Some Concerns Before Snow Leopard Upgrade

Question

Hey. I have a white MacBook 2.2 GHz2.2, 4 GB RAM and I wanted to get any input from others with this model about any issues with the OS X 10.6. My main concerns before installation are running Photoshop CS4 and the Intel GMA X3100 performance, my external FireWire LaCie HD, my Tascam FireOne Audio Interface, HP Laserjet 1300 printer, external DELL monitor and a number of other potential glitches.
Now I realize it would be a coincidence if anyone had this exact configuration, but if anyone had problems with the software or hardware, could you let us know.
I also realize that Apple will be doing the standard OSX updates as the weeks move on to correct driver, peripherals, and 3rd party software fixes.
So should I wait, or go ahead and risk the Snow Leopard. Right now, I'll knock on wood, my MacBook and software and hardware are working together flawlessly, so I want to keep it way if possible.
Thanks Steve

Answer 1

Hey Jason and responders. I installed the OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard yesterday evening and my friend picked up the last copy at out local Apple Store. The man at the desk said customers were coming in "droves" to pick up the DVD kit. He put in another order to get a case next week/ Ok, the results of the install.
First things first. I put in my latest Netflix DVD, Gia 1998 starring that living doll Angelina Jolie playing the first Vogue/Cosmo supermodel in the early 80's who was rumored the first female to die of AIDS from shooting heroin. Had to bedistracted as the install took about 40 minutes.
I spent 2 hours on backing up important files as was recommended here and the Apple Store Genius, on my external LaCie FireWire HD just in case things didn't work out. Admit, I'm a bit lax on doing backups everyday. I did a custom install that cut down the HD space such as dumped all the foreign languages, extra fonts, QT 7 and one of the printer driver check boxes. I think that got me down to about GBs.
What is interesting about the Snow Leopard installation is you just push in the DVD to mount on the desktop rather than restarting and holding the "C" key. So after the software loaded, it flashed an estimated time as 1 hour and 20 minutes!! What, no way, but then the estimated install time kept dropping to less than an hour. The meter started running, so I set my cell phone stop watch to monitor the time for installation.
So after about 40 minutes, the MacBook restarted automatically and the system was installed. I then checked HD partition 1 and noticed after the install, I had added about 7 GB of space to the HD and that was a real bonus to upgrade. Then I started opening all the Apple apps, iTunes, iMovie, etc. All was ok. The new QuickTime was a totally redesigned, a new look altogether. but it worked fine. If you already have QT 7 Pro, you have to be sure and click the QT7 box or the new QT will overwrite it.
Next I clicked some 3rd party apps and a box popped up and asked if I wanted to install Rosetta which I was not familiar with, but I checked the box and it does online and automatically opens those apps. One example was Photoshop CS2, it has to have Rosetta to open it. I tried to open Toast 6 Lite that I prefer to burn CD's and that won't work open anymore after the upgrade.
Next I opened Photoshop CS4 and Bridge CS4 ver3. and some large images and I can report that Photoshop and Bridge are much faster. I had some Open GL issues before, especially with compatibility with the older
Intel GMA X3100: graphics card. Before I had to disable Open GL in PS preferences, but now with Snow Leopard PS CS4 works perfectly with Open GL enabled and the pen tool is back to normal. In fact before the upgrade, I was using the PenTool in CS2 to do all selections because it worked fine. But I wanted to use the new Open GL functions such as the new Rotate function, the smooth zoom and the Hand tool function. The only thing that was problematic in CS4 before Snow Leopard was the Pen Tool and Lasso. Now all is well I hope.
Online function is fine with our AT&T DSL and Mail had to be updated. My DELL monitor works fine as usual and my LaCie FireWire HD mounts instantly and reads and writes fine. I am a pro keyboard player and have not tested the MacBook with the Tascam FireOne or the M-Audio UNO MIDI cable, but GarageBand works fine. Also, I haven't hooked the USB cable in our HP LaserJet 1300, so I'll be testing those this afternoon. I'm hoping those functions will work. My Wacom CTE-440 tablet works fine with the latest driver.
I then ran the Monolingual App and dumped 412 MB of foreign languages and that got back some HD space. I dumped foreign language and duplicate fonts in FontBook and closed the ones I don't need or use to help a faster start up.
For me, just to get the performance and Open GL functions to work OK in PS CS4 was worth the $29 Snow Leopard kit. I have not had time to check out my USB CF card reader yet, but I'm sure it will mount ok.
So far, so good and I will update my experience after further tests for analysis.
Steve