The new OS X 10.5 is coming out October 26th for $129. Should you upgrade? Absolutely! Should you do it the day it comes out. That depends…
DISCLAIMER: ANYTIME A NEW OPERATING SYSTEM COMES OUT YOU SHOULD BE VERY CERTAIN THAT ALL 3RD PARTY SOFTWARE IS UPDATED BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THE UPDATE. Also, never do a simple upgrade as this will more than likely cause problems down the road. I ONLY archive and install.
If all you do on your machine are the following: use apple mail, use safari,
print some documents, ichat people and surf, surf, surf, then there shouldn’t be any issues.
There are over 300 new features in Leopard. Here are some of the coolest ones.
Things I’m looking forward to:
new Apple Mail – can make “to dos” from emails that sync to iPhone.
new Safari – supposed to be faster and is finally catching up with Firefox.
new iCal – cleaner interface
new syncing – can sync dock prefs, and user prefs between machines
better windows support – crossover works great in this version. allowing you to run Windows Apps without even needing Windows
new iChat – better video, more features, ability to share screen with other users and go over documents, etc.
coverflow throughout the system – just like iTunes version of Cover Flow but now embedded in the finder.
time machine – whiz-bang backup utility with killer graphics to retrieve missing files. (see photo below)
What if I use Now Contact/Up-to-Date? Well, it “should” work as there’s nothing saying it won’t. Again, if you rely on this software wait a bit. They have an update coming out in January that was due six months ago so don’t hold your breath… you can always make the jump to Apple Address Book and iCal.
REQUIREMENTS
Still using that old cute colored iMac? Well, Leopard won’t install on it or any other G4 processor below 867MHZ. Time to donate it or sell it on craigslist. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I really doubt it will run that well on a G4 1GHZ and lower.
You’ll need 512 RAM minimum, but make sure you have 1GB to run it well.
It loves a new INTEL mac so it can run natively at 64bit. Tiger (10.4) is a 32bit OS and this is a 64bit. What’s that mean? Remember the Super Nintendo? Well, think of this as the Nintendo 64! Woo hoo!
This means “less spinning rainbows” when accessing network volumes and the ability to do more multi-tasking operations in the background. So it’s faster meaning it crashes faster. (total joke)
However, if you have a computer that CAN NOT afford to be down because, woops, your DV deck, MBox audio device or some other scanner doesn’t work with Leopard, then you should wait.
I always suggest waiting for the maintenance release. This will be 10.5.1 that will be out about 3 to 4 weeks after Leopard ships.
If you have any questions about your systems lemme know as I’ll be thoroughly testing the software and will know all the ins and outs the following week it is released.
