I need a mac, but I dont know if I should wait for the new OS X 'leopard'

Question

I dont have a mac yet, but I was looking at the new OS and the Time machine feature really caught my attention. Being a design student this could be the feature ive been waiting for. I just dont know I f I should wait for 'leopard' to be released or not. I really nee the computer now, but I dont want to pay extra to upgrade to 'leopard' later on. The web-site doesnt specify when It will be released, I was wondering If anyone knew If its a couple of weeks or months?
This would help me make an easier decision.
If anyone could give me some insight, that would be great.
thanks.
hp pavillion a250n   Windows XP  

Answer 1

iMacs that shipped with
Tiger still boot Jaguar
Bollocks! While they'll boot specifically compiled
versions of Darwin they will not boot Jaguar from a
boxed retail version or any version of Jaguar that
came with a Mac.
the iMac G5 will simply not boot any version of
Jaguar that came from Apple retail.
Bollocks! is right , you're absolutely wrong. My iMac which came with Tiger still boots retail Panther quire easily.
The tiger I was referring to, on my MBP is the Darwin 10.3 version recompllied to suport Intel. Yes i agrre that a newer Intel based system won't boot an older PPC based DVD, I should hope not. But thats because of PPC vs Intel NOT some supposed policy from Mac
I'm not sure where you get anything to support your statements since from the time That Intel based macs shipped with Panther there was no retail version of Tiger available for Intel, since then there has been no release of a new OS X so where are you even geting your so called "facts" from? Prior to that we were talking about PPC based Macs which most definitely ran prior version, in fact my old Powerbook which shipped with Tiger runs Jaguar and 10.2 and 10.1 as well.
While not officially noted, not that I'm aware of at
least, this has been Apple policy for quite some
time. While sure, you can get a Mac to use many
things it wasn't "meant" to although that doesn't
mean one should.
That's just plain wrong on so many levels..
So where are your use cases to support your made up policy?
{i] If you look back at each successive Mac OS X upgrade
from Jaguar and look at the systems that spanned the
release of the newer OS. In each case, even though
the hardware was exactly the same, those systems that
shipped with the newer OS failed to boot and install
from the discs of the exact same system that had the
older version OS. Yes there were a few that did
although once Apple manufacturing caught up with
itself, which was normally a week or two, they
didn't.{/i]
Just wrong again, Yes maybe if the hardware has changed to support some new device in the new Mac. The only way that would be true as if you factored in the change from PPC to x86 architecture. I have several machines which run retail versions of OSx back to 10.2, some even 10.1 on boxes that shpiped with Jaguar or even Tiger. And there are no firmware blocks that limit that. That is what you claim
Give us some examples of this "supposedly unstated policy" you seem to think is in effect.
INo… because you're not correct through simply not
referring to Apple retail versions of Mac OS X and
moreso, the implications of such advice infers that
one has full support for older OSs where they do
not
Bottom line… if you want a system that runs Mac OS X
Tiger then buy one that comes with it..
First of all I never said that one has full suport for all old versions of OSX. I said there is NO policy in Firmware that prohibits newer OSX based machines from running older versions of OSX. But I think you're just basically overlooking the fact that in the cases you cite there were probably actual hardware progressions that made older retail version not see newer hardware. It wasn't some mysterious Firmware blocking as you claim. It was pure hardware progression.
By the way, what if someone follows your advice,
waits for Leopard and finds they need Tiger and can't
install it? What are you going to do beyond shrug you
shoulders and say "not your problem"?
Uhhh, if you read my post, I never said to do what you seem to think I said. I merely asked YOU to cite an example of this "policy" and firmware blocking, which you haven't done yet BTW, cause I think you're wrong and I don't think its a policy to block, as you suggest, in firmware, a previous OS version for every new hadware version shipped with a new software version.
When Leopard ships on a C2D MBP you will not have to worry about that MBP not running retail Tiger. It certainly won't have some mysterious firmware block on booting Tiger after some mysterious two week period as you claim. Now if there is a NEWER revision with newer hardware that ships with Leopard there may be an issue with a currently available version of Tiger because it doesn't support the new hardware. It won't be , as you claim, some unstated policy manifested in firmware that prevents Tiger from installing.
So lets just end this here and now cause its a waste of people's time and my posts weren't claiming that if you need tiger don't buy a machine with Leopard on it, as you seem to think I was saying. What I said and stand by is this. There is no unwritten or written policy that has Apple blocking previous versions of its OS X in new hardware shipped with new software via firmware. Unless tha actual hardware contains devices that the prior version of OSX was unaware of. That's all I was pointing out. Somehow you stretched this into something completely different.