Tiger: Worth the upgrade?

[alexf]

Hi Everybody,

I have been hesitant to upgrade to Tiger, as I am quite happy with 10.3.9, and figure a ".9" version of an OS has reached a far greater degree of perfection than a ".1". Also, I honestly cannot see too much to make my mouth water when it comes to Tiger; Apple is promoting Widgets like they are the greatest invention in the Mac's history, but it's hard to get excited about that, as well as Spotlight (which I probably wouldn't use very much, since I have always been well organized on the computer), and Automator (which a might use once a year or so)...

I am a "power user" - I have a Power Mac G5 that I work on (graphic design and Web design). Would I really see much of a speed increase? This alone would be good reason to upgrade. Are there any other wonderful reasons that I need to upgrade to Tiger?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[liketom]

i have been on tiger since release and have forgoten all about panther 10.3.9 but i would never go back down to panther .

speed ? well yeah its fast but as with panther's 10.1,2, it still has issues in some areas but i could not live without spotlight and dashboard ! that ripple effect gets me every time lol

i would say install tiger on a differnt HDD and see for your self, if your not happy go back to panther until tiger is what you want ie: 10.4.6/7

 

[alexf]

i would say install tiger on a differnt HDD and see for your self, if your not happy go back to panther until tiger is what you want ie: 10.4.6/7

Thanks for the input... Yes, ideally I would do this, but I don't want to blow $129 for something I don't need.

 

[liketom]

Thanks for the input... Yes, ideally I would do this, but I don't want to blow $129 for something I don't need.

What app's are you worrid about not running ? maybe some of our forum friends have some feedback for you on them.

Tiger is worth $129 /£88.99

 

[patseguin]

Definitely go for it. Wait about a week until 10.4.2 is in retail though.

 

[alexf]

Would I really see a speed increase?

Since I am self-employed, time is money, so this would definately make it worth the upgrade.

If so, in what areas would I see an increase in speed? I work a lot with design apps such as Photoshop and GoLive.

Also, I heard that there is a specific way of installing / upgrading to make the system run faster. Is this true?

 

[wordmunger]

Would I really see a speed increase?

Since I am self-employed, time is money, so this would definately make it worth the upgrade.

If so, in what areas would I see an increase in speed? I work a lot with design apps such as Photoshop and GoLive.

Also, I heard that there is a specific way of installing / upgrading to make the system run faster. Is this true?

If you've got the RAM, it should run faster than Panther. If you don't have the RAM (more than 512 MB), then I'd recommend upgrading the RAM before upgrading the OS.

Most people say a clean install will give you the best results. Archive and Install, assuming you have sufficient HD space, is generally nearly as good. Upgrade is definitely the worst option.

 

[alexf]

If you've got the RAM, it should run faster than Panther. If you don't have the RAM (more than 512 MB), then I'd recommend upgrading the RAM before upgrading the OS.

Most people say a clean install will give you the best results. Archive and Install, assuming you have sufficient HD space, is generally nearly as good. Upgrade is definitely the worst option.

Thanks wordmunger,

This is what I wanted to know.

But where exactly would I see the speed increase?

Also, are there any other great reasons to upgrade (in your opinion), besides, Widgets, Spotlight, and Automator?

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

I'd go for it.

 

[EGT]

I'm holding out until 10.4.2. I like what I've seen with Tiger though, but I'm quite happy with 10.3.9 at the minute, so why bother?

Spotlight is probably the most significant new feature i'd be using but i look forward to installing Tiger!

 

[Mr LuLu]

It's just a matter of time for me.
I was reluctant to buy it straight away because I figured a few small bugs would need to be ironed out. Mind you, I think that's one of the old night terrors that 98,ME and XP users had.

How could i doubt Apple?!

 

[hayduke]

Tiger's no big thing...

