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Snow Leopard for $25???

Tennyo

Tennyo

macrumors member
Original poster
May 10, 2008
76
1
I've been seeing Snow Leopard showing up on Amazon for $25. It seems too good to be true. Is it?

I'm hoping not because I really need to update (I seem to be quite outdated for a few things) and I can't justify paying regular price on it. Yet, the realist in me is screaming that it's some sort of scam, or there's at least some sort of catch.

Anyone know?

I have ten days to upgrade and download Steam for Mac and get a free copy of Portal!!! lol

EDIT: I am still running Tiger. :(
 
Well, I forgot to mention that I am running Tiger, not Leopard. Doesn't it cost a lot more to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard? The ones on Amazon almost make it sound like it's $25 to do just that.
 
Tennyo said:
Well, I forgot to mention that I am running Tiger, not Leopard. Doesn't it cost a lot more to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard? The ones on Amazon almost make it sound like it's $25 to do just that.
Click to expand...

From http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html
Upgrading from Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.
If your Intel-based Mac is running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, purchase the Mac Box Set,
Click to expand...

Mac Box Set at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mac-Box-2013-..._1_3?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1273833555&sr=8-3

Mac Box Set at Apple: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC581Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
 
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Ah, so it was too good to be true. :(

Too bad I can't get it with just Snow Leopard and iLife. I don't need anything in iWork and I know I'll never use any of it.

Thanks!
 
My friend just go mthe $30 dollar snow leopard and upgraded his tiger os with it. It just didn't come with iLife/iwork
 
How does that work?

I heard that the iLife programs won't work if you were to do that.
 
Simgar988 said:
My friend just go mthe $30 dollar snow leopard and upgraded his tiger os with it. It just didn't come with iLife/iwork
Click to expand...

This is true. The $25 version will work with Tiger just fine. Apple just requested that Tiger users get the more expensive one since they didn't have to buy the 10.5 upgrade. Unless you have some moral objection to going against the will of Apple, I'm sure they'd appreciate your $25 over nothing ;)
 
Oh hey, that's awesome. And in my budget. I can't part with $169. $25 or $29 I maybe could. :D

What about iLife? Will it work? I think I have iLife 08. Will it run on Snow Leopard?

Or, you know, is there a place where I can get regular Leopard for cheap now that it's obsolete? :/
 
Tennyo said:
How does that work?

I heard that the iLife programs won't work if you were to do that.
Click to expand...

iLife will work, you just have to buy it separately for ~$70 if you want it. There is no way for Apple to police your previous operating system history. It just won't come with the cheaper SL upgrade disk.

Edit: if you have iLife '08 that will work with Snow Leopard, not sure about older versions. You might be able to pick up an old used Leopard disk on amazon or ebay or something for pretty reasonable.
 
Everything will work. Just pop in the $29 snow leopard DVD and install. It'll be recommended to format the drive and do a fresh install. That way it's clean from the beginning then restore your info from the time machine backup or replace the files individually by dragging them from the time machine drive to your new install cleaning and organizing your directories and files.

iLife 08 and 09 will work but you will need to install them from their dvd's as snow leopard does not have them included.
 
Well my iPhoto is 6.0.6, and I got my Macbook Pro in 2007, so that's the version before '09, right? lol

But yeah I really only need Leopard 10.5.8 for now. :p

EDIT: @Alphakline: Are you saying I need to delete and reinstall my iLife and everything on my Mac first?
 
You can upgrade directly from Tiger to Snow Leopard. Buying Leopard would be pointless unless you have an older PowerPC machine you'd like to upgrade, you'd be paying more for it as well because Leopard discs are no longer in production. You will not need to re-install any of your applications if you do an upgrade as opposed to a clean install. If you have any apps that were never compiled for Intel machines, when you open them in Snow Leopard you will be asked if you want to install Rosetta(you can also do this during the actual Snow Leopard installation via customization options). Install Rosetta and you will be able to open said Applications. Go to System Profiler in your Utilites Folder, go to applications on the left hand side of the application, and sort by kind. If you have any apps listed as PowerPC, you will need Rosetta.

