Should I upgrade my operating system from 10.5.8

If you don't relish learning a new system and that's your reason for holding back on upgrading, then fear not. There's not much new to learn in Snow Leopard. Basically it is a reworking of Leopard to make it run smoother, more efficiently and a bit faster. It's not very expensive to upgrade this time and I thought it was worth it when I did it. I say go for it but of course it's your call.

Rick

Hi,

Welcome to the Apple Forums. Keeping software/operating systems up to date can have some big advantages especially as improvements are constantly being made & any issues that are discovered are ironed out. Deciding when to upgrade can be a personal preference depending on how much you use your Mac & whether the versions of software you are running are meeting your needs or not.

Whenever you perform an upgrade (especially a major one), it's worth checking that any 3rd party software that you use will be compatible once you have upgraded.

Backing up your data before an upgrade is very important...if you have an external Hard Drive, you can copy your files/photos/videos etc etc on to it should you encounter any problems. Alternatively, making CD's/DVD's of important stuff will work equally. You can also make a clone of your computers Hard Drive. Even if you aren't upgrading, keeping copies of files etc is very important in this digital age.

I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard & can well recommend making the move. For more info on some of the new features & improvements, check out http://www.apple.com/macosx


Good luck.


Ben

Snow Leopard is not a download. You have to buy it. In the U.S. it costs $29 but in the U.K. it might be a bit more. Yes, you should be able to get it at Amazon or any local Apple store or reseller. Once you get it check for updates to bring it to the latest version (10.6.2). And heed what the other poster pointed out. Back everything up first before upgrading.

Rick

Make sure your Mac is compatible first:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2126451

Then check if all your software and hardware is compatible, and then follow the steps of this FAQ*:

http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

The real question to consider is - why do you want to upgrade if you already have a well running system?

All current and recent releases of Apple software (including iTunes, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut, Logic, etc.) work fine under Leopard (10.5.8). They do not require Snow Leopard.

Nothing against Snow Leopard. I am running it myself on an iMac and it's fine. But in the normal course of the day I do not see any differences compared to Leopard (10.5.8) on my MacBookPro.

Two differences to be aware of, however - drivers for a lot of older HP and Epson printers were dropped in Snow Leopard; and QuickTime X, while a nice player, is less functional than QuickTime 7 and there is as yet no Pro version of QuickTime X.

Hi Mag1975,

in addition to - especially the second last post (compatibility) - I'd recommend it. I have bought it for both my 2006 (Intel) Macbook and my (2008) MacPro. Both machines do run more efficiently, however, quite a few applications require updates.
Quicktime 10.0 is the latest addition (you can still access your old QT pro as you cannot edit your movies in 10 the way you could in V 7).
There is always a question: "it ain't broken - shall I fix it"? But I have no regrets and the machines work and boot faster than with Leopard.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Before you install it......

Try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.

Let us know what errors Disk Utility reports and if DU was able to repair them. Disk Utility's Disk Repair is not perfect and may not find or repair all directory issues. A stronger utility may be required to finish the job.

After that Repair Permissions.

No need to report Permissions errors....we all get them.

Also, make sure all your apps. are ready for the switch.

Download this free Snow Leopard Compatiblity Checker and install it.

Handy and it scans your drive to only check the apps. on your machine.

DALE

Great!

You can still run the Snow Leopard checker to make sure all your apps. are updated and compatible. It even helps you get the updates.

Dale