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Should I upgrade my 15", 1.5GHz PB to OSX 10.4.3?

T

thomasp

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 18, 2004
654
1
UK
I'm currently at university, and don't have my Tiger install discs to easy hand (they are a couple of days away, posting time), therefore I don't want to risk taking my PB out of action :)

I have the previous generation 15" Powerbook (bought August this year): 1.5GHz G4 processor, 64Mb graphics card, 80Gb HD (59Gb left), 1Gb RAM.

I've read the long thread in the news discussions forum about the update, and am getting mixed feelings as to whether I should update.

Currently, I'm running OSX10.4.2 - have upgraded from 10.0 to 10.1 when I first got the laptop, and then about 3 days later, the 10.2 update was released.... My laptop is as solid as a rock (touch wood!) at the moment - it didn't even care when I accidentally moved my Library folder out of my Home folder, and then realising what I'd done, move it back half an hour later.

The updates available in Software Download are QuickTime 7.0.3, iTunes 6.0.1 (still running iTunes 5) and the 56.8Mb OSX10.4.3 upgrade.

I mainly use Safari and Mail, along with iCal, Word, AppleWorks, iTunes, Mac Messenger, Photoshop and Transmit. I haven't got any hacks or illegal software on my mac. I've also got a few extra widgets that I use, like SimpsonsBot, Wikipedia and BBC Weather.


Has anyone else with a similar setup to me experienced problems with the upgrade? What should I look out for when I upgrade? And finally, should I upgrade, considering I need a computer to live.??


Also, will Temperature Monitor work now?


Thanks for the help :)
 
I just upgraded my PB 15" 1.25GHz with no issues. I did a quick backup of my major files just in case. After all, you can never be too safe.:D
 
Personally, I'd leave it for at least a week. It's not as if working with 10.4.2 is going to cramp your style. And just because other people with "your set-up" haven't had problems, it doesn't mean you won't.
 
I have a rec C. 12" PB that had a kernel panic in the past few moments of the install. I plugged a regular apple mouse into the USB port right before it happened, which may have had something to do with it. I had to do a fresh install of Tiger. Luckly I had done a backup a couple weeks ago and was able to access the hard drive through target disk mode to get those files that had been updated/create since the backup.

I am sure my experience is the exception and I do not want to scare anyone from istalling the upgrade. Just remember to backup important files regularly.

By the way, I updated successfully after the clean install of tiger. I have not noticed any problems, but have not had a real chance to the computer yet (I am still reinstall some program).
 
I've seen some issues caused by downloading the iTunes updater at the same time as the 10.4.3 updater.

Would it be better to do the 10.4.3 updater, then update iTunes & quicktime, when 10.4.3 has settled down?
 
I updated my 15" last night, against my usual habit of waiting a few weeks before updating. So far, so good :D
 
Updated my 15" 1.5 ghz August-vintage PB last night. No probs. You should be fine as long as you don't have any funky software.
 
skunk said:
Personally, I'd leave it for at least a week.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but what is waiting a week really going to do? If there really are major problems, Apple will have the fix out by today or tomorrow. I did it last night without a hitch.
 
No I mean these updates are bad for your computer. Never update your system again lol. I wouldn't worry about it too much for like others have said, apple would have fixed the problems relatively quick after they had released it. I say go for it.
 
Why do people always worry about problems with these updates? This isn't Microsoft here.... I've never had an update do anything to my Macs and I've been using Mac since the days of OS 7.5.1. If you don't do stupid **** to your computer, then you'll almost never have a problem.
 
mklos said:
Why do people always worry about problems with these updates? This isn't Microsoft here.... I've never had an update do anything to my Macs and I've been using Mac since the days of OS 7.5.1. If you don't do stupid **** to your computer, then you'll almost never have a problem.
Click to expand...

I just don't want to risk being without a computer :)

Plus, I've been telling some of the people on my floor how much better Apple stuff is than Windows-related stuff ;) If my computer died after an update, I'd never live it down
 
your computer will not die, don't sweat it.

i've actually had a few problems with this update, but they're external ones and actually relate to the updated apps, not the updated OS.