Don't worry about iLife versions, either. Every Intel Mac has shipped with a version of iLife that is capable of working on Snow Leopard without Rosetta.
 
Ah, thank you so much, aiqw9182! That puts my mind at ease!

Now, I guess I'm off to buy Snow Leopard! I'll buy it from the Apple Website and give them an extra $4. :D
 
"Well, I forgot to mention that I am running Tiger, not Leopard. Doesn't it cost a lot more to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard? The ones on Amazon almost make it sound like it's $25 to do just that."

Tiger or Leopard makes no difference.

The $25 DVD _will_ do what you need to do -- that is, install a clean copy of Snow Leopard on your Intel-based Mac.

Others will tell you that this is "a violation of Apple's license agreement" or something to that effect.

That has NO (shouting intentional) effect on what the $25 SL DVD actually DOES.

Again, it WILL install Snow Leopard on any Intel-based Mac whether or not it's already running Leopard.

- John
 
That's funny that it's a violation of the License Agreement. How so?

But hey, I'm hopefully going to get a new job soon and maybe I'll go buy iLife with my first paycheck. Maybe an iPod as well.

*bump*

Sorry to double post, just wanted to bump this. I talked to a girl I knew in college and she said that iLife '08 and earlier won't work on Snow Leopard, however it would still be cheaper to buy SL and iLife separate than to by the set.
 
Tennyo said:
*bump*

Sorry to double post, just wanted to bump this. I talked to a girl I knew in college and she said that iLife '08 and earlier won't work on Snow Leopard, however it would still be cheaper to buy SL and iLife separate than to by the set.
Click to expand...

You were told wrong. Every version of iLife from '06 and later will work fine in Snow Leopard without Rosetta.
 
Listen this isn't rocket science :) get the $29 disk from Apple. Make sure you have a back up of your data on a separate drive (in case ... You will be fine but ...) and put in the SL DVD and it will walk you through everything. Do it as an upgrade. When you are finished check for software updates (there will be several). Do those and install. When you are done open ilife ... Open iPhoto it will probaly reindex it's self and then you are golden. It should "just work".

You are going to love the upgrade!

Once you get the extra cash later on upgrade ilife .... 09 is pretty cool with facial recognition etc.
 
Also, you may want to wait before upgrading iLife as the next release is any time soon. If anything, wait till wwdc (beginning of June) to find out.

iLife 09 is awesome, but iLife 10 will be amazing I'm sure.
 
aiqw9182 said:
You were told wrong. Every version of iLife from '06 and later will work fine in Snow Leopard without Rosetta.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention this girl works in an Apple Store. :/

Maybe they are supposed to say that? lol

But I'll believe you all and just get SL. :)

Thanks again! I'll let you all know how it goes...
 
Tennyo said:
That's funny that it's a violation of the License Agreement. How so?
Click to expand...

The license agreement included with the Snow Leopard disk states that you can only use it to upgrade an Apple-branded computer currently running OS X Leopard. The license agreement for the box set says you can only use it to upgrade an Apple-branded computer (so you can use it to upgrade a computer running Tiger or Leopard). Like other people have mentioned, the disk doesn't actually check that you're using it on an Apple-branded computer running Leopard so it will still install just fine.
 
So if I were to update from Tiger and then take it in to Genius if I had an issue would they be able to tell that I did and say, "NOES! You updated from Tiger! For shame!!!" and sue me? lol
 
Tennyo said:
So if I were to update from Tiger and then take it in to Genius if I had an issue would they be able to tell that I did and say, "NOES! You updated from Tiger! For shame!!!" and sue me? lol
Click to expand...

No they won't give you any trouble. And if you're that worried about it then format the computer first so that there is no trace of tiger on it. But it really doesn't matter either way.
 
You can get Snow Leopard for $25 even if you're running Tiger. You're not allowed to according to Apple, but I went from Tiger to SL no problem.
 
Okay update:

I did it and it all works. My iLife stuff all works on SL even though I was told it wouldn't by a girl who works in the Apple Store.

LOL

Thanks everyone for the help!!!
 
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