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Getting ready for the next Big Cat

by Nik Fletcher Oct 1st 2007 at 9:00AM

Happy 1st October, TUAW readers! Whilst not a particularly notable date (unless you're my brother, in which case Happy Birthday!) it does in fact signal the countdown to the next release of Mac OS X: 10.5 Leopard - due at some stage in the next 31 days. If you've been living away from Apple civilization for the last 18 months, you'll want to head over to Apple's Leopard features pages, and check out what we can look forward to with the release. But what can we do in the interim, whilst we sit and wait for Steve to announce a launch date? Here's four things to bear in mind to whet the appetite (and potentially empty the wallet) in advance of the Leopard launch.

  1. Backup. Backup. Backup. Whilst you may think that I'm talking about Time Machine, I am in fact talking of a general backup plan - when installing a new OS, I always ensure I've got a couple of working backups of my OS, regardless of whether I'm doing an Upgrade, Clean Install or Archive and Install (and on top of my existing Backups) just to make sure. Paranoia? Most certainly not - my Windows-using past taught me the hard way just important backups are. Oh, and talking of which option to take, I err on the side of a Clean Install - that way, your Applications folder gets a handy clean out (along with Application Support files) - and with a backup at hand (and all serial numbers duly noted) there's nothing stopping you getting going again.
  2. Check the Sys Specs. According to AppleInsider / Wikipedia, you'll need:
    • A PowerPC G4 (867Mhz or faster), G5 or Intel Processor
    • 512MB RAM (additional recommended)
    • DVD drive
    • Built-in FireWire
    • 9GB Hard drive space
    • Built-in display or an Apple-supplied Graphics Card
    Looking down the specifications, you'll want as much RAM as you can afford - that's hardly a surprise, or unusual in this day and age, but still worth pointing out. If you don't match the specs, and really want Leopard, you'll either want to upgrade certain aspects of your system or buy a new system.
  3. Get yourself another External Hard-drive. Whilst I have no knowledge of how Time Machine works, if you want to be able to take full advantage of the backup and easy restoring features, you'll almost certainly want to grab yourself a large (and perhaps just as importantly FAST) hard-drive. I'm using an assortment of FireWire 400 & 800 drives for backups, but if you're wanting the latest and fastest it might be best investigating eSATA drives (which can be added to MacBookPros via a $119US ExpressCard) or go the whole hog and indulge yourself with a Drobo.
  4. Smile! You're on camera. With Leopard integrating Photo Booth into the general OS instead of shipping with iSight-enabled Macs, you can pick up a fairly cheap USB camera, lose hours of productivity making amusing photos but at least then be able to explain to the boss why you're not in yet via the joys of a video chat. Or go one better and present the accounts via iChat.


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Happy 1st October, TUAW readers! Whilst not a particularly notable date (unless you're my brother, in which case Happy Birthday!) it does...
 

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Stephen

Can one install Leopard on an external Firewire drive and boot up from the drive while retaining the boot up from Tiger on the internal drive.

btw, my rig: MDD dual 1.25 G4.

October 08 2007 at 5:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nik Fletcher

Ken et al,

Thanks for the comments. As a British writer, I am of course going to use my native language for posts.

October 06 2007 at 9:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ken Cohen

"Whilst", "amongst" etc is British English usage. Canadians don't share this but do share spellings such as "colour", "labour" etc. US English isn't the only version, and amazingly enough, it's not the original either.

October 06 2007 at 9:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
yves

does really nobody know what all these super secret features are that steve was bragging about? did they just vanish?

October 06 2007 at 9:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ERock

"41. "6. what's with "whilst", it's so damn annoying trying to read your comments

Posted at 10:04AM on Oct 1st 2007 by Tu"

'Whilst' is a perfectly cromulent word.

Posted at 12:08AM on Oct 5th 2007 by Chris Tucker"

Agreed. It embiggens my spirit every time I see it used.

October 06 2007 at 9:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris Tucker

"6. what's with "whilst", it's so damn annoying trying to read your comments

Posted at 10:04AM on Oct 1st 2007 by Tu"

'Whilst' is a perfectly cromulent word.

October 05 2007 at 12:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

Apple stores have no information about free Leopard upgrades for new buyers. When I asked the store manager for a recommendation he told me to wait for the Leopard release and then buy my iMac. Looks like they don't have a plan.

October 03 2007 at 12:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shahryar

@Luigi193

I thought time machine would work by only copying files and folders that have been updated. There's no point in making multiple back up copies of something that hasn't changed, right? So I thought that's what "Time Machine" concept was all about - the ability to go back in time to a setup state of your files and folders.

That's why I thought Time Machine was going to be a little bit more on the innovative side. Otherwise, what's the difference between Time Machine and any other ordinary backup software?

- - -

Anyways, I can't wait to grab a new macbook pro w/ Leopard this month for my wife. I'm planning on getting the lowest build and upgrading accordingly. That's what I did with my last MacBook pro purchase in March, the 15" 2.16ghz MacBook Pro w/ 1 gig RAM -> upgraded to 3gb RAM.

Hmm.. I wonder if those Leopard containing backup discs for the new MacBook Pro are going to be compatible w/ the 15" 2.16ghz I currently have ;-)

October 03 2007 at 10:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Darren Brooks

All set to get an external HDD 1Tb but no word on a realease date as yet. Does anybody have any idea?

October 03 2007 at 5:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Firas

drakhul: Ross was probably referring to this article regarding the possibility of Adobe CS3 not working with Leopard.

http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/18/analysis-adobe-cs3-may-not-work-with-leopard/

October 02 2007 at 4:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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