I've decided to upgrade from the aging 10.4 Tiger. Problem is that I'm wondering if I should go to Leopard now or hold out for Snow Leopard. And, that I have the original 1.83GHz Core Duo Macbook with 1GB of RAM. I don't think that'll be enough to run Leopard that efficiently. Can anyone tell me if it's enough?
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Upgrade To Leopard Now?
- Thread starter ph03n1x
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certainly enough specs to to run Leopard. its your choice. the time between Leopard and Snow Leopard will be a lot shorter than the time between Tiger and Leopard, so you may want to wait? Tiger is a very fast and stable release… it just doesnt have the new features of Leopard.
Requirements for Mac OS X 10.5
Mac OS X 10.5 requires:
A Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or Power PC G4 (867 MHz or faster) processor
512 MB memory or more
A DVD drive for installation
9 GB of available disk space or more
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider, fees may apply.
Some features require Apple's .Mac service; fees apply.
Snow Leopard is more about underlying core technologies than about features, so you may not notice much difference day-to-day between the two, not to mention, Snow Leopard is a year or more away.
If you can get more RAM, it's always a good idea.
Mac OS X 10.5 requires:
A Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or Power PC G4 (867 MHz or faster) processor
512 MB memory or more
A DVD drive for installation
9 GB of available disk space or more
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider, fees may apply.
Some features require Apple's .Mac service; fees apply.
Snow Leopard is more about underlying core technologies than about features, so you may not notice much difference day-to-day between the two, not to mention, Snow Leopard is a year or more away.
If you can get more RAM, it's always a good idea.
i suggest upgrading now to leopard..
with each upgrade of an OS, a new required system spec appears and usually it is requiring a faster system than the previous OS.
with the mac that you have, you will still see a great performance from leopard and with tons of new features in leopard I think its worth upgrading to it now..
snow leopard might not come out until jan 09 or maybe even later...
ohh and yah you can boost your Ram to 2gb and that also, is worth every penny..
with each upgrade of an OS, a new required system spec appears and usually it is requiring a faster system than the previous OS.
with the mac that you have, you will still see a great performance from leopard and with tons of new features in leopard I think its worth upgrading to it now..
snow leopard might not come out until jan 09 or maybe even later...
ohh and yah you can boost your Ram to 2gb and that also, is worth every penny..
Of course you can run Leopard. But quite honestly, it's a really flawed OS. The graphics are dreadful, even on my new Penryn BlackBook. The graphics are jerky and slow, even when it comes to the genie effect. I'm hoping Snow Leopard fixes these issues, as the genie effect is such old tech, it should work flawlessly on a new machine. Don't even get me started on how bad it is as far as Dashboard graphics go. Leopard, quite honestly-still seems like a beta to me.
Just a note- Leopard works slightly better on my last rev dual core G5 tower (from a graphic standpoint) than it does on my brand new BlackBook. That's just not right.
Just a note- Leopard works slightly better on my last rev dual core G5 tower (from a graphic standpoint) than it does on my brand new BlackBook. That's just not right.
So I'll upgrade. But now where do I get the 2GB of RAM? I prefer to get it in-store since I wanna install the RAM and Leopard on the same day. And I'm thinking about getting an external hard drive and I saw one at Apple, this one to be exact. Could anyone give me a review or say something about it?
You can upgrade the RAM at any of the Apple Stores, if they have the RAM in stock. The process should take a few minutes, but they might tell you a few hours, (depending on how busy they are).
They keep your old RAM and replace it with the new. I recommend you buy your RAM through Crucial and do it yourself. It will work out a lot cheaper, you get to keep your old RAM, AND you get a lifetime warranty!
With regards to the Hard Drive, it is fine. I have used the same model for a while, and had no problems whatsoever.
They keep your old RAM and replace it with the new. I recommend you buy your RAM through Crucial and do it yourself. It will work out a lot cheaper, you get to keep your old RAM, AND you get a lifetime warranty!
With regards to the Hard Drive, it is fine. I have used the same model for a while, and had no problems whatsoever.
Apple charges way too much for RAM. A great source for Mac-compatible RAM is OWC. Their MacBook and MacBook Pro 4GB upgrade kit is $99 (£50). I haven't priced their 2GB.
Another source is Crucial memory from newegg.com.
Installation for a Macbook or a MacBook Pro is easy and does not void the Apple Warranty.
Upgrade to 2gb RAM, you'll notice a difference probably.
Don't upgrade to Leopard. Save your money. Unless of course you are going to be doing something exclusively that Tiger can't do. Tiger is solid though.
Don't upgrade to Leopard. Save your money. Unless of course you are going to be doing something exclusively that Tiger can't do. Tiger is solid though.
Do you have the hardware for back-up anyway?
