Over the following 48 hours I tried every Leopard installation process available on new and old Macs. There’s good, there’s bad, some ugly, and, of course, YMMV-- your mileage may vary.

Despite the standard Apple iCandy, OS X Leopard is a major release for the Mac maker as it sets the stage for a universal operating system that may end up running everywhere. It’s like an anti-Windows Everywhere OS. Easy to use, 64-bit all over, geeky goodness inside, with Apple’s noted lickability on everything outside.

While I was upgrading all the family Macs the past two days, I was also reading everything I could about the problems and reports from other Mac users. What is striking about the first reports of Leopard is the amount of disparity in the initial responses.

Some Mac users upgrading to Leopard have problems here, others have problems there, and they’re not universal problems for everyone.

At a high level, Leopard is the most fun Mac OS X upgrade to date, though I’ve encountered a few more problems than the early updates to OS X Tiger just over two years ago. Leopard looks better, more polished, more tuned, sharper, crisper, and actually runs faster on older Macs than did Jaguar, Panther, or Tiger.

Leopard truly is a new Mac for your Mac. You wouldn’t expect too many problems or flaws with a new BMW or Lexus, right? Unfortunately, Leopard has some flaws, but no deal breakers.

I prepped for Leopard’s installation by using SuperDuper! to back up each Mac to a second, sometimes a third, hard drive. In each case, I rebooted the Mac from the second hard drive, and checked files and bootability-- just to be sure.

My first Leopard installation was on a nearly five year old 1 ghz 17-inch aluminum PowerBook workhorse that stays on all the time. I did a clean installation, wiping the internal hard drive clean, installing Leopard, then installing a few applications and utilities.

All went perfectly well, except the installation took almost two hours from beginning to end. A very slow SuperDrive and slow CPU is likely the problem.

There were zero problems with Leopard on the clean installation, and zero problems installing iLife ‘08, and iWork ‘08. The only other applications and utilities installed were those with updates from the past week, all considered Leopard Safe. I did not set up Time Machine to run with an external hard drive. The old PowerBook runs Leopard better than Tiger, which was better than Panther, which was better than Jaguar which was the machine’s original OS.

On to machine #2, an aging PowerMac G5 with dual internal hard drives and a matching external hard drive. This machine is used mostly for Mail, Safari, Microsoft Office, some older applications, and odds and ends utilities. It has a fast SuperDrive, dual CPU’s and a few gigs of RAM. Installation was a breeze, fast, and with no problems.

I did the Archive and Install of Leopard to preserve access to applications, users, and utilities. Installation went very fast. However, after riding around with Leopard on the G5, I noticed a few issues here and there. Time Machine, set up to use the external Firewire drive, doesn’t work well, crapping out half the time, possibly because of the screen saver. I’ve erased the hard drive a few times and started over, using a few of the online suggestions in Apple’s discussion boards. Time Machine is still waiting.

Alex, that fabulous voice in the Speech pane of System Preferences, is nowhere to be found. Every time I press the Play button, System Prefs crashes. Otherwise, iLife ‘08, iWork ‘08, and my basic set of applications and utilities work fine.

Notable exceptions included Macromedia Fireworks and Dreamweaver which required a new installation. Those are older versions which ran fine on Tiger, but not so on Leopard. Older versions of Adobe Photoshop CS and Illustrator (not the newer CS3 version) ran with no hiccups.

My third installation a Leopard upgrade on one of the original PowerPC Mac mini’s from a few years ago. The mini is used to test applications and utilities for our reviews on Mac360, so is crammed with a hundred or so extra software installations, a dozen different users. I cannot recommend an Upgrade of Leopard, even though that’s the default setting from Apple.

Every ”upgrade” I’ve done of Mac OS X has been wrought with problems. Panther to Tiger. Tiger to Leopard. So it was with the Mac mini. Granted, the mini still has a mere 512 megs of RAM vs. the full 1 gig on new Intel-based Mac mini’s. After repeated attempts to get older applications running, I gave up, wiped the hard drive, and did a clean installation. No problems after that.

Installation of OS X Leopard on Mac #4 was less problematic than the Mac mini. This machine is a blazing fast PowerMac G5 loaded to the gills with RAM and every Firewire and USB connection you can think of. This machine runs very well under Tiger.

After the problems with the Mac mini, I hesitated to install Leopard on the G5, but gained enough confidence to make the attempt about 48 hours after Leopard launched.

Again, the back up of the G5 went to both an internal and external hard drive, and the Leopard installation was an Archive and Install but preserving the users. This Mac has plenty of 3rd party applications and utilities and I expected some problems with Leopard compatibility. I was rewarded, but not severely so.

Installation took about 45 minutes get to the About One Minute Remaining&trade’ mark, where Leopard stalled for another 15 minutes before rebooting. After that, no problems. Some utilities that did not work on the older 1.8 ghz PowerMac worked fine on the Quad G5. Go figure. Alex would speak to me and read almost anything. iGTD, which would not open on the older G5, worked fine on the newer model.