PithHelmet refuses to work with the new Safari, and short of completely removing it I cannot for the life of me find a way to keep it from giving me a annoying as hell error message everytime I start up Safari..

that's probably the biggest problem i've had with this update, and in fact the biggest update problem i've had since 10.2.8...
 
skunk said:
Personally, I'd leave it for at least a week.
Click to expand...
Maybe just leave it until you hear from apple. My girlfriend her pb this morning and she's had countless problems....dashboard item removed, iCal appointments deleted, the size of the dock changes on every reboot, keychains lost, etc. I strongly recommend not updating till more news on it is released.
 
skunk said:
Personally, I'd leave it for at least a week. It's not as if working with 10.4.2 is going to cramp your style. And just because other people with "your set-up" haven't had problems, it doesn't mean you won't.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Unless you have any issues with 1.4.2 that's fixed in .3, no need to risk anything just yet.
 
Yes you should update. 10.4.3 fixes lots of things. My PB works fine after the update. Updating is not a risk I don't know why people associate it with being a risk.

A risk would be installing 10.4.4 released by me. That would be a risk.
 
rickvanr said:
Yes you should update. 10.4.3 fixes lots of things. My PB works fine after the update. Updating is not a risk I don't know why people associate it with being a risk.
Click to expand...
It seems awfully strange how all these posts are up since the update. Coincidence? So it MAY fix a lot of things on your PB, but unless these dozens of people find that their problems are not associated with the update, why would you risk it?
 
jcarm24 said:
It seems awfully strange how all these posts are up since the update. Coincidence? So it MAY fix a lot of things on your PB, but unless these dozens of people find that their problems are not associated with the update, why would you risk it?
Click to expand...

That's shoddy logic. I'd still be using OS 9 if I thought that way.
 
jcarm24 said:
It seems awfully strange how all these posts are up since the update. Coincidence? So it MAY fix a lot of things on your PB, but unless these dozens of people find that their problems are not associated with the update, why would you risk it?
Click to expand...
They happen every update. Everyone posts about their specific problems. In this case, the update works for 99.9% of the people. The 0.1% that is doesn't work on are the ones we hear from. (I'm making these percentages up, I have no actual data.) Usually, it is due a couple of factors:
1. The computer in question doesn't get maintained properly. Repairing permissions once and a while really does help out your Mac.
2. There is a incompatibility with non-Apple software or drivers that causes things to not work.
3. The user cancelled the update, or didn't wait for it to finish loading.
4. It is a total freak of nature that on one can explain. It's not that the update is bad, it just didn't install on that specific machine correctly for some unknown reason.
5. Apple released a bad patch. You'll know when a patch is bad. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has the same problems (at least everyone with a certain type of machine), not just a few select users.

In any case, if enough people have the same problems, a new patch will be released a day or two after the initial release. Since we haven't heard of anything yet, I'm betting the patch is good.
 
This is the best 0.0.1 of an update I've ever experienced from Apple, from which my experience started at 10.2.3.

Though I wouldn't advocate applying ANY system update without a back up of all your vital data, this has me close. As long as your system is pretty "normal" in terms of app placement, lack of hacks (I disabled my UNO universal theme before installation, frog sample) then I would see no reason to worry.

Do it as soon as you can, but don't take the risk of losing your data by any means.
 
rickvanr said:
That's shoddy logic. I'd still be using OS 9 if I thought that way.
Click to expand...
Of course there's always a risk when doing something new to a computer. However, its also not logical to do something simply b/c someone else posts "It worked fine on my computer"
grapes911 said:
They happen every update. Everyone posts about their specific problems. In this case, the update works for 99.9% of the people. The 0.1% that is doesn't work on are the ones we hear from. (I'm making these percentages up, I have no actual data.) Usually, it is due a couple of factors:
1. The computer in question doesn't get maintained properly. Repairing permissions once and a while really does help out your Mac.
2. There is a incompatibility with non-Apple software or drivers that causes things to not work.
3. The user cancelled the update, or didn't wait for it to finish loading.
4. It is a total freak of nature that on one can explain. It's not that the update is bad, it just didn't install on that specific machine correctly for some unknown reason.
5. Apple released a bad patch. You'll know when a patch is bad. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has the same problems (at least everyone with a certain type of machine), not just a few select users.
Click to expand...
These are all valid reasons, of course. It would be ludicrous for me to say "never update because there's a chance something might go wrong", even if that chance is as small as .01%. All I'm saying is that waiting to see if these problems are update related or not would not hurt.
 
thomasp said:
I just don't want to risk being without a computer :)

Plus, I've been telling some of the people on my floor how much better Apple stuff is than Windows-related stuff ;) If my computer died after an update, I'd never live it down
Click to expand...

Well like I said...I have yet to have a Mac OS update screw up my Mac. And that goes back to the OS 7.5 days. If its running fine before the update, then it will be after the update. As long as you don't do stupid **** like use programs to change the OS interface, and things like that, you're safe....
 
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