Buying first mac - buy now or wait for Leopard
I'm interested in swapping to a mac, about made up my mind 100%. I'm looking at the $1099 mac book. It will be for general home use, nothing too special. My main concern/interest now is do I purchase now, or wait towards the end of the year for leopard to be out and used some? Any input would be great, I have zero mac experience. $wise I can see waiting, but I don't know how wise jumping onto a new platform w/ a new release of an OS would be. . .
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I'm interested in swapping to a mac, about made up my mind 100%. I'm looking at the $1099 mac book. It will be for general home use, nothing too special. My main concern/interest now is do I purchase now, or wait towards the end of the year for leopard to be out and used some? Any input would be great, I have zero mac experience. $wise I can see waiting, but I don't know how wise jumping onto a new platform w/ a new release of an OS would be. . .
You'll be jumping onto a new platform with a new (to you) OS either way. If you mean that they BOTH may be flaky, that doesn't happen as much as in PC's. Jobs postponed the Leopard debut, so it would be stable. My suggestion is to wait. It's only a couple of months. However, BUY the AppleCare package. If there's a problem within the first three years (I think), you'd be covered.
Learning Tiger now and then Leopard in a couple months might be awkward. I don't know how close in features they are because I skipped Tiger. I switched to Macs after 20 some years with PC's. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. You're making a wise choice switching. My PC's were tools. I love Macs. I groan when I use PC's at work. I have 2 PC's at home gathering dust. I never turn them on. The word that comes to mind about PC's is "klunky". Macs just work.
You'll probably get replies telling you buy now and some telling you to wait. You'll have to take it all in and then make your own choice.
I guess there could be some troubles in upgrading to Leopard from Tiger but IIRC, that's not really ever been an issue with Apple and OSX.
My 2 cents.
Get onto Tiger stable, get onto iLife '08. It'll be sweet. Actually the jump from Windows XP or Vista to Tiger is much less than Windows to Leopard. Leopard is years, many years, ahead of the rubbish that is Vista.
FWIW, Buy now. Tiger is good and stable. A real pleasure to work with. Leopard may (there are rumors floating about) be delayed or a little buggy on it's release. It doesn't appear that Leopard will be dramatically different from Tiger so once your comfortable with Tiger you should easily pick up leopard. And finally Leopard will only be $129. Not and insignificant amount of money but not like Vista Ultimate.
I guess there could be some troubles in upgrading to Leopard from Tiger but IIRC, that's not really ever been an issue with Apple and OSX.
My 2 cents.
I was asking myself this same question, buy now or wait a few months for Leopard. And basically what backtomac stated was the reason I chose to buy now. I am new to Mac's but I know often times when programs launch, they require a bit of time to mature. Tiger seems solid, so I decided to make the purchase now. That and I also was able to take advantage of the free ipod offer.
I was asking myself this same question, buy now or wait a few months for Leopard. And basically what backtomac stated was the reason I chose to buy now. I am new to Mac's but I know often times when programs launch, they require a bit of time to mature. Tiger seems solid, so I decided to make the purchase now. That and I also was able to take advantage of the free ipod offer.
Yeah, wish I was a student. I have a 30 GB ipod, but hey an extra never hurt
I was asking myself this same question, buy now or wait a few months for Leopard. And basically what backtomac stated was the reason I chose to buy now. I am new to Mac's but I know often times when programs launch, they require a bit of time to mature. Tiger seems solid, so I decided to make the purchase now. That and I also was able to take advantage of the free ipod offer.
Yes, but how many iterations of Tiger have there been to make it solid? Won't the same thing hold true with Leopard?
Yes, but how many iterations of Tiger have there been to make it solid? Won't the same thing hold true with Leopard?
That's a question I'm curious about. My thoughts on buying now mainly stem from wanting my transition to be as smooth as possible. I won't want to put $1200 in to a computer I end up not liking b/c of a rough OS launch.
That's a question I'm curious about. My thoughts on buying now mainly stem from wanting my transition to be as smooth as possible. I won't want to put $1200 in to a computer I end up not liking b/c of a rough OS launch.
I didn't mean to scare you off. As long as Apple continues to make updates, and they usually are timely, when needed, I don't see anything to worry about.
I didn't mean to scare you off. As long as Apple continues to make updates, and they usually are timely, when needed, I don't see anything to worry about.
I'm not scared off, no worries. I'm vested in going mac. I'm stumped on the timing, that I admit.
If you can wait then you'll be saving on Leopard ofcourse, and there might even be an upgrade to the macbook by the time leopard comes out. As with all these kind of things, I'm sure you want to slurge out on one now (especially when you're switching from windows to mac), just remember the potential savings if you wait.
Unluckily for me I ordered my Macbook before the new iLife was announced...woe is me
So maybe I'm just being overly cautious. Also bear in mind the first iteration of Leopard may not be as stable as Tiger which is on it's 10th revision. Good luck and whatever you decide, you'll not regret it!
Buy now if you need to use it straight away, and wait if you can bear to is the general consensus.
If you can wait then you'll be saving on Leopard ofcourse, and there might even be an upgrade to the macbook by the time leopard comes out. As with all these kind of things, I'm sure you want to slurge out on one now (especially when you're switching from windows to mac), just remember the potential savings if you wait.
Unluckily for me I ordered my Macbook before the new iLife was announced...woe is me
So maybe I'm just being overly cautious. Also bear in mind the first iteration of Leopard may not be as stable as Tiger which is on it's 10th revision. Good luck and whatever you decide, you'll not regret it!
Didn't I see somewhere where you can upgrade ilife for something absurdly cheap like $10. I think my stance right now is if a good deal/package/financing becomes available in the near future, I'll consider getting it before leopard, if not, I'll just wait until leopard or the itch to get out of the pc world becomes too much.
Yes, but how many iterations of Tiger have there been to make it solid? Won't the same thing hold true with Leopard?
My point exactly. Why deal with the initial growing pains often associated with new launch software when you can have a proven OS until Leopard matures?