Overall, first impressions have been good. In some onscreen actions, such as launching, Leopard is faster than Tiger. The unified look is better than the mish mash from Tiger. I’ve also noticed some oddities. For example, some Mac users report that folders placed in the Dock (to the right of the Dock applications) display a folder icon. Both PowerMacs, the PowerBook, and the Mac mini display the first icon of what’s inside the folder.

Choose your desktop photo carefully as transparency rules in Leopard and sometimes it’s hard to see exactly what’s on your screen. I like the Dock’s new ledge but don’t like the subtle blue light in the image which indicates an application is open. The Menu Bar is hard to read with some desktop background images.

Time Machine’s buttons look like they were stolen from an iPhone utility. Leopard’s front most window is a much darker gray than in Tiger, and even more so compared with windows behind. It looks too dark in Safari. Other inconsistencies include those strange embossed buttons in Mail vs. the standard buttons in Safari. If you like 3D shadows and plenty of gloss, you’ll love Leopard.

There’s only one machine left to upgrade, and that’s the prized Intel Mac which holds all our digital goodies-- music, photos, files, and more. I’ve decided I’ll wait until OS X Leopard 10.5.1 before making that leap. Mac360 is working of a list of the features we like best about OS X Leopard, and a list of the problem areas encountered to date.

We recommend either a Clean installation of Leopard; erase the hard drive and install everything, or the Archive and Install, which segregates OS X Tiger, while preserving users and your applications. We do not recommend the standard Upgrade option.

How was your installation of Mac OS X Leopard? Any problems? Any bugs? Any highlights? What do you like and what do you hate? Talk Back to Mac360 in the Comments section below.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

Off Topic #23 & #18 - Want to speed up your Mac? Try Kate MacKenzie’s approach to the $7.99 speed increase. Do you have a back up system for your Mac? Kate’s PixoBebo shows you how to use Time Machine with SuperDuper! for the ultimate Mac back up. And she doesn’t even charge Mac360 readers to visit her site.

Off Topic #72 - Need to save a few dollars on Mac software? Click Here to save almost $10 on the new version of Photoshop Elements, and almost $20 on the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac from the Mac360 Store (it’s really Amazon). Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage and more-- barely $50 more than Apple’s iWork ‘08.

• Article by Ron McElfresh • Published on Monday, October 29, 2007
• Category: What's New • 12 Reader comment(s) • Email This • Digg This • Shop Now

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Readers Talk Back:

Bambi says:

Thanks willis. Actually, it seems very odd to me. I found a topic about it that is now closed elsewhere on the web. The odd thing to me is that have transparency on the menu dropdowns on the menu bar, I also have transparency on my X-Chat Aqua, but not on the menu bar itself. I actually like transparency so I am not one of those who wishes they never did it. And I make use of it where I can on my Mac. I just think it’s a bit odd not to have it in one place when I can and do make use of it in other areas.

— Posted on Mon Mar 17 at 11:53 am by Bambi

willis says:

Bambi, don’t worry about the translucent menu bar. It only shows up on newer Macs with improved graphics cards. Most older Macs are ‘immune’ from the translucent menu bar. You’re safe.

— Posted on Mon Mar 17 at 11:28 am by willis

Bambi says:

I have a PPC Mac Mini with 1GB RAM and 1.42Ghz. Like LostintheRedwoods, my menu bar is not transparent and I have no ‘personal’ area in the settings for Desktop & Screensaver (even after updating to 10.5.2).
I downloaded the menu tint, but since I have no transparency and no personal settings area in Desktop & Screensaver area, I am hesitant to install the dmg.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

— Posted on Mon Mar 17 at 10:31 am by Bambi

Peggy McGilligan says:

Now Leopard is way cool; for the first time I know, I mean I know what’s in my Document Folder. The problem was with iWeb. I could not, can not update the site. I did however update from the Apple Store. So, I guess it’s past time, as they say, to ditch the dial-up.

I purchased a 500GB LaCie Mini Hub for Time Machine. Wow. Then, I went to empty the trash (from the desktop). I couldn’t empty it. The Mini just pretended to empty the trash. After about five minuted, I clicked stop emptying. But it couldn’t or wouldn’t stop either. I did a Force Quit. The trash always emptied, before the Mini Hub. The Apple Store doesn’t have a clue, nor do I. Any experience with, or suggestion for this latest?

Ps. Before you upgrade to iLife ‘08, the G4 does not do iMovie.

— Posted on Wed Nov 07 at 3:39 am by Peggy McGilligan

Martin says:

Not sure what the problem with the G4 Mac Mini may be. I did an “Archive and install” on mine and frankly it feels turbo charged now with no apparent issues whatsoever. All of a sudden I have plans for the little machine that I never had before (when I get it back - it’s on loan to a potential Windows switcher at the moment )

On my Intel iMac (1st version), again an archive and install, smooth as you like (the 15 minute 1 minute noted however!). Superb all round again. Had to reinstall thanks to some HP drivers not having an uninstall option and messing things up but I’m happy to report that Time Machine restored my entire system from scratch perfectly…

For anyone that doesn’t like the new glass look dock give this setting a try:
“defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES”
“killall Dock”

If you want your glass look back:
“defaults delete com.apple.dock no-glass”
“killall Dock”

Both from terminal of course and without the quotes

— Posted on Mon Nov 05 at 11:32 am by Martin

PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ says:

UPDATE, i gave up on having my IDISK sync’d to my hard drives for now. I no longer have any problems on boot up with the menu bar. I know Apple is still and I mean still doing maintenance on the IDISK and sync but for how much longer? This has been going on for weeks and making me wonder if it’s worth being a .MAC member anymore for my membership renews next month.

