Should I switch from 10.4 (Tiger) to 10.5 (Leopard)?

[oacory]

I have been contemplating this switch for awhile. I have an iMac that I bought last July that has 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 256MB VRAM,2GB RAM,
250GB Hard Drive.

My University is selling leopard for $69 so i figure mind as well get it here before the school year starts. However I see a lot of people posting about how Leopard isn't all it is cracked up to be. Did the new update fix alot of the problems people were having?

I really don't wanna update if the product I am gonna get is still not entirely stable.

Please advise me.

 

[Batt]

There is absolutely no reason not to upgrade to Leopard, especially at that price.

 

[kolax]

I have a flawless system now (touch wood). 10.5.3 fixed a lot of my issues, and my wireless is fine now too.

For $69, might be worth it. You are getting it half price.

Depends if you are the kind of person who needs to have the latest and greatest

 

[iknowyourider]

I use 10.5.4 on my MB and it is fine. I have 10.4 on my mini and would love to upgrade it but don't want to spend the money on it.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

I see no reason to upgrade. Take that $70 and buy 4gb of RAM or put it in your piggy bank. I upgraded all my Macs that were on Tiger to Leopard and I do not think it was a worthwhile endeavor.

 

[applefan69]

im seeing some mixed opinions here.

some saying no, some saying yes. So truthfully it all a matter of WHAT features you think you need.

IMO I'd get it if I were you, $69 is a fantastic price expecially if you to compare or imagine it was Vista you'd upgrading to. I know that sounds dumb but what I mean is Vista is $120 for the most basic version. Meanwhile Leopard is the ultimate version no matter what. (I think Vista ultimate is nearly 500 bucks) But anyways enough on why that price is great.

Leopard has alot of features that I cant imagine living without, suhc as Quickview. EASILY the most useful feature ever. I know OS X Tiger shows previews of basic images sucvh as Jpegs. BUT leopard shows previews of nearly any format. Its extremely handy, plus idk why it makes the computer look and feel alot fancier. IDK why just the feeling of clicking on a .avi file on your desktop then pressing simply space bar, and that file appears to enlarge into a transparent window and ebgins playing the video instantly just feels really 21'st century and fancy.

Some may argue that Leopard is alot slower then Tiger, but honestly I dont notice a difference on my 2.0Ghz C2D macbook with only 1GB of RAM, and yoyur iMac is WAY more powerful then my macbook and manages to run Leopard absolutely fine. Speed should be the last of your worries.

Leopard also includes lots of subtle improvements, and nice features that I cant determine how much you'll use. But i can garuntee that if you enjoy Tiger, you'll enjoy Leopard JUST as muhc if not more.

About all those "issues" you hear about, that is simply because it is MORE common for someone to come on here and complain about something, then it is for someone to come on here and praise leopard. What i mean is the people who love leopard generally stay quiet and simply enjoy it to themselves. but the people who hate leopard (for whatever silly reason) will raise their voices and make sure they are heard. Trust me leopard isnt as buggy or issue filled as these forums might make it seem. Also any issues you DO have, people such as I (and hundreds of others on here) will happily help you out.

 

[clevin]

i really dont see the point, I have Tiger on MB and leopard on Mini. I don't see any advantages of leopard in my daily usage (im not using time machine so I don't speak for that).

Still, probably depends what you do, if there are specific things you like in leopard that can warrant the cost, go ahead.

PS. since Snow leopard will be an improved leopard, if possible, wait.

 

[SuperCompu2]

I liked Leopard for a very long time, but I actually switched back to Tiger very recently. I found 10.5.3 buggy for my PowerBook, and not knowing whether it was going to wake up from sleep or just give me a black screen was too much to bear. Not to mention iTunes not closing on command, frequent finder crashing and crummy performance of video production apps.

I've never been happier with Tiger. It's fast, snappy, and the performance is back in a big way. Not to mention I hardly ever used the new additions to Leopard.

 

[disconap]

Have you tried out Leopard? I have and I don't need any of the features, though I've had it in baskets during checkout recently (end up removing it at the last minute) because the nerd in me wants to be current.

Basically it's up to you. If your machine already does everything you need at the speeds you want (or faster), then there is no point in upgrading now, and you could probably wait until Snow Leopard...

 

[DARKJ3DI]

I think that Leopard is mostly just a visual improvement over Tiger with its 3d dock and transparent menu bar. However I have found it to be a lot more stable than Tiger (which is still more stable than Vista!). Its just a personal preference.