Mac/computer question

[FrontRangeDrummer]

I have three things to do with my computer (macbook):

Install OS X Leopard
Install iLife '08
Set up a new external hard drive

Any suggestions as to the order of these tasks? Thanks~

[belgian]

in that order. Enjoi.

Edit to add:

[bio-smear]

The order doesn't really matter for the 3 tasks you are asking about. iLife will work on 10.4 or 10.5. The Leopard upgrade is painless and non-destructive. Setup your ext hardrive on either OS version.

[skiHOG]

you want to do a clean install of leopard; believe me. put leopard on first, back up any data you want to save. then, put on ilife and the setup of an external drive will be no big deal. when you install leopard you can opt to setup time machine in leopard which requires an external drive.

[bio-smear]

you want to do a clean install of leopard; believe me.

Why? 5678

[skiHOG]

better performance. for the most part, upgrading an OS is never a good choice. i also like to know it's completely clean.

[The Jackamo]

better performance. for the most part, upgrading an OS is never a good choice. i also like to know it's completely clean.

if you've had a system that hasn't been reinstalled in a few years, i'd say go for this route. a system of 6 - 12 months? you'd probably be safe in just doing the upgrade. (just to note though, i do enjoy knowing that the install is completely clean as well. not arguing the point, just saying a full format and install probably isn't warranted in most cases)

[FrontRangeDrummer]

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on the OS first.

Do I love Apple products? Yes, because they are amazingly efficient, simple, and easy to use/manage, and I have never had any problems with them (compare to PC, generic mp3 player and music software, etc).

[iceclimb]

Why? 5678

Yes, do the clean install. We've seen about 1 in 5 of the upgrades go belly up in different ways. Some just run REALLY slow, others have broken pieces.

Back everything up and do a full reinstall. Just had to talk someone through this in the past week, it was about 10 hours of recovery.

great OS, not so great an upgrade.

[Arty50]

People, it's really simple. The answer to this question is ALWAYS choose "Archive and Install" on the OS X installer. Basically, it copies your old system and then reinstalls a new system on your drive. It's the only way to go.

As for order, the order you have them written in is just fine.

[ak_powder_monkey]

well setting up an external HD is about as easy as possible, just plug it in

[belgian]

Thanks for the advice. I was planning on the OS first.

Do I love Apple products? Yes, because they are amazingly efficient, simple, and easy to use/manage, and I have never had any problems with them (compare to PC, generic mp3 player and music software, etc).

I was just ragging on you. I hate Apple computers for various reasons, but I realize that they are great for people who aren't quite as computer savvy as others. For someone like myself they are simply cumbersome and too "dumbed down" and don't give me nearly enough freedom to modify to my likings. And the lack of third party software apps drives me insane. But hey, it is what it is.

And ALWAYS do a clean install of an OS. No reason not to, only takes a few extra minutes of your time and will run much much smoother in the long run. And the external HDD, as AKPM said, just plug it in and it should do the rest itself.

[wi3dzmin]

Clean install will wipe out everything you had like the apps that came with your computer. So if you do not have the cd/dvd that came with it, I'd rethink this.

I was just ragging on you. I hate Apple computers for various reasons, but I realize that they are great for people who aren't quite as computer savvy as others. For someone like myself they are simply cumbersome and too "dumbed down" and don't give me nearly enough freedom to modify to my likings. And the lack of third party software apps drives me insane. But hey, it is what it is.

Ignorance is bliss.

[Sinecure]

My thoughts (having upgraded to Leopard w/out doing this, and watching my biz partner do the same with much more problems than me).

Put everything onto your external drive. Everything. So you can boot your current version of OSX off of it if necessary. I'm talking of making a clone of your hard drive on the external. Apparently there's a program called SuperDuper for $28 that can do this. I've never tried it.

Install Leopard from scratch. Use the custom options to leave out the crap you don't need (like lots of extra printer drivers, languages you don't know, etc.)

Install the apps you need.

Have fun.

Discover a couple of buggy things (most notable that I've found are issues where dialog boxes in MS Office apps don't accept keyboard input until you close and re-open them).

There's a great article in this month's Macworld that I wish I'd read before I upgraded. I also wish I'd carved out more time for the upgrade and done it properly the first time because now its a bit late. It would have cleaned up my machine a lot, too.

Here is a link to the article in MacWorld.

[TeleMang]

Ignorance is bliss.

Damn Unix and its lack of options

[belgian]

Ignorance is bliss.

Uhhhhh huh? Keep sucking on Steve Jobs' shiny white teets. I've used macs extensively and know exactly where I stand on them. I'd much rather use a windows or linux based machine any day for any application. Especially if I had the pleasure of purchasing the various parts from non-conglomerate manufacturers myself, instead of buying an all-in-one, generic, over priced intel machine from Apple's own store piled high with Microsoft and Adobe software. My apologies if using open source software sounds better than that.

And before you give me shit about paying for Microsoft's products then allow me to inform you that I received (legally) my current copy of Vista Ultimate completely free of charge, and I use openoffice.org, not Microsoft Office.

But my grandma loves her Mac. And slot drives are still suck.

[Art Shirk]

[wi3dzmin]

Uhhhhh huh? Keep sucking on Steve Jobs' shiny white teets.

Uhm keep sucking on Bill's..?

I've used macs extensively and know exactly where I stand on them. I'd much rather use a windows or linux based machine any day for any application.

To each their own, just don't go around claiming things that aren't true.

Especially if I had the pleasure of purchasing the various parts from non-conglomerate manufacturers myself, instead of buying an all-in-one, generic, over priced intel machine from Apple's own store piled high with Microsoft and Adobe software.

In no way that sounds like an XPS/voodoo/alienware/.../.../...

Ever heard of hackintosh?

My apologies if using open source software sounds better than that.

OSS runs just fine on Darwin. Ever heard of macports?

Edit:

And before you give me shit about paying for Microsoft's products then allow me to inform you that I received (legally) my current copy of Vista Ultimate completely free of charge, and I use openoffice.org, not Microsoft Office.

Cool. Work paid for my mb pro as well as any software I need for it. Is there a point to this e-penis game?

[ass-to-mouth]

My thoughts (having upgraded to Leopard w/out

Here is a link to the article in MacWorld.

That's kind of a cliffs note version of the Leopard Installation & Setup Guide that's available on the Apple site.

http://www.apple.com/support/leopard/install/

[Cliff Huckable]

I guess I'll have to post - oh. OK. There you go.

[Benny Profane]

u. I hate Apple computers for various reasons, but I realize that they are great for people who aren't quite as computer savvy as others.

I guess you have no interest in the graphics/photography business.

For the last 20 years or so I have had to work with nerdy computer experts that can't hide their disdain for Apple products, because they seem to be jealous of a machine that any schmoe in the world can sit down and start using in a short period of time to perform tasks in their daily lives. All those hours tinkering with computers just to tinker in nerdland (remember the first PCs? people actually bought them, brought them home, and tinkered with them while their friends were getting laid), and then a system comes along that is so transparent and easy to use, that idiots like me can assemble a magazine and make pictures look beautiful while playing music and surfing the web and not really caring how the damn machine works. Just doing it, and getting on with the rest of my life. I could tell you stories about some of these nerds, how they have wasted millions of dollars feeding their insecure little egos, but I won't.

[FrontRangeDrummer]

I installed the OS upgrade last night; I answered a few pop-up questions and let it sit for a while. Completely seamless. The new features (Spaces, Spotlight, Stacks, Quicklook, Mail) look pretty cool.

This thread can die now, unless it gets turned into a Mac/PC flame war...