What would I gain from skipping Leopard and waiting for Snow Leopard?

I wouldn’t bother with Leopard. I don’t think I have gotten anything out of the upgrade. I don’t use Time Machine or Spaces. I would put the 129$ towards a new machine.

Actually, you need more RAM. You can Max the RAM out for less than Leopard and it will feel like you just got a brand new computer. Then you can get a new computer when Snow Leopard comes out. That is what I would do.

I agree with jp. (I’m running Tiger myself.) The difference between Leopard and Snow Leopard is 95% under the hood from what I understand. Basically Snow Leopard is optimized for newer machines that run multi-core CPUs. You are running on a single core CPU, so no real benefit.

As long as you’re happy with your machine there’s no need to replace. When you want something new (such as the benefit of the all-in-one design) or when the PowerPC chip is no longer supported and you need to upgrade software, that would be the time to replace.

the guy at the apple store (btw i’ll add that i’m not a mac person, the only mac products i have ever owned are ipods), but the guy at the apple store brought up a very good quote to bring up on questions like this:

Wait now and you’ll be waiting forever. That is, waiting for the next greatest thing, and the prices aren’t really going to change unless you upgrade to something that was new a few years ago.

If it appeals to you and has stuff that you’re willing to pay for, go for it, otherwise.. no need.

uhm, guys, isn’t snow leopard supposed to be intel only, and doesn’t gail have a powerpc ?

so yeah, kevbo was on the right track, the powerpc chip is no longer supported, therefor they can shrink the native apps like mail and such (no longer universal binary)

all in all, good call

That is part of why I said to wait until Snow Leopard to buy a new machine. I would just get more RAM until Snow Leopard comes installed on a new machine. 384 sounds painful with 10.4.11. I damn near tore my hair out with 512.

Use the money it would cost to invest in high speed Internet access for three months and see if your experience changes for the better. : )

Oh, and Leopard requires 866MHz CPU or faster. So, unless you want to jump thru some hoops, I wouldn’t recommend it for you, @gail, in any case.

Forgot to say; I installed DSL (with a little help from a friend) just in time to see Avery Bulbet.

When I upgrade, I will buy the whole shebang; this iMac is one generation removed from the new one and is stuffed with all it can hold.

The 384 RAM is just fine for what I do, which – much of the time – seems mostly hang out here. I will save these answers and check out the words I don’t understand when it is cooler.

There is a huge amount of stuff (do you officially called them “apps”?) that I have no interest in.

However, as I told Rob, while hitting keys at random, I got the damned thing to talk to me. It took a good while to remove the voice of Hal jr., let me tell you.

Thank you, jp, ptb, rob, iwamoto, kev and exc.

I upgraded my Macbook from Tiger to Leopard, and I’m glad I did. I enjoy the little asthetic details, and a number of the applications I use day to day had Leopard-only upgrades. I would do it again, but as far as functionality is concerned, I don’t know of any major difference between the two systems. If you don’t have any particular reason to upgrade, I’d hold off.

I really enjoy the Leopard upgrade. I appreciate the spaces when working in Ill, after effects and final cut. . i just like all the features. I am curious about snow leopard. I had not heard of it.