Should I upgrade to Snow Leopard from Leopard on Early 2009 Mini?

Just got an Early 2009 Mini on eBay.  Here's the specs:
2 Ghz Core 2 Duo Intel CPU, 120 Gb Hard drive, 4 GB RAM and a Super Drive optical drive
Wondered if it should be upgraded to SL or not.  How does Snow Leopard compare to Leopard?  Also, I've noticed on eBay that there's Full Retail versions of Snow Leopard available for sale.  I've only seen upgrade versions, not full.  Is this true? 
Thanks.
silverado93

I've got a 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo (2nd Gen) and had OS Tiger originally on it.  I've sinced went to Leopard and then Snow Leopard through the OS releases.  I found that since my original HD was only 80 Gb (it died on me last year and now have a 500 Gb) that the stream lined snow leopard was a great benefit as it made every program on the computer (Ilife, etc) smaller in size.  The only downside for me was that the USB webcam i had was not supported by with snow leopard and stopped working.  The Ecamm company who sells a usb driver online for usb based cams to work with macs do not support snow leopard OS and will not make a driver for it.  So I've gone back to Leopard for the time being.
On another note, with the older mini that i have, when i bought Ilife 11 and installed it, i found that the new iphoto program was very slow and lagged so much, that it was bothersome in comparison to the previous iphoto in ilife 10 which never had an issue.  It was not worth the upgrade for this machine and i have gone back to ilife 10 as a result. 
And since my machine is older, my internal speaker has recently died, preventing me from using external speakers.  So just a note, that these items may fail, but are replaceable.

Similar Messages

  • Prohibitory icon after upgrading to snow leopoard from leopard

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    Is there a reason why the problem is not consistent?  Could this give me a clue as to where to look?
    Any help would be appreciated,  Thanks.
    Martin

    martinJK wrote:
     There are several user accounts on the Macs.  One is an admin account.  Should I name the account set up in the fresh install process after the Admin account and then migrate the other accounts to the Mac with the fresh install?
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    User 3
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    When your ready to set up Snow keep this in mind.
    Within the iTunesLibrary file there are pathnames to where the music is located.
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    How do I upgrade to snow leopard from leopard if I don't have the Mac App Store?

    It has never been on the MAS. It's never been a download anywhere (except, maybe, as a pirated version on a torrent, which, along with being "free," will probably bring along some nice malware.)  It has always been a DVD, which may be possible to obtain by calling Apple and asking for Phone Sales. Should stlll only be $29.

  • Hi, I am interested in upgrading to snow leopard but I've heard in some cases it messed up peoples computers. Is there any advantages in upgrading to Snow Leopard from Leopard? Thank you in advance for the advice!

    Hi, I am interested in upgrading to snow leopard but I've heard in some cases it messed up peoples computers. Is there any advantages in upgrading to Snow Leopard from Leopard? Thank you in advance for the advice points will be given to multiple users. Here are my computer specs (Leopard 10.5.8.)
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      Model Identifier:    iMac7,1
      Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
      Processor Speed:    2 GHz
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      Total Number Of Cores:    2
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      Bus Speed:    800 MHz

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    Boot from your current OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally. 
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      Core Image:          Hardware Accelerated
      Main Display:          Yes
      Mirror:          Off
      Online:          Yes
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