OK, you Mac people out there are going to laugh your asses off at me, because I have some true ignorance that needs fighting.
My Mac is currently running Snow Leopard 10.5.something. I need to be using at least 10.6.2.
To get there, I first need to make the great leap forward to 10.6. But there’s nowhere to download that.
Should I be thinking of this more as an upgrade from Windows XP to Vista or 7? And do I really need to buy this on CD or something?
Snow Leopard is 10.6, so you’re running plain ol’ Leopard at 10.5. Yes, Snow Leopard is a paid upgrade, so you have to go buy the disc. It’s not terribly expensive – $29.
Here’s a link to it in the online Apple store, but you should be able to find it in any store that carries Mac software.
Once you install it, to get to 10.6.2., just use the Software Update in your System Preferences to download and install it.
ETA: It’s not quite in the same league as XP –> Windows 7, which is why it’s relatively cheap. It’s big enough to be a paid upgrade, but it’s not an overhaul. Most of the improvements are actually behind the scenes. But, especially once you upgrade to 10.6.2, it really does run a lot faster and smoother, in my experience.
Thanks! Turns out I have a gift certificate for the Apple store, so now I know how I’m going to use it. 
Mods, this is asked and answered, so feel free to close this thread.
Let’s go ahead and leave it open in case anyone else has related Snow Leopard comments and/or questions.
10.6.4 update was just released, so make sure you run Software Update (with a fast Internet connection), once you install SL.
FWIW, 10.6.4 was just released. Software Update will likely let you know it’s there once you install Snow Leopard anyway.
The changes in Snow Leopard are so minor that you most likely won’t notice (except a few things, like speeded up shutdown). There are one or two missing features that might possibly annoy someone switching from an older version of OS X.
The major one is this : The Creator codes for a file are now ignored when opening a file. What this means is that when you double-click a file to open it, only the file type, or possibly the name extension (.txt, for example) are used to determine what application to open it with. As an example - if you take a JPEG image, open it in Photoshop, make some edits and save it as ‘edited_pic.jpg’, it still opens with Preview, not Photoshop (which is what happened before). On the other hand, if you’ve got some .html document you were working on in an editor, it will now open in your browser, no matter which editor you used. You can still change this manually for each individual file, or use the context menu’s ‘open-with’, or drag & drop to the app, but there is no fix that covers all files of a particular type.
I should add, some people consider this change a plus. (I’m all for that, but the lack of any alternative is grating).
Sure there is. Open up Get Info on one of the files in question. Click the “Open With” triangle. Select the application you want to open up that file type from the popup select. Then click the “Change All…” button.
That is true. Although I stated it poorly. There’s no way to go back to the old behavior, where a different set of files can be opened with different applications, except by changing each one individually. My .html example, for instance - you either open all .html files with your browser, or with your editor.
How could that possibly be considered a plus? Assigning file types/extensions to specific apps is a fundamental capability that everyone has grown to expect in an operating system.
I think there might be some confusion (or, maybe I’m confused). You DO assign file type/extensions to specific apps, same as always. panamajack doesn’t like that you can no longer, for example, get certain photos to open up with Photoshop, while other photos to open up with Preview, on a double-click. I can understand how that might be a little annoying to lose that ability if you got used to it, but honestly, I never even noticed the change.
I wouldn’t notice the change. I drag files to the application icon at the bottom of the desktop to open them. As far as html, I do that on my PC in Scintilla Text Editor anyway. It’s in general a good system for me - one computer for writing html, actionscript, etc; the other right next to it for testing the web page, flash application, etc.
The one thing you will notice with Snow Leopard is that the installation will recover a lot of hard disk space.
Make sure you have an Intel-based processor [MacBook, MacBook Pro, or other Intel-based Macs] not a PowerPC. Snow Leopard won’t install on those earlier machines, like G4s.
Check “About this Mac” for your processor.
Some of this may be an illusion, as 10.5 uses binary GB and 10.6 uses decimal. So you appear to have more space, as the units are smaller.
It’s a much bigger change than most users realize, although I agree you literally won’t even notice most of it. But for the record, it’s priced cheaply because it’s not a feature rich update, not because it’s minor.
You’re right that it’s not comparable to an 8 year gap skipping over a major version (vista), but it was a big overhaul. I know several Mac developers who say more was changed from Leopard to Snow Leopard than Tiger to Leopard and all the Mac developers I know say it was a bigger than users realize.
Okay, here’s my upgrading to Snow Leopard question: I am currently using Tiger and never upgraded to Leopard. I’d like to upgrade to Snow Leopard, but I’d probably have to get the Snow Leopard Combo pack that costs around $169 or so and has iLife and iWork with it. Now, here’s the reason I have not upgraded yet: Would I have to upgrade to the new iMovie and lose my iMovie HD program? I don’t like the new format and layout. If I could have both the new iMovie 09 and my old iMovie HD, I would upgrade, but if means no longer having iMovie HD, I’ll continue to use Tiger.
iMovie '09 and iMovie HD happily co-exist. The installer gives you the option to keep iMovie HD when you install '09.
iMovie '09 has some very cool features - you might really be surprised at how good it is.
Thanks Beowulff, I think it’s time to take of the training wheels though. I’ve been trying to get used to Final Cut Express HD and forcing myself to use that instead of iMovie altogether. So, I guess it may be moot in the end whether I use iMovie HD or 09.
I use Final Cut Studio. For most things, it’s WAY overkill. In fact, iMovie is probably a better choice for quick-turn projects, because you can just dump clips into a project and create a finished movie in a few clicks. Using FC is like learning to fly a 747 so you can go get groceries…
If you are serious about home video editing and can afford it, Final Cut Express is extremely good and is a total bargain - the full Final Cut Pro isn’t that much better, but is obviously heavily tuned towards professional users much like the differences between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. FCE is a lovely little app though.
If you really don’t want the extras (iLife and iWork) in the box set you can always look for a new copy of 10.5 online - a few places still sell them, including Amazon, and then the $29 copy of 10.6 and you will probably still come out cheaper than the box set, and you’ll be fully inside the licence terms for the 10.6 disc (which is technically an upgrade licence for 10.5).