Your views on running older OS

[LynneB]

I bought my first Mac a couple of years ago from the Mac store, not having the slightest clue of what I was doing, someone dragged me in. Now I love my Mac. I have it set up EXACTLY like I like, but everyone is telling me to upgrade. It took me quite a while to get it working like this, is there any reason I SHOULD upgrade? That means all the prgs I have bought (esoteric, not office type) will be gone and I will have to buy new stuff.

I am running OS 10.4.11 and have had NO PROBLEMS with it for all this time. With my OTHER computer, I had to upgrade and change everything, I had no choice.

Pros and cons about upgrading? Thanx

 

[Ric]

Hi LynneB,

does it do what you want it to do ? does it do what you want it to do at a reasonable speed?

If it does, then why upgrade, spend the money on something different !

Personally I have to upgrade as the Applications I use get bigger...the files I use get bigger and normally after 2 years or so...everything seems to have slowed down, and I have no option to upgrade.

best wishes

Ric

 

[LynneB]

It absolutely does EVERYTHING I want it to do, and ugh, I have the RAM at the limit, which is very little, only 2 gigs. I have not gotten to the point where everything has slowed down...maybe I will CONSIDER buying a Lion when it comes out, and KEEPING this old workhorse as a backup. Its just taken SO LONG to get EXACTLY the right programs!

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Hello LynneB and welcome to mac-help

You have a really good point there ... it's taken a long time to get your mac set up exactly how you like ...

When I purchased my recent iMac, it came with OS 10.4.6 ... I loved and still love Tiger and when Leopard was released I didn't get on the band wagon. I read so many negative posts from people at various forums that there favourite apps were broken by Leopard but this is quite typical. Whenever a new OS is released, not every developer is up to speed with putting out a recent version of their software that will run the new Mac OS and really, even the Mac OS developers don't get it right first time. Usually it's not until Mac OS version 10.5.x is released that certain bug fixes are addressed.

It wasn't until Snow Leopard was released, and it wasn't straight away either, that I upgraded. The good part was you can upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard, leap-frogging Leopard altogether. That was sweet as was the cost ... a paltry $30 or so ... so I took the leap of faith hoping that some of the smaller 3rd Party apps I rely on would still work ... most did except for one I really can't live without (OpenMenuX) but thankfully the developer was on the case and I can still use the app ... phew!

Lion is pretty close to us now and it will also be very cheap to buy & who knows you MAY be able to skip 10.5/10.6 in the upgrade if you have an intel mac ...

You really have to do the research first and whatever you decide, don't rush in ... wait in the wings and just watch the reactions of those who suddenly find their world crashing around them because their most needed apps aren't quite up to date yet.

Lastly, don't let anyone tell you you should update. It's your decision and eventually even they will have to opt out of the race to have the latest and greatest ... even I will too if a future Mac OS requires hardware that I either don't have or can't afford to buy ... who knows?

Personally I'm happy I upgraded to Snow Leopard. I saved a stack of money, was able to immediately benefit from a much stabler OS than Leopard and honestly, I can't say that Lion is offering anything that captures my interest ...

See me in 2 or 3 years ... then I'll know all about Lion and maybe it's successors?

 

[LynneB]

You are EXACTLY on the same page as I am about upgrading, and you definitely have calmed my fears. HOWever (comma) I am definitely going to research Lion when it comes out, and consider purchasing a brand spanking new Mac just to keep on the tech edge. I will keep my old guy around just so I can slam bang do what I needs to do. I will slowly get the Lion working up to speed. I know that my ram is going to get cludgy one of these days...I just know it. But in retrospect, its nuttin like my old PC's were. When upgrades came for PC, it was do or die, no middle ground. I really REALLY love the Mac.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

You are EXACTLY on the same page as I am about upgrading, and you definitely have calmed my fears. HOWever (comma) I am definitely going to research Lion when it comes out, and consider purchasing a brand spanking new Mac just to keep on the tech edge. I will keep my old guy around just so I can slam bang do what I needs to do. I will slowly get the Lion working up to speed. I know that my ram is going to get cludgy one of these days...I just know it. But in retrospect, its nuttin like my old PC's were. When upgrades came for PC, it was do or die, no middle ground. I really REALLY love the Mac.

It sounds like you pretty much know what you want to do ... that's half the battle.

From what I've seen/read of Lion, it looks a lot like what the iPad has to offer. I just don't know about the full-screen this and the full-screen that ... I rarely go full screen but curiosity and the cheap retail price might get the better of me, who knows

One thing I'm not lovin' is the deal where you seemingly can only buy Lion from the Apps store which was a free download back a few months and it's icon is usually found in the Dock ... I can't say whether or not you would have it as I don't know if it's a Tiger thing too ... but what I wanted to say was that I don't want to just buy it online, I want the packaging and the disc too .. that's half the fun ... my son would just comment "Get with the times, dad!"

Whichever large scale apps you rely on, just check the internet about whether they will be upgraded in time for the new Mac OS or if there will be a gap period ...