Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Free, or not?

[Zoom7000]

Right, firstly I apologise for the total n00b question (Yes, I am a n00b when it comes to Macs!) is Snow Leopard a free update using Apple Software Update? Or do we have to purchase it as a new OS from Apple? If so, does anyone know the Apple Education pricing for it?

 

Is it worth the upgrade? Are there many new features that would benefit us?

 

Man, I feel lost when it comes to Macs in comparison to Windows!

[Tallwood_6]

No completely new version of Mac OSX so you will need to purchase new media and licenses, i'm not completely sure about pricing but its looking to be pretty cheap judging by the US pricing i've seen. I'm not sure about features other than the fact its supposed to be leaner than 10.5 and be completely 64bit, you wont be able to run it on powerpc Mac's.

[SC-UK]

Will be about £30 retail, so even cheaper for educational licences I would imagine. Will need to be purchased separately though as it is effectively a new operating system (although more a refinement of leopard in reality).

[Zoom7000]

Is there also a new server OS release too?

[john]

Is there also a new server OS release too?

Yup so it says:

Apple - Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard

[mac_shinobi]

Will be about £30 retail, so even cheaper for educational licences I would imagine. Will need to be purchased separately though as it is effectively a new operating system (although more a refinement of leopard in reality).

 

I thought it was about £80 or £90 unless you got a mac after a certain date in which case you can pay the upgrade fee, if not then its full whack

[tmcd35]

OS X typically retails at about £100 retail. How ever if you already own a copy of OS X 10.5 (Leopard) then you will be able to upgrade to 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for about £15 (announced during the last WWDC).

 

The move from 10.5 to 10.6 is analogous to the move from Windows Vista to Windows 7. As with Microsoft the free updates are service packs. Windows Vista is now up to SP2. OS X 10.5 is now up to 10.5.7 - as in the 7th service pack.

 

Some confusion comes from Apple version numbering system (although M$'s is none better). The '10' in '10.5.7' refers to the 'X' in the OS name, as in Apple OS 10. The '5' is the actual major version number 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 would be the equivalent of NT4, 2000, XP. Finally the '7' is the service pack number.

[mac_shinobi]

OS X typically retails at about £100 retail. How ever if you already own a copy of OS X 10.5 (Leopard) then you will be able to upgrade to 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for about £15 (announced during the last WWDC).

 

The move from 10.5 to 10.6 is analogous to the move from Windows Vista to Windows 7. As with Microsoft the free updates are service packs. Windows Vista is now up to SP2. OS X 10.5 is now up to 10.5.7 - as in the 7th service pack.

 

Some confusion comes from Apple version numbering system (although M$'s is none better). The '10' in '10.5.7' refers to the 'X' in the OS name, as in Apple OS 10. The '5' is the actual major version number 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 would be the equivalent of NT4, 2000, XP. Finally the '7' is the service pack number.

 

A bit out dated there

 

It's @ 10.5.8 now with safari @ 4.03 and a security update

[Guest Guest]

The '5' is the actual major version number 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 would be the equivalent of NT4, 2000, XP. Finally the '7' is the service pack number.

 

Not really no. Or else 10.1 would be the equivalent of Windows 98, and 10.6 would be Windows 7.Windows 98 is about as different from windows 7 as OSX is from OS9 (probably more so).

A more workable (but still far from perfect) way of looking at it is the .5 in 10.5 is similar to the SP in windows, since macs .5 release number adds minor features and fixes, just like a SP.

Edited August 15, 2009 by Guest

[SC-UK]

I thought it was about £80 or £90 unless you got a mac after a certain date in which case you can pay the upgrade fee, if not then its full whack

 

I don't think this is the case with Snow Leopard. It doesn't have many new features as such and is more a refinement of the background running features etc. Apple want everybody to migrate to it so they can start to take advantage of these features with development and such. I think they are deliberately pricing it very low for exactly this reason. I am more than willing to be corrected here though :-)

[mac_shinobi]

I don't think this is the case with Snow Leopard. It doesn't have many new features as such and is more a refinement of the background running features etc. Apple want everybody to migrate to it so they can start to take advantage of these features with development and such. I think they are deliberately pricing it very low for exactly this reason. I am more than willing to be corrected here though :-)

 

Apple - Mac OS X - Update your new Mac with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

 

Apple's Snow Leopard: A flurry of changes | Apple - CNET News

 

Not sure if it will be the same in the UK - first link states it has to be on or after June 8 2009 and I got mine with Leopard before then so does that mean I have to pay full whack even though I have Leopard with an Intel Mac Pro 2008 edition????

