Tiger!!!
 

Macintosh OS X 10.4 "Tiger" will be released on Friday,
April 29th finally! Anybody gonna preorder?

what's so great about the Tiger?

Better performance and better stability, I imagine, so what's not to like? :D

Looks good in green and has a hot wife

The "Dashboard" component of Tiger looks pretty cool. I haven't ordered yet because I'm thinking about treating myself to a new Powerbook and I'll just get it that way! ;)

For the uninitiated: http://www.apple.com/macosx/

looks nice
 

although, I was not happy to hear that the mac mini will not be able to take advantage of the Core image display functionality and use of the video card, and will still be resigned to using the older current openGL video acceleration.

So, bummer

So 10.3 was unstable and didn't perform well?

My 10.3 has been very stable.

I've noticed that every time I upgrade with a major release (10.1 to 10.2 to 10.3), the machine performs much better on the same hardware. It's also not a small increase, but usually something like 1/2 the boot up time for example.

I guess that just means that their older releases weren't as optimized.

Also, Apple has been tweaking and honing the user interface elements every time.

What I don't like is that I have to pay $129 for each of these, unless I buy a new computer where it would be included. They have also been releasing these paid upgrades every 12 months or so. After this release, Apple claims that they will be slowing down their cycle.

does apple lock the os?
 

Does apple lock the os? Or does one get a copy when buying a computer,
because, for the money of this new upgrade, I would just buy a man mini, and put that os on my other MAC and keep them both?

Is there a product activation, ala redmond?

There wasn't any product activation in their previous 10.x releases.

The higher-ed price of 10.4 is $69.

Some campus stores are pretty anal about making you show an ID to get educational pricing, especially in cities where otherwise everyone would walk in off the street and buy stuff. Others, especially if they're away from a city so they don't get a lot of non-campus traffic, tend not to bother.

You also may be able to convince the Apple online store that you have an educational connection. I'm not suggesting lying about your situation, I don't know how (or if) they check, but it might be possible. I haven't tried.

Should I upgrade?
 

I just went mac this past weekend and I'm already glad I did. My only regret is I didn't realize that Tiger was coming so soon. So as a new mac person who is only going to surf the web and play with digital photo's is there a need to upgrade? Also can anyone recommend a good mac program for ripping DVDs

thanks

I think
 

I think, you may have come in under the wire, and the cutoff was last week, so you can get a copy from apple for 9.99$ shipping.

It is either the 2nd of april, or the 12th.

So, depending on when you bought it, you can get a free copy. I would chat with the retailer, and tell them you will either return, or would like a receipt with the proper date.

I bought 10.2 for $3 in Johor Bahru a couple years ago...

The cutoff date was April 12th. I would try to get the place you bought it from to return/exchange it. Over the last few years, I've always felt that the upgrades are worthwhile.

Tiger includes something new called Core Image which will probably be incorporated into the next release of iPhoto / iMovie. The rumor is that it will greatly increase the performance of those applications.

http://handbrake.m0k.org/ is an opensource program and very easy, though slower than other solutions.

I'm not going to do that. While I don't like paying $129 for these major upgrades, you'll probably be seeing me in line the day it's available from the applestore.

core image
 

Core image should speed up many things on the display side, as long as the motherboard and graphics card support it. For some reason, the mac mini does NOT fall into that category which is a shame.

Ordered mine today, luckily my wife is a student so it was only $69 plus tax - free shipping.

i just ordered mine right now off the Apple Store online with my educational discount. woohoo! too bad theres no tracking # :(

According to apple, it will be in your hands ON the 29th so no need for a tracking #.

There won't be a tracking #until it ships. It'll ship a couple of days prior to the 04/29 release date, so that it is delivered the day of release.

No going to a store and waiting in line necessary.

incidentally...
Over the last 3-4 years the Apple Store has been very good at delivering orders of the OS on the release date, so you can expect that the same will be true this time around. Unless you feel like communing with others who enjoy everything Apple, I don't see a reason to buy at a store.

One word: eBay

Core Image is just a graphics library and API. Macs without DirectX9-equivalent video cards (like the mini and the ibook) will still use CI, it just won't be offloaded to the GPU. All filters and effects should still be possible through the CPU, and should be reasonably quick since they're all optimized for Altivec.

That said, some of the pretty real time effects, like the ripple effect in Dashboard, will probably be turned off, as the CPU likely won't be fast enough.

sure
 

sure, the mini for example will still I guess "use" it, but it will not be in the optimized fashion that other CPU's will be able to "use" it. That said, my understaning was that this might actually be worse than the current implimentation, but maybe not.

I'd love to get a mini, and would love to take advantage of Tiger (rrrangrrr!!) but don't want to take one step back for 2 steps forward. Or something like that.

So, you just upgrade the video card, no?

You can use the software that came with your Mac (iMovie), or use iDVD that is included with the iLife suite of applications , or you can use Roxio Toast Titanium Roxio Toast Titanium.

You can't upgrade the video cards in the iBook, Powerbook, iMac, eMac, or MacMini since they're all integrated.

I had no idea. Bummer.

correct, sort of
 

yes, upgrading the video card, would most likely work although there is a bus connection and I/O issue too I think,

but, the mac mini along with a number of other models, emac, ibook and some powerbook models are not upgradeable.

A couple of other "essential" tools in your DVD Ripping set are:

DVDBackup 1.3

DVD2ONEX

The latