the middle of sep if i will get an upgrade disk for free like with when you bought vista capable pc's early to launch?
 
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