I've been using Tiger since it came out and I don't find it to be all that incredible. There are some nice features (Spotlight), some flashy,but not too useful features (Dashboard), and some changes that I don't like (screen captures are *.png not *.pdf, System Preferences can't be added to the top of the window...you have to search for them). Depending on the software you are using there maybe somethings that don't work at all. I would search for any software breaks or complaints on the applications you use the most. QT7 is nice and maybe be relevant if you are doing video editing. If you are looking to save some money I think you can probably hold out for a bit...


-Hayduke

 

[Brother Michael]

My iBook feels like Flash Gordon.

Do it.

 

[Soulstorm]

Would I really see a speed increase?

Since I am self-employed, time is money, so this would definately make it worth the upgrade.

If so, in what areas would I see an increase in speed? I work a lot with design apps such as Photoshop and GoLive.

Also, I heard that there is a specific way of installing / upgrading to make the system run faster. Is this true?

Look, I have been using Vue 5 infinite before and after the upgrade. I find Tiger more capable of handling 3d static and moving images. It sure is faster in Vue 5 Infinite. In accomplishing tasks in the Finder, it is remarkably fast.

Also, I think it is far more stable than Panther 10.3.1. I have not noticed problems so far.

Concluding, you asked about ways to upgrade. Well, if you want to upgrade, you must do a complete erase and install in order for Tiger to run properly. It will definitely not run properly with just Upgrade.

My system specs are below (look at my G5).

Trust me, at first I thought Tiger was no big deal, but now I can't imagine myself going back to panther.

 

[alexf]

Concluding, you asked about ways to upgrade. Well, if you want to upgrade, you must do a complete erase and install in order for Tiger to run properly. It will definitely not run properly with just Upgrade.

Why can't I upgrade? I don't understand why it is necessary to do a clean install... When I moved from Jaguar to Panther I simply upgraded and did not have any problems.

Why would Apple give you the option to upgrade if it is not a good one?

 

[alexf]

go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

OK, OK, you're starting to convince me by your enthusiasm.

But still the questioni remains: why must I do a clean install instead of just upgrading, as I did from Jaguar to Panther?

 

[EGT]

OK, OK, you're starting to convince me by your enthusiasm.

But still the questioni remains: why must I do a clean install instead of just upgrading, as I did from Jaguar to Panther?

You don't have to do a complete clean install. Many have just selected the archive install option. It is up to you.

When i get to installing Tiger i want a clean drive and because everything is backed up on an external drive, it won't take long at all to get back to normal.

 

[feakbeak]

I was using Panther and upgraded to Tiger. I like Tiger and haven't had any problems with it. I use Dashboard regularly and really enjoy it, but I could live without it. I do not use Spotlight often, but it's a great search tool - very fast! Some of the smaller items are nice too, such as the update to Mail, QT7, etc. While I like Tiger and I am not disappointed in my purchase, I could definitely live without it. I would still enjoy working with Panther. I like having the latest and greatest and playing with all the new features, so I bought it and don't regret it at all. However, I find the level of enthusiasm and all of the "You have to get it, I could NEVER go back." posts to be over-zealous, IMO. This is yet another refinement of OS X, it's not revolutionary.

I posted a couple months ago when I first got Tiger about what type of install to perform. I was leaning towards a clean install since this is the only way I ever did it in the Windows world and I don't really trust upgrades. The Archive & Install option was highly recommended to me, so I researched it a little and it seemed pretty clean to me. I ended up backing up all my data and then doing the Archive & Install - everything worked great, no problems. I would recommend using Archive & Install based on my experience.

 

[Soulstorm]

Why can't I upgrade? I don't understand why it is necessary to do a clean install... When I moved from Jaguar to Panther I simply upgraded and did not have any problems.

Why would Apple give you the option to upgrade if it is not a good one?

I don't know why apple did that. All I know is that every single person thta has done a simple upgrade has had problems.

The truth is... Tiger is more that just an upgrade. It is a complete rewrite of the system. So, you cannot establish a newly-written system on the foundations of an old one.