I would only rush to get Leopard if you already have a back-up drive available. If you don't have an additional drive for back-up, there's no point hurrying to get any upgrade since Time Machine (the back-up application) is the best part of Leopard and likely for Snow Leopard (IMHO.) If you just want a more responsive computer, get the RAM upgrade first by ordering your RAM through OWC. I would then wait until Snow Leopard comes out. The current Leopard is a little too buggy for people used to Macs, and I use a desktop Mac. Laptops have historically been less tolerant of buggy OS's. If you get Leopard now, you'll probably need the newest version of Disk Warrior if your drive directory gets messed up as often as mine is since my Leopard install.
I would only rush to get Leopard if you already have a back-up drive available. If you don't have an additional drive for back-up, there's no point hurrying to get any upgrade since Time Machine (the back-up application) is the best part of Leopard and likely for Snow Leopard (IMHO.) If you just want a more responsive computer, get the RAM upgrade first by ordering your RAM through OWC. I would then wait until Snow Leopard comes out. The current Leopard is a little too buggy for people used to Macs, and I use a desktop Mac. Laptops have historically been less tolerant of buggy OS's. If you get Leopard now, you'll probably need the newest version of Disk Warrior if your drive directory gets messed up as often as mine is since my Leopard install.
Rubbish...
Leopard is absolutely great now! With 10.5.4 it's very stable - I'd say at least as stable as Tiger. In other words, it's so stable you'll never have a problem with it unless you're really doing weird stuff with it.
In most cases Macs see an increase in performance, which isn't what you'd expect from a new OS, naturally. Just look at Vista. But Leopard is fantastic.
1GB RAM is absolutely fine for Leopard too. My iMac only has 1GB and it's rockin'. With all the new features and performance upgrades, I'd say it's definitely worth jumping on the Leopard train. Snow Leopard won't look much different, and will probably be out shortly after the new year, say February or something.
Also in my opinion, the old style of Mac OS (the pin-stripes, the 2D Dock, the brushed metal) is really looking out of fashion, if that matters to you. I know they say Leopard's new look was to compete directly with Vista's, but I think it looks wonderful. Less stressful on the eyes too (darker tones, less glaring).
P.S. I never thought the jumping action of the icons looked right on the old Dock... Now it makes sense because they're jumping off the '3D tray' instead of out the 2D box.
Leopard is absolutely great now! With 10.5.4 it's very stable - I'd say at least as stable as Tiger. In other words, it's so stable you'll never have a problem with it unless you're really doing weird stuff with it.
In most cases Macs see an increase in performance, which isn't what you'd expect from a new OS, naturally. Just look at Vista. But Leopard is fantastic.
1GB RAM is absolutely fine for Leopard too. My iMac only has 1GB and it's rockin'. With all the new features and performance upgrades, I'd say it's definitely worth jumping on the Leopard train. Snow Leopard won't look much different, and will probably be out shortly after the new year, say February or something.
Also in my opinion, the old style of Mac OS (the pin-stripes, the 2D Dock, the brushed metal) is really looking out of fashion, if that matters to you. I know they say Leopard's new look was to compete directly with Vista's, but I think it looks wonderful. Less stressful on the eyes too (darker tones, less glaring).
P.S. I never thought the jumping action of the icons looked right on the old Dock... Now it makes sense because they're jumping off the '3D tray' instead of out the 2D box.
Artkey the answer to your question is no those disks will not work in your G5.
As far as the original question of updating the macbook, I would recommend spending the $50 or $60 to bump your memory up to 2GB. That would offer more of a real world boost.
I would only update the OS on your macbook if there are actual features in Leopard that you want to use. Also if you plan to get a new Apple in the next 6 months or so then I would also delay.
To clarify because some people don't know: Snow Leopard is expected to come out around WWDC '09 not around Macworld '09 so you've got about a year so I would do it. I really find Spaces useful when I got between my iMac which has Leopard and my eMac which has Tiger especially because of the smaller screen. As others have said, upgrade to 2gb of Ram but don't buy from Apple since they massively overcharge for it. I would definitely make the switch now.
get 4 gigs of ram from www.ncix.com(about $80) and get leopard. you can have some new features now and then after snow leopards had a few point releases, get it
I just realized that I really don't need more RAM since I just use Firefox, Adium, and iTunes for the most part. But the hard drive space is what I'm worrying about. I only have $210 now and once I get Leopard then I get cut down to about $70 and that means no money for an external HDD. And I plan to clear out some part of my HDD. I only have 11.84GB left. Enough or way too little?
If you only 11.84GB left on an internal then you want a bigger HDD as 10GB is the recommended min limit you leave on a drive, it's something to do with slowing things down,but maybe someone else can explain why?
I cleaned it out and got 20.39GB and I'm still cleaning.
Edit: Now I have 26GB after all the cleaning.