“The first thing you should ask yourself is, “Do I need to do this right now?” For example, do you (or someone else in your family) have a big project looming that requires your system to be 100 percent available? Would an upgrade, and possible difficulties, interfere? Next, do you have enough external disk storage for a backup? You may need to go shopping or place an Internet order first,” Martellaro writes. “We’ll discuss that in a moment. Are you planning a trip? Would difficulties and possibly being cut off from the ability to print boarding passes or check hotel reservations become a problem? Your enthusiasm to get on with the cool Snow Leopard upgrade should be tempered by these considerations.”
Martellaro writes, “Okay, so now you’re ready to go get the Snow Leopard package.”
Full article – recommended – here.
Can’t it be installed on a power pc running leopard or is it intel only
Macfanone,
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is intended for Intel-powered Macs and will not install on older PowerPC Macs. The PowerPC code has been removed.
If leopard works on a iMac G5, then why can’t Snow?
Jim,
The two main reasons are that PPC is old and may as well be made vintage with a system-focussing upgrade, and secondly because PPC code has been removed from 10.6 to make its hard drive footprint smaller.
Not to be overlooked: Before upgrading, check the compatibility of your existing apps. A few software developers are still working on updates that provide 10.6 compatibility.
Thanks for info ,all.time for a new mac
Bought Time Capsule recently and it works perfectly with Time Machine for automatic back-ups. Need that prep insurance to preserve data.
How about that — a well written article with researched, good advice! It’s nice to read something like that for a change. If only the “real journalists” could do the same…
Seriously, Are we not paying attention
SNOW LEOPARD IS INTEL ONLY!!!!!
PPC(ALL G5 Macs) = NO!!!!!!!!
Intel = yes.
If you’re running a G5 that means NO!!!!!
Thanks to all the suckers who are going to test-fly this new snow leopard for me!
I need my computers 24/7/365 because I make my living with them.
I’ll give it a month and then I’ll switch one of my secondary computers over to it and see.
Meanwhile as usual I’m happy with Mac and have been since 2001. No problems, no data loss, not one hour lost to trouble in over 8 years and 12 computers.
But change is bad, so I’ll let some other people do the testing!
@ Old guy…..
spoken like a true ‘Old Guy’. get with the times man.
1. Have your copy of Leopard on hand. But leave it in the sleeve.
2. Back up your entire Home/User folder to a separate drive, and any other files you’d like to keep.
3. Insert the Snow Leopard disc and do a clean install.
4. Move your files back into their appropriate places in your Home/user folder in Snow Leopard.
Done. Not the fastest way, but it’s the cleanest way.
Gawd,
Is this thread indicative of Mac users?
I hope not…
@jg2000:
I’ve got to agree with Old Guy. In my case, I’ll be upgrading my Apples before the mail man is out of sight, but if I was “… making my living with them” I’d wait too. Losing a work machine or machines is as serious as being without job site electricity or being laid off.
You want to lose at least a few hours pay because you couldn’t wait a few days? I doubt OG does.
Stupid question time.
SO, if I already have a Time Capsule and use it regularly for backing up and have a current backup – can I do a clean install with Leopard and then restore from Time Capsule? Or will that not work? (on a MBA with Intel chips)
Thanks someone!
@ Old guy…..
” … change is bad, so I’ll let some other people do the testing! …”
How on earth did you ever decide to switch to a Mac with that attitude?
The reason why Apple has decided to make Snow Leopard exclusive to Intel-based processors is because the IBM PowerPC processors (G5, G4, G3) were not designed for 64-bit computing, a key improvement in OS-X 10.6. You may wonder why this important, but fast forward one, two and three years from now, and it will become readily apparent. Combined with Grand Central, which allows Snow Leopard to fully take advantage of multiple core CPUs (which will proliferate from twin core to 8, even 16 core CPUs in the next five years), as well as OpenCL, which lets programs take better advantage of powerful graphic adapters in many current computers. These are big changes, which sadly leaves the PowerPC series CPUs behind.
If you are happy with your current Mac, this won’t change anything for you. But looking forward, your next Mac will be significantly more powerful, as applications are updated or rewritten to unleash the power of Snow Leopard.
For a very good article that explains this, I recommend reading “Snow Leopard – An Upgrade in Camouflage” by Stephen Wildstrom in BusinessWeek: http://bit.ly/38iYKB
@iPhoner
Some of remember life before PC’s. Not all of us had to “switch”…
screencasting software built into SL according to
http://www.derekunderwood.com/general-computer/snow-leopard-includes-free-screencasting-software/
but what about sound and narration?
There are a number of new features that are not available for older MacBook & desktop Macs as they require the use of a multi touch input. How long till Apple sells such a device or gives us an app that will allow us to connect our iPod touch or iPhone to the Mac to use for such input.
I think I am going to do my full backup after I install Snow Leopard since one of the features is an 80% faster initial Time Machine backup. So it only makes sense to save time, and make the backup after, duh.
@ Old Guy With A Bearc
U DA OL’MAN…
Respect.
PS: A change may be bad… a hindrance is worse
CarbonCopyCloner for those without Time Machine. It’s a very good tool and doesn’t cost.
Yeehaw! The email said that FedEx has my Snow Leopard and it’s scheduled for an on-time delivery… Fun weekend coming!
PS: Old Guy: my beard is grey, too. I’m upgrading my Mac Pro tomorrow, but leaving the iMac alone until the next week-end. You need to get over that “change is bad” misperception. Some change is called “progress.”
@OGWAB – wouldn’t that be 24/7/52? or 24/365?
Just funnin’
NOGWAB (Nother Old Guy With A Beard)