OS X upgrade question

March 17, 2005 8:09 AM

I'm thinking about buying my first Mac, an iBook G4, 12". If I buy it today, with OS X "Panther", will I have to pay to upgrade to "Tiger" next month?

I called the local Apple Store and they couldn't tell me. Maybe someone hear could make a prediction based on past experience. What is Apple's history with things like this? Tiger looks like it has some neat bells and whistles but I need to order this thing soon.

posted by bondcliff to computers & internet (23 comments total)

New macs come with coupons for os upgrades lately...i got one with my emac last year. Maybe ask about that?

I wouldn't wait--it's not as big a jump as 9 to 10 was.
posted by amberglow at 8:14 AM on March 17, 2005

bondcliff-
I have a 12" powerbook, I love it and I thought it would be super cool to have such a small computer. I wish I had a bigger screen, though. Think about moving up one size. It's much easier to work with multiple windows on a slightly bigger screen.
posted by OmieWise at 8:18 AM on March 17, 2005

I don't think there's an official position on this, but I can tell you I bought my G5 about three months before Panther came out, and I qualified for the free upgrade (well, actually they charged $20 to mail me the disks and manual).

I can't say for sure, but I'd be confident that if you bought a Mac today you wouldn't have to pay much for Tiger.
posted by robinw at 8:21 AM on March 17, 2005

My experience with Apple is that you'll have to pay. Maybe there will be a discount for recent purchases, but don't expect a full rebate. Apple's spend a lot of money on Tiger, and I imagine they'll want to recoup all they can, especially with their hardware profit margins declining quarter after quarter.

I would wait--it's not as big a jump from 9 to 10 was, but it is a major jump. Way bigger than from Jaguar to Panther. Tiger not only has some nifty bells and whistles, it's going to feature major upgrades for Mail and Safari, which are core applications most users encounter on a daily, if not hourly basis. And Mail, at least, is in desperate need of that renovation.

On preview: OmieWise, moving up to the 14" iBook wouldn't give bondcliff space for more open windows: both displays are 1024x768.
posted by jbrjake at 8:23 AM on March 17, 2005

I'd wait. I feel more and more like I bought by Powerbook at a bad time, since they just recently came out with the neater ones with the accelerometer, the trackpad scrolling, and whatever other little things I missed out on, not to mention Tiger's coming out soon, oh and that rumor that a 2-button wireless optical bluetooth mouse is coming out soon, almost immediately after I ordered mine. Eh. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

In your case, though, you know what's coming, so you might as well wait it out if you aren't pressed for time.
posted by odinsdream at 8:28 AM on March 17, 2005

Eventually 3rd-party programs will start to require Tiger. We've got a machine still running Jaguar at work and we have usually have to download older versions of software to work with it, as the latest ones were built with Panther in mind.
posted by zsazsa at 8:29 AM on March 17, 2005

If past experience is any indication, free upgrades would be available to anyone who bought a Mac (or Panther) between the day on which the release date is announced and the release date itself. (So, for example, if Apple announces on April 15 that Tiger will be available on May 15, any purchases between those dates.) There were some exceptions for pro machines the last time; I think it was backdated for the new G5 systems and possibly for some PowerBooks. Can't remember exactly.

Now. All we have is the word of the rumour sites that Tiger is coming next month. It may not be. Buying a Mac now might make you think you're entitled to Tiger if it comes out next month, but it might not be out till May or June. Are you prepared to wait until then? I suspect that even Apple is not sure about the exact release date.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:40 AM on March 17, 2005

The rule in the past has been: If you buy before the official announcement, you pay. If you buy after the official announcement, you get it for 'free' -- free being $20 s/h, so it's basically $100 off the retail price.

If you can wait a couple weeks, do so. The rumor mills have an official ship date announcement pegged for April 1. Any purchase made after that date should qualify for the upgrade program.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:41 AM on March 17, 2005

If you need it now, buy it now. If you can wait a bit, I would recommend waiting at least until April 1, if not April 15. According to these guys, the iBook is about due for an update anyway, and it is entirely possible that they could be updated to coincide with the release of Tiger.
posted by spilon at 8:50 AM on March 17, 2005

as a employee at a small reseller of all things mac, i can tell you even we dont know when tiger will be out, but i can tell you i sat through a webcast on how to sell tiger yesterday. so i think the rumors may be right.
now on whether you should wait for updates/new ibooks i would. as a matter of fact i am. saving the pennies for a 12" myself.
posted by ShawnString at 9:38 AM on March 17, 2005

I only ask this slightly off-topic because it seems as though the initial question has, for the most part, been covered: what's the difference between upgrading the OS with a G4 iBook and getting a brand new one (soon) with Tiger? Does Apple do something different/cleaner with the new OS installation than a user would, or does the above advice mainly stem from the "it's better if the company does it" camp? Is it safe to assume an G4 iBook upgraded with Tiger will be more or less exactly the same as a G5 iBook, only slightly slower, with less memory, etc.?

On preview: regarding the screen-size issue - the iBooks currently do not have the "expanded desktop" feature, only the Powerbooks do.
posted by hellbient at 9:43 AM on March 17, 2005

I'm leaving for a trip May 1st and would like to have it by then with enough lead time to get familiar with it and get it tweaked for my wife and I. Waiting until April 15th would be pushing it.

Also, and I know this is sort of childish, once I decide I'm going to get something it drives me crazy to wait for it.
posted by bondcliff at 9:53 AM on March 17, 2005

Think about moving up one size.
The 12" iBook is $1200 canadian. The next size up-resolution wise is the 15" powerbook at $2500 canadian. That's a lot to pay if screen size was your only concern. On the other hand I love my 12" iBook - it's light and small enough to open on the plane or bus (which I do every day during my commute). To each his own I guess.