Edited August 15, 2009 by mac_shinobi

[SC-UK]

Apple - Mac OS X - Update your new Mac with Mac OS X Snow Leopard

 

Apple's Snow Leopard: A flurry of changes | Apple - CNET News

 

Not sure if it will be the same in the UK - first link states it has to be on or after June 8 2009 and I got mine with Leopard before then so does that mean I have to pay full whack even though I have Leopard with an Intel Mac Pro 2008 edition????

 

Yes and no.

 

There is no such thing as upgrade price as such. If you purchased a Mac after the cut off date, then you are able to get a copy of Snow Leopard provided that you pay the costs of postage, which Apple somehow make to be about £10 ish for a DVD.

 

The £30 (Very approximate there) that I mentioned earlier is the "full whack" price. Just so happens that the whack isnt a very big one this time as Snow Leopard is "evolutionary rather than revolutionary". Plus they are keeping it cheap to help make sure that everybody will upgrade and let the software developers really make the most of the new performance features (such as shifting extra proceessor work onto the GPU).

 

Tom

[mac_shinobi]

Yes and no.

 

There is no such thing as upgrade price as such. If you purchased a Mac after the cut off date, then you are able to get a copy of Snow Leopard provided that you pay the costs of postage, which Apple somehow make to be about £10 ish for a DVD.

 

The £30 (Very approximate there) that I mentioned earlier is the "full whack" price. Just so happens that the whack isnt a very big one this time as Snow Leopard is "evolutionary rather than revolutionary". Plus they are keeping it cheap to help make sure that everybody will upgrade and let the software developers really make the most of the new performance features (such as shifting extra proceessor work onto the GPU).

 

Tom

 

Im not arguing if thats the case considering the current climate and the fact I could do with the extra features ie multi core support ( grand central dispatch similiar to what nvidia did a while ago with kuda I think it was called or something of the likes )

[SC-UK]

Im not arguing if thats the case considering the current climate and the fact I could do with the extra features ie multi core support ( grand central dispatch similiar to what nvidia did a while ago with kuda I think it was called or something of the likes )

 

Exactly, I think they are doing the right thing. The technology for GPU processing is exactly the same as the NVidea system you mention, only now it will be a feature built into the core features of the operating system.

 

GPU processor integration is just one of the new features, but there isn't going to be a lot of noticeable new features from a users perspective.

 

I hope for your sake and for mine that I am right about all of this and am not just barking up the completely wrong tree!

[HodgeHi]

I think it's got a little confusing between you guys.

 

Its a little straight forward really.

 

Snow Leopard will be released in US for $29. How much that will translate to in £ is yet to be seen

 

If you purchase a mac after a certain date then it will be for cost of P & P.

Snow Leopard is said to be Intel only.

 

If you don't currently run Leopard you will have to purchase Snow leopard at full price.

 

You can also purchase a mac box set that updates iLife, iWork and Leopard to Snow leopard according to Amazon's pre-order page.

 

This is how i understand things.

[tmcd35]

Not really no. Or else 10.1 would be the equivalent of Windows 98, and 10.6 would be Windows 7.Windows 98 is about as different from windows 7 as OSX is from OS9 (probably more so).

A more workable (but still far from perfect) way of looking at it is the .5 in 10.5 is similar to the SP in windows, since macs .5 release number adds minor features and fixes, just like a SP.

 

I'm going to disagree. (hell why not )

 

Mac OS 1-9 was analogous to the Dos/Windows line upto and including ME.

 

Max OS X is like the NT line. Just because Apple choose to use 10.x rather than OS 11, 12 etc doesn't make them any less a valid major version. Also just because NeXTStep/OS X has pretty solid foundations or Apple choose not to play with the UI too much doesn't mean a lot of work is not going into each release.

 

The bug fixes/service packs are the free minor releases - 10.5.x.

 

Snow leapard is the 6th major version of OS 10 in the same way that Win 7 is the 6th major version of Windows NT.

 

What ever way you look at it Snow Leopard is not a free update. According to the WWDC keynote speech it'll be a cheaper upgrade product for existing Leopard owners. Everyone else pays full price.

[Zoom7000]

Snow Leopard will be released in US for $29. How much that will translate to in £ is yet to be seen

 

Yes, it is indeed very funny how the £ suddenly becomes the most powerful currency in the world when Apple bring their products over the pond. As was lately seen in the extortionate exchange rate calculation in relation to the iPhone 3GS.

Edited August 15, 2009 by Zoom7000