Tiger to Leopard or Snow Leopard & Some Q's?

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Hi guys,

After hours of research I think I have an idea what I need, but I was hoping for some opinions from more seasoned Mac users :)

This is what I'm currently running:

MacBook
Mac OS X 10.4.11
2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

I'm running Tiger, and I want to upgrade. I also only have 75 GB of RAM, which is killing me, so I'm going to increase it to 500 GB. I'd also like to swap out my CD Drive for a DVD Drive. The computer's 2.5 yrs old.

I've read that Leopard is enough of an upgrade, less costly and easier to transition to from Tiger. Snow Leopard may be in my future, but I'm not sure I need it now.
I'm a beginning graphic designer, so I have a ton of files and programs, I run the Adobe Suite and have a lot of add-ons and plug-ins.

My questions are:

Which OS do you think would suit my needs?
Is it best to make all of these changes at once?
Would Time Machine be a viable option for backing up everything before I upgrade the OS? I've got an external drive that I use to backup my files, but what about my add-ons, downloaded software, etc?
Is it going to cost more to do all of this than to buy a new computer? Lol.

Thanks!
Jen
 
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17 inch 2 GHz C2D imac (5,1) with 3GB DDR2 RAM, X1600 (128MB memory) GPU - OSX 10.6.3
Which OS do you think would suit my needs?
Just go straight to Snow Leopard. I think that's the best way. As it's optimised for intel Macs. Also trying to buy a Leopard (10.5) disc is really hard/expensive these days. I know Apple want you to buy the I SL+iwork+ilife pack or the 10.5 disc to go from 10.4->10.6. But you can go from 10.4-> 10.6 just with the Snow Leopard disc. It works and I'd recommend that.

Snow Leopard for the most part is just a really optimised (for intel) Leopard. I see no reason for you not to skip 10.5 and go right to 10.6

Is it best to make all of these changes at once?
Firstly you mean 75GB of Hard Drive space. Ram is something totally different all together. And yes if you want to get a bigger hard drive sure go for it. I just changed the hard drive in my 4 year old C2D imac to a bigger one and it was no hassle. So if you can do it or can get someone you know, knows how to do it, by all means go ahead.

Swapping your CD for a DVD drive is doable too. I'd just get someone skilled to do it. And I'm not sure about the prices though. You'd have to look around for a good deal on one that will fit your model of macbook. Or there is a 2nd option. Buy asn external super drive from Apple. (http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB397G/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY) It's $99 in the USA.

Yes you can do all your changes you want to. The only thing holding you back would saving up the cash to do them all.

Would Time Machine be a viable option for backing up everything before I upgrade the OS? I've got an external drive that I use to backup my files, but what about my add-ons, downloaded software, etc?
Yes Time Machine would work perfectly. You can also use "Carbon Copy Cloner" (Carbon Copy Cloner - Home) to do the job. Some people like to to the back up, then erase their old Hard Drive, install the new hard drive then restore the Apps to the new system.

In your circumstances I would just do the time machine backup and just install Snow Leopard over the old system. (Not erase and install). And it should just work. It worked for me fine. And the Time Machine back up is there for piece of mind just in case.

Is it going to cost more to do all of this than to buy a new computer?
A lot less. A new hard drive mayne $200 roughly. Depends on where you get your Hard Drive from. And Snow Leopard is like well I got mine online for like $40 I think it was. And if you add in the cost of a new DVD drive for around $100. If you can get one for that price, that is a total of $340. Plus you have to get the hard drive installed and the DVD drive installed. Well only if you chose to replace the internal DVD drive. If you chose an external one like the apple one then there is no need of installastion.

It's now up to you if that $340 is an ok price for you to pay or do you want to just to get a new Macbook for $999. Sure the new macbook is a lot more expensive but it's also a lot less hassle. The macbook should handle everything Adobe just fine.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
 
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Time Machine and Tiger? Nope.

Wikipedia:
Time Machine is a backup utility developed by Apple. It is included with Mac OS X and was introduced with the 10.5 "Leopard" release of Mac OS X. The software is designed to work with the Time Capsule as well as a number of external FireWire (IEEE 1394a/b) and USB hard drives.

I had to check, because I jumped from 9.2 to 10.5

Did I misunderstand the OP's question???
 
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Thank you so much for your responses!

I just read that Time Machine was introduced with Leopard too! So does that mean it's not compatible at all with Tiger? Or just that Leopard comes with the software to use Time Machine? I think I'm going to have to get on Google again.

Everything else sounds good (yes I meant 75 GB hard drive, sorry, my mind has been swimming, I really do know some things about my computer, I promise :)

I know I could use my external and just back up everything manual, but I am afraid I'll miss things that could be lost in an OS upgrade. Though if I install Snow Leopard over the old system, nothing should be erased. "Should be" of course being a gamble.
My brain hurts a little.
 
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Well, you have Tiger, so you don't have Time Machine. But, I don't think TM works with Tiger anyway. Instead of a full backup, you could just put your important stuff on a flash drive before doing the OS upgrade.
 
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Yes that's right. Time Machine came only on 10.5. So what the above poster said would work. As would using carbon copy cloner for 10.4.
 
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And don't pay more than $30 for Snow Leopard. Just order it from Apple.
 
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Just so you know, technically, the $30 Snow Leopard disc is for users with a Leopard license. You can "click through" and install it over Tiger, but you will be saying "yes" to "Do you have a Leopard license."
 

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