Back on topic, I wouldn't trust the rumor sites. Tiger may be ready next month, or it may be ready this summer. As with any computer purchase, the longer you wait, the better a product you'll get (but the longer you'll have to live with what you've got). When you finally get your Tiger-loaded iBook, you'll wish you had waited for Lion. That's the way it's always been.
posted by Popular Ethics at 10:27 AM on March 17, 2005

The iBook can do dual-display with an external monitor attached just fine (I'm typing this on an iBook in just this configuration); you just need to run the Screen Spanning Doctor to enable that functionality.

As far as the actual iBook purchase, do buy extra ram *after the fact*- if you buy it from Apple you're overpaying, and it's not difficult to install yourself.

Ramseeker has decent deals on iBook ram, as does froogle I'd expect. You should add at least 512MB extra on top of the 256 that comes with the mac if you can; it makes a bigger difference than you'd expect.
posted by AaronRaphael at 10:32 AM on March 17, 2005

You can also get an excellent price on RAM if you get a friend who works at Best Buy to purchase it from the store using their employee discount. It's very, very simple to install yourself.
posted by odinsdream at 10:38 AM on March 17, 2005

I'd wait. From what I hear, Tiger has some whiz-bang graphic-intensive features that would cause the current iBook's graphic card some grief.
posted by keswick at 10:51 AM on March 17, 2005

keswick: No it doesn't. They've come up with a way to accelerate certain graphic operations using certain graphic cards, or short of that, a G4 processor. On a current iBook certain operations will end up being done on the processor, but they'll still be faster than today, and it should be able to run all of the effects included in Tiger, just less efficiently.

I don't think iBook updates are imminent since they're only 5 months old, and there's no Apple precedent I can think of that would indicate updated anything simultaneously with Tiger's release (if it happens in April), although new G5s sometime soon seem likely.
posted by cillit bang at 11:17 AM on March 17, 2005

Also, and I know this is sort of childish, once I decide I'm going to get something it drives me crazy to wait for it.

That is why I bought my Powerbook as soon as the refreshed 15" came out before Panther.I actually was going to get a 12" but it was on a much longer lead-time so I got the 15" since I could get it that day and have loved the extra few inches of screen real-estate. I was able to sneak into the $19 upgrade even though I bought it before the Panther on-shelf date announcement.

The only reason to wait is to see if there's a refresh to the iBook line coming so you don't miss out on cooler/faster hardware that might be more Tiger-friendly. Check out the mac rumors sites. They get hardware announcements right most of the time.

I seriously doubt we'll hear Apple announce anything on 1 April. Not just because it is April Fools Day, but because it is a Friday and most tech industry announcements are made earlier in the week [I think Apple is especially fond of Tuesdays].

I didn't put off getting a Mac mini to add to my family of Macs at home due to Tiger coming soon, but hope I can get a $20 version for it. It is supposed to ship on 3/25 and will probably show up in early April.
posted by birdherder at 11:18 AM on March 17, 2005

If you are planning on customizing the iBook from the Apple store, expect to wait approximately 3 to 4 weeks before it ships. I ordered a customized iBook (12", with increased RAM, hard drive and bluetooth) on February 23 and the order was delayed three times, with the latest ship date pushed back to today. I finally got fed up because nobody could provide any details regarding the hold-up, so I cancelled the order. If you are really going to go crazy waiting for it, I would suggest purchasing elsewhere (e.g., Amazon, in-store, E-bay, Mac Rumors Forum).
posted by ajr at 11:38 AM on March 17, 2005

I'm in the same predicament and have decided to hold off on the purchase of an iMac until Tiger comes out. All the buzz I have heard is that it will be released in June. Thinking it will be out in April seems a little optimistic.
posted by quadog at 1:37 PM on March 17, 2005

AaronRaphael :
The iBook can do dual-display with an external monitor attached just fine...you just need to run the Screen Spanning Doctor to enable that functionality.

you may want to think twice before modifying your firmware.
from a Macintouch reader report (scroll down to "[MacInTouch Reader]"):
So what happens when you close the lid on an iBook with this hack applied? Likely, you will get a ruined LCD display.

...and it voids your warranty.

I'm glad it's working for you, but be careful.
posted by hellbient at 2:57 PM on March 17, 2005

hellbient, I'm not sure, but I would expect the difference to be that a standalone OS X installer disk would work across multiple machines (should you need that), while a machine-specific one would be, of course, more limited. The standalone would also lack any of the machine-specific bundled software. For what it's worth, in the last 2-3 years, I don't think I've had any more problems with my Macs where I did an OS upgrade in place compared to doing clean installs.

Another tangential question: does anybody here have a sense of the typical delta between when Apple ships a new OS and when Macs start shipping with it pre-installed? I'm assuming for some reason that it's not instantaneous....
posted by kimota at 7:32 PM on March 17, 2005

I have a 12" powerbook, I love it and I thought it would be super cool to have such a small computer. I wish I had a bigger screen, though.

No, don't do it. As someone else said, you're getting the same amount of screen estate with both the 12 and 14 ibooks. The 12 inch ibook is a great buy, the 14, not so much...it's approaching powerbook prices.

And taking out my ibook at a coffee shop as I watch others haul out a 15 inch brick to check email is priceless.

On topic, I'd normally say don't wait. There's always something around the corner. But since tiger is right around the corner almost for sure, I'd say try to wait a little longer.
posted by justgary at 7:46 PM on March 17, 2005