Jaguar to panther had not any complete rewrites. Tiger is the most critical and significant upgrade since the appearance os OS X. Now, if you really want to avoid any backup and clean install, do as you like, but I just don't think it will be wise to do that.

 

[Archmagination]

I did a simple upgrade from 10.3.9 and nothing has gone wrong... only an occasional crash with the weather widget(3 crashes in about 2 weeks of running 10.4.1) 10.4.1 actually fixed my java problems that was created with the 10.3.9 upgrade.

 

[faintember]

DO IT!

I just upgraded my PB to 10.4.1 today and it works GREAT.

Everything seems faster (id say 15% without actually trying to test it)

I did an archive and install, however i did do some maintance before the new install: (btw i moved from 10.2.8 to 10.4)

Repair Permissions
Ran MacJanitor
Ran MacSweeper
Repair Permissions again
Restart-->then insert Tiger dvd...

I dont know if the above helped but it seemed to work well for me so far. (and i have been running my system pretty hard since the install)

My vote...DO IT!!!!!

 

[alexf]

I don't know why apple did that. All I know is that every single person thta has done a simple upgrade has had problems.

The truth is... Tiger is more that just an upgrade. It is a complete rewrite of the system. So, you cannot establish a newly-written system on the foundations of an old one.

Jaguar to panther had not any complete rewrites. Tiger is the most critical and significant upgrade since the appearance os OS X. Now, if you really want to avoid any backup and clean install, do as you like, but I just don't think it will be wise to do that.

So does this mean, that, if I were to install Tiger (from Panther), I would have to reinstall all of my applications?

 

[feakbeak]

So does this mean, that, if I were to install Tiger (from Panther), I would have to reinstall all of my applications?

If you do a clean install then yes, you would have to reinstall all of your applications since you would be wiping out your hard drive completely. Again, I strongly recommend the Archive & Install option. It moves your old system folder to a previous system folder and then installs a completely new and clean system folder down containing Tiger. Your Applications and Users folders are maintained so that you should not have to reinstall any applications (there are some exceptions, I didn't have to reinstall anything though) and you do not need to configure your user settings all over again - all of your user data will be just as you left it. With that said, it is still wise to do a backup of all important files before upgrading to Tiger, regardless of what method you choose - just in case something goes wrong.

 

[freiheit]

3 on a scale of 5

Whether or not to upgrade from Panther to Tiger depends on whether you really want (or need) the Tiger features. For me, the upgrade was unimpressive. The killer app for me in Panther was Expose -- possibly the most useful usability tool ever put on a personal computer. Tiger, for me, just doesn't have anything quite so impressive; it's still got Expose, of course, so if anyone is still a Jaguar user then I'd highly recommend Tiger to them.

I barely use Spotlight (all my files are already neatly arranged in folders based on a decade of not having Spotlight).

I've only used Automator for 2 things; automatically connecting to my Windows shared drive at startup and moving downloaded widgets to my widgets folder -- both of which I was able to "program" in a matter of minutes with no coding necessary.

I find VoiceOver potentially useful but a little too verbose in what it speaks -- and I'm very disappointed that the text-to-speech voices in MacOS X 10.4 are still the same poor quality voices that were in MacOS 8.

I only use Dashboard ocassionally and only for a few seconds at a time -- but then, that's what it was made for.

As to upgrading, I did an Archive & Install over Panther 10.3.9. Before I began, I performed a complete disk check and permissions verification, then rebooted and did the upgrade. I had no problems but some apps' settings needed to be restored and a few utility programs weren't Tiger-ready at the time (like Onyx, which now is Tiger-ready).

On a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 is "absolutely must install Tiger", I'd give it a 3. I think Panther was a 5.

 

[devilot]

I have an older PB (running panther) and a new iMac (w/ tiger)... I like Tiger enough that I just bought Tiger for my PB. For me, dashboard and spotlight-- I didn't think much of them, but I find myself using them much more than I thought I would. I don't think you'll regret the upgrade.