Before you dive in and install Snow Leopard over Leopard, be sure to do a complete backup of your drive! I cloned mine with Carbon Copy Cloner, just in case something didn't work. I haven't needed it, but I'll keep the clone for a few weeks, just in case. I have known two people who were very glad they did this, because they hosed their installations and had to re-do them!
OS X continues to grow and evolve. This "under the hood" upgrade paves the way for many great things to happen in the world of OS X software. As such, users won't see a heck of a lot of difference in their computers right away, if they were using Leopard. Yes, you gain back some space, because support for Power PC chips is gone. Your hard drive suddenly seems to have more gigabytes of maximum capacity, because 1 GB = 1000 MB, instead of 1024 MB in previous systems. This was intended to relieve some confusion over how drive manufacturers market their disks, but will inevitably add its own confusion to the mix...
Oh, there are at least 100 things new, here, but they're very subtle. [...]
Everything is a bit zippier due to the native code, and due to most of the system running in 64-bit mode. Yeah, the kernel starts in 32-bit mode by default, but that is a VERY good thing, for compatibility with older drivers and other third party software that is not yet updated. Certain high-end systems will run in 64-bit by default - mostly servers - but the rest of us will benefit from the kernel's staying in 32-bit unless we start up while holding down the 6 and 4 keys.
Check out[...] lists of applications that are, and are not, compatible with this upgrade. You will inevitably have to download some updates and patches to get some of your software and hardware to run, especially if you haven't done that in a while.
Yes, Rosetta still works, so you can run older programs that are not Intel-ready. It's off by default, but you can do a custom installation of OS X to install it, or you can connect to the Internet the first time you need it, and Software Update will load it for you. I finally gave up on Office 2004 and upgraded to Office 2008, though, because the speed gains in Office 2008 in Intel mode are substantial. I only wish my company used Exchange Server 2007 so I wouldn't even have to use Office! Snow Leopard works very well with Exchange Server 2007, according to friends who use Mail, iCal, etc. with it.
With any major "point upgrade," there can be unknown anomalies and incompatibilities. So far, I haven't had many issues*. I'm still running Tiger on an older Power PC machine, though, just in case. It has saved me a lot of angst to always keep an old machine around when I get a new one, just so I can be sure my older software will run until it's stable on the new platform, or I've learned its replacement.
*Check your printer manufacturer's website to be sure there's a compatible driver. If you use any exotic hardware, such as an eSATA Express Card, be sure to find the latest drivers for it before you upgrade. If you use Adobe Creative Suite 3, or Photoshop CS3, read the forums regarding compatibility issues. I haven't found any, but it's not supported by Adobe, so you'll have to decide whether to upgrade to CS4 (which is only 32-bit, but is supported), or wait for CS5 (which should be 64-bit). I'm waiting... Adobe suites are pricey, and I don't need the few new goodies in CS4 badly enough to upgrade. But CS5 should be worth it.
All in all, Snow Leopard will add finesse, speed, and drive space immediately. It will add even more speed and power down the road. If you have kids, the new system allows you to set timers on their computer usage and keep them away from porn sites. However, the most important advances will be for power users, because they allow easier multi-threaded, multi-processor number crunching, and use of the graphics card processor to do heavy data lifting. If you edit video, do lots of higher math, or process images for gargantuan prints, you know what I mean. If you just surf the 'Net, do email, and simple office work, this upgrade is less important. Still, at $[...] or so, it's a no-brainer. Do it cautiously, but do it.
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Top reviews from other countries
- AshuReviewed in India on February 29, 2016
this is a perfect solution to upgrade your Mac to latest softwares
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- Andrew - (sekrapa)Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2011
Brilliant price for an upgrade
