Should you upgrade to Leopard?

If you’ve been within 100 yards of an Apple store or media source in the past few days, you’re probably aware that Apple released another Big Bad Operating System to the public. Leopard - OS X 10.5 - came out on Friday. Addicts flocked to stores, or had pre-ordered copies delivered directly to their doorsteps.

Many people have either installed it already, or are in the process of deciding whether to upgrade. If you already have a well-functioning copy of Tiger (10.4) running on your beloved Mac, do you need to upgrade? Today we’ll cover some of the reasons you might want to wait a bit before forking over that $129 for the new software as well as some reasons Leopard might be worth it to upgrade immediately.

Why Wait?

The previews of Leopard are shiny and, as with all of the previous OS updates, are designed to make us all itch to get our hands on the newest, prettiest version. With all the tempting things in the news, on the Apple website, and in stores, there are still some very good reasons to hold back for the time being.

1. New operating systems have bugs. Admittedly, Apple is pretty good about working a lot of kinks out ahead of time, but until thousands of users put it on their machines for the ultimate test there will still be bugs that haven’t been uncovered. During the first few months Leopard is out, there will undoubtedly be some bumps in the road. Updates will come out to smooth these over, and any last glaring problems should be gone in a few months. If you don’t want to deal with this process, it might be a good idea to wait a bit before rushing over to Leopard.
2. If you’ve recently switched to your Mac, and have only just begun to get used to how it works, it could be frustrating to change everything up again. Aside from new features (that won’t get in your way; they’ll just require learning), some old features have changed. For example, buttons in Mail have moved around, file browsing is a little different, etc. If you think it would be frustrating to have minor things like this playing tricks on your newly-learned reflexes, it could be a good idea to postpone an upgrade. Once you’ve learned how to work best with your Mac, you’ll be better positioned to have minor things change without as much frustration.
3. Not all software is Leopard-compatible yet. If you have any non-Apple software that you rely on, you’ll want to check to see whether it’s compatible with Leopard before upgrading, or you may find yourself without some essential software because it no longer works correctly. If this is you, you’ll at least want to wait until your favorite applications have been updated before upgrading.
4. You’re happy with your computer as-is, and don’t feel like you “need more.” If you’re comfortable with your computer already, there’s not necessarily a great reason to rush out to buy the next upgrade. Eventually you might come across a software upgrade or new application that will require Leopard, but that’s not going to happen overnight. Things you’re using now won’t stop being supported next week, and Tiger is still just as great as it was last week. So, if you don’t feel like the new features in Leopard justify the cost of a software upgrade, you’re just fine leaving Tiger on your computer and keeping on as you’ve been going.

Why Upgrade?

Leopard has hundreds of new features sprinkled throughout the operating system that will make your life easier (over 300, to be exact - you can read the entire list here). Many of these are small tricks here and there - Mail now lets you keep track of notes and to do lists, the file browser allows you to preview files full-screen before opening them, iChat now has tabs so you can keep all of your chats collected into a single window. Stacks even gives you an elegant way to look at the contents of frequently used folders from the Dock. If you have reservations about upgrading, these types of features are nice but probably aren’t enough to tip the scales in favor of making the jump.

However, there are several features that are worth some serious examination when it comes to deciding whether to upgrade.

1. Time Machine. This is, in my mind, the most important new feature with Leopard. Time Machine will make backups much easier, and will hopefully mean that people have good backups more often than they do now. (Come on, we all think about backing up, but most of us don’t do it nearly as often as we should.) Time Machine takes a “back up as you go” approach, and once you turn it on it keeps the backups running in the background. If you discover suddenly that you need a file you deleted awhile back or want an earlier version, you can invoke Time Machine’s space-age interface, travel back in time, and retrieve whatever it was you needed. You’re not going to find this level of backup in other places, so it’s worth some serious consideration if it means protecting your data.  One note: you will need an external hard drive in order to use Time Machine - but they’re good things to have around anyway, so you can make regular backups whether you have Time Machine or not.
2. Parental Controls. Apple has spent a lot of effort in Leopard on enhancing parental control features. If you’ve got kidlets using your computer, this could mean less headaches for you. The new controls allow parents to set time limits on usage for each account, as well as bedtimes - and the features are easy to change if Junior needs to stay up late working on a report. There’s a more dynamic web content filter that includes a filter that limits access to profanity when using Wikipedia…these filters are easy for administrators (aka, parents) to override if you’d like certain sites to be accessible for any reason. You can also keep an activity log on a child’s computer, so you can see what they’re up to online. This selection of features would probably pique the interest of most parents.
3. Boot Camp. This ability to boot into either OS X or Windows is officially out of Beta testing and is packaged with Leopard. If you need access to Windows for certain things, this will give you the ability to move back and forth without needing two separate machines. You still need to buy a copy of Windows to install, though!

So, I do want to upgrade - what do I need?

If you do want to upgrade to Leopard, there are several things you should keep in mind.

Obviously, you’ll need to buy Leopard. A single license allows you to use it on one computer, and costs $129. A family pack allows you to install Leopard on up to five computers, and is $199. Of course, you could always go whole-hog and buy a new computer - they’re all shipping with Leopard now!

Next, you will probably want to invest in an external hard drive if you don’t already have one. This will allow you to back up your data before upgrading (you’ll always want to do a backup and make sure it works before you upgrade, just in case anything goes wrong), and it will also let you start using Time Machine immediately.

After you’ve backed up your data, the rest is easy!  Pop in the installation disk, select the type of installation you want (the default options will get you running in no time), and you’re ready to go.

What is Unseemly Raptor doing about upgrades?

Here at Unseemly Raptor, I finished upgrading my main machine to Leopard on Friday. So far it’s great! Rest assured, however, that I have another machine that’s still happily running Tiger. I’ll do my best to keep a good balance of Tiger and Leopard writings, and point out when certain things only work on one or the other (special features aside, many tricks will still work in either OS). I’ll take questions about either operating system. So, whether you decide to upgrade or not, I hope that Unseemly Raptor will continue to be useful to you.