As for Apple store guys and Apple tech support, your better off being your own problem solver. They all lie to you! P of the third party games I have bought at the Apple store crash or just don’t work. Don’t get me wrong I love the Apple Store as long as it’s online and I don’t have to deal with some geek with a hand held computer that thinks it’s so cool to e-mail you your receipt.

— Posted on Thu Nov 01 at 5:21 pm by PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ

Big Cat Blues says:

I bought a PowerPC twelve years ago, upgraded to a Mac Mini a few years ago, months before the Intel processors came out, so I got a G4 processor. The Tiger OS was good for the G4, and since I mainly word process, iWeb became a favorite. I had no problems, until I installed Leopard. Leopard is different. I don’t recall options, I just installed it. I organized my document folder in a snap. When it came to the previously trouble free iWeb though, there’s the rub. I finally upgraded from iWeb 1.1.1 to iWeb 2.0.2 - and still can’t publish to iWeb.

I tried the help suggestions in iWeb, plus all I know. Yes, Leopard is cool, glitzy, and the new OS turns a definite corner on its competition. But Leopard also seems made for faster processors. It’s sludgy on my Mini. Perhaps the problem is with the Mac server. The folks a the Apple Store try hard. What annoys me somewhat, is their spring loaded defer to Apple Care mentality. They have no reports of problems with iWeb. Okay, with Tiger I had good success with iWeb. With Leopard, it’s been a complete disaster (well, it hasn’t published yet). Today, after six days of iWeb withdrawal, Leopard can’t even access the site. What if I had something of great importance to say?

— Posted on Thu Nov 01 at 5:06 pm by Big Cat Blues

jARED says:

I have the mac/book intel 1.8 and My also prize possession a Mac Pro with dual intel wood-crest 3 gigahertz processors running 2 gigs of ram. I installed 10.5 on both of my Mac’s but I will mostly talk about the install of the Pro and how it’s doing. I did not delete tiger, I did a basic upgrade BUT the day before my Leopard arrived on the Fed X truck, I backed up my music and photo’s and so on and then wiped the drive and reinstalled tiger in case their where any corrupted files I did not know of. The install on the Pro took about a half hour to forty minutes.

Well it’s wednesday night almost thursday so Leopard has been running on the pro for almost six days. I work from home and I have been glued to my Mac since I installed the OS for I can’t walk away from it.

As for time machine I is working just fine for me. I do check on it’s progress every hour or so by actually clicking the icon and checking in system preferences and watching when the last back up was and when the next one is due (hourly), this will change every time you reboot your computer. So far so good on time machine for me. My External is a Maxtor 200 gig usb, I am not using firewire yet. The first back up of time machine took almost five hours and I assume that is because It’s a usb only external hard drive (yes a 500 gig external firewire hard drive is on my list)

I am having a issue on the mac/book and the pro on boot up after logging in, I have my mail and Ical set to start up right away, (this is when I first noticed this) after Mail and Ical opened up, I would close them as usual and then left click on the desk top to clear the Mail in the menu bar. Well mail was stuck and then I try to click the apple only to find the whole screen is froze up. I thought this might have some thing to do with Mail and Ical auto opening so I cancelled that and rebooted only to have the same problems. I found a fix even though both my macs are doing this still, I just click finder and everything unfreezes. I think this is a minor bug they need to address. Like I said if anyone is having this issue just click your finder button and it should set you free.

My I disk is appearing and disappearing from the desk top last two days but the I disk has stopped doing this as of today and I know apple has been working on sync and .mac lately so I don’t know if this is due to Leopard or Apple wrenching on the sync system. I have had the same issues with I disk on the book also but it to as of today has stopped acting up.

As for the new firewall, I wish I could pack it back up and ship it back to the apple store, I have always used Intego Net Barrier and if you know how to configure a firewall, I think intego has the best one. Net Barrier is the only firewall with mass options and you can run it on top of the mac firewall, the Intego will be first and if a evil attacker gets past that then they have to deal with OS X 10.5 firewall.

I don’t like the little blue dots either in the dock. I can’t barley see them on my mac/book, I do have the 23 inch high definition monitor on my mac pro and they look pimp on that. So I like them on the desk top and hate them on the mac/book.

Minor problems for me, other wise I am happy. You have to expect problems in new OS systems. I am confident Apple will find these problems and give us updates soon.

p.s. I thought this Mac Pro desk top was fast on tiger, well let put it this way. Tiger was like driving a Porsche at full speed on this machine, Leopard is more like taking the Space shuttle into orbit. I boot up in less than ten seconds now.

— Posted on Wed Oct 31 at 11:34 pm by jARED

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