Is it worth upgrading ?

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I am new Mac user and have ordered the new Snow Leopard OS. It is on the way to my house.

I have read about all the troubles that upgrading Snow Leopard can cause. Thus, is it worth upgrading ? Will I lose my data ? Will I lose my current programs ?
 

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I am new Mac user and have ordered the new Snow Leopard OS. It is on the way to my house.

I have read about all the troubles that upgrading Snow Leopard can cause. Thus, is it worth upgrading ? Will I lose my data ? Will I lose my current programs ?

Yes, no, and no.

- Nick
 

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I did a upgrade and most of my application came along for the ride. There are few applications that needed an update, so seek out the compatibility list and see if there's anything in there that you really need that's missing..

Regards
 
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Yes, no, and no.

Well, it depends.

There are few applications that needed an update, so seek out the compatibility list and see if there's anything in there that you really need that's missing..

Right... If you don't have a bunch of older applications, you probably won't run into trouble. So, is it worth it? It's never been as worth it before! Look at the price!!!
 
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The ONLY problem I had was with a Canon printer. After upgrading I reinstalled the printer software and all is well. Other than that - it was a breeze. Of course YMMV.
 
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I just bought my Mac in July so I guess I don't have any old applications. My Office is also 2008 version. Other than that, I just have skype, yahoo, aim, MSN.

I have heard some people get trouble upgrading and rebooting the system, does it happen frequently ?
 
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I upgraded. It was as easy as pie and made more room on my HD.

Only snag is now my old laserwriter 4/600 connected via a Dayna mini etherPrint doesn't show up in the printer list anymore.

From my understanding I would need a separate non leopard computer running printer sharing to use it again, which quite frankly SUX because I just bought a new toner cartridge for it!
 

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I just bought my Mac in July so I guess I don't have any old applications. My Office is also 2008 version. Other than that, I just have skype, yahoo, aim, MSN.

I have heard some people get trouble upgrading and rebooting the system, does it happen frequently ?

The Apple sponsored forums are loaded with that particular problem, and even I have run into it myself.

Just make sure your software - especially software which starts automatically as the system boots - is compatible. The overwhelming single error when Snow Leopard tries to boot for the first time after installation is that it goes into Kernel Panic cause by incompatible startup software.

It's best to remove all startup items before installing Snow Leopard. You can add them back one at a time once SL is running. If adding any item back in causes a Kernel Panic, you'll know it either has to be updated by the publisher or removed completely if no updates are available.

Regards.
 
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What is different between an upgrade install and a clean install ?
 
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I just upgraded and man it was worth. The price alone made it so, but my MacBook Pro is also faster and has had about 15 gigs of HD space freed up. A few other options make it worth it.

nns91- The difference between an upgrade install and a clean install is this: when you upgrade everything on your nac stay as is, you don't loose programs, photos, music, etc... When you do a clean install it wipes your hard drive clean and you start over with just the basics.
 
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I installed it last Friday on 3 Macs, all worked fine. I only had one issue w/ my address book, but that was it.

I definitely reclaimed 7-8GB after installing SL
 
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I have seen posts saying that a clean install might solve the problems that SL cause while an upgrade cannot. Is it true ?
 
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Depends, they said the same thing when leopard came out. I did a clean install at that time, but I also knew several people that did the upgrade and I did not notice anything different. I did however loose iLife, but it comes on one the discs included when you get a brand new mac.
 
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Please... all the troubles? There are a few minor bugs. We report them as we find them so that in 10.6.1 apple can correct the issues. I've never seen an OS release come out with so few problems from the get go.

Also, I see you use AIM and Yahoo... you can connect to both of those chat services (and keep one contact list) with a fancy little program called Adium. I don't know if you care enough to change what you use, but it's at least worth checking out. It's also very skinnable. I grabbed it back in May and couldn't be more glad that I did. I used to be a gung-** original AIM advocate (thought iChat sucked) but now I couldn't do without Adium. iChat has gotten better since I made that original determination too, but Adium still blows it out of the water.
 
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Is it a free one that I can download online ?

So you guys think I should upgrade my Leopard to Snow Leopard and it won't do anything bad to my system ?
 
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Is it a free one that I can download online ?

No. You have to buy it, at a store or mail order. You're going from 10.4 or 10.5 to 10.6 - that's never free. But, 10.6.1 will be free, and you can get that off the internet.
 
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so my SL is on the way and it should get here by tomorrow. Any suggestions, comments, warnings for me ?

I am so afraid it is going to mess up my system because I really need my laptop right now for college applications and other things
 
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I upgraded. It was as easy as pie and made more room on my HD.

The difference between an upgrade install and a clean install is this: when you upgrade everything on your Mac stays as is, you don't loose programs, photos, music, etc... When you do a clean install it wipes your hard drive clean and you start over with just the basics.

... when leopard came out. I did a clean install at that time, but I also knew several people that did the upgrade

What else are you looking for? You have a relatively new Mac, so that means you have Leopard. Have you downloaded all the free updates to 10.5.8? If not, and you're worried, do that first, then do the UPGRADE with the new SL disc. Stop worrying until there's something to worry about. Most likely, that's not gonna happen. Go for it!
 
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Best to uninstall all the apps, Safari add ons, hacks etc that will not work with Snow Leopard before updating.
Snow Leopard Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Compatibility List

Apple Talk for printers has gone. Rosetta is optional.
Flip4Mac is 32 bit only which doesn't work with 64 bit Safari or QuickTime X.
Still waiting for Perian
Don't expect any Plugins, Safari add ons, Third party Services, 32bit Screen savers (ie all pre snow leopard) or System maintenance apps like Onyx / Cocktail to work with 64bit Snow Kitty.

Updates are arriving thick & fast so probably not too long to wait.
 

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