Is it worth waiting for OS X v10.6 Leopard?

I'm finally getting ready to make the jump from PC to Mac but have been reading about the new OS that Apple is expecting to be releasing - rumoured to be June '09 (?). Two questions:

1) Is it worth waiting for Apple to ship their Macbooks with this OS before buying one?

2) Will Apple switch to the new OS immediately for new machines or will it lag by a few months? (I'm based in UK)

I read the following quote here, but am not so sure: 'As Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software put it, "Pricing is difficult, because it's hard to ask customers for money to upgrade to something which has few, if any, new features. I won't be surprised if Apple releases the update as a free upgrade, or charges very little. Remember, it will come with all new Macs from the day it is available."'

10.6, Snow Leopard, will not be a free update. It will be a 10.x release like any other.

As for whether you should buy now, why not? There is nothing from stopping the machines now from running SL when it is released. Granted, you will have to pay for it when it is released.

To the OP:

I read the following quote here, but am not so sure: 'As Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software put it, "Pricing is difficult, because it's hard to ask customers for money to upgrade to something which has few, if any, new features. I won't be surprised if Apple releases the update as a free upgrade, or charges very little. Remember, it will come with all new Macs from the day it is available."'

Click to expand...

Don't hold your breath. You won't see Snow Leopard as a free upgrade across the board. Apple "might" give a free upgrade for a certain period of time for folks who purchased new machines shortly before the release of Snow Leopard.

Do as Van advised. If you want a machine now, why wait? Even if you have to pay $120 or so for Snow Leopard later on, it will be worth it.

Regards.

If you buy right now, you would get to use and experience use Leopard which I dont think would be easy-to-do after Snow Leopard arrives default on a new Mac.

Is running Leopard, which is a different operating system than Snow Leopard, not an equally enticing opportunity?

Also, Apple says Snow Leopard would bring in speed enhancements. How would you feel that w/o using Leopard?

I mean there is a reason people use Mac OS 9 despite having another faster Mac with OS X around. That's exactly what's cool in geekdom!

These are some points that you might consider why buying a mac now is not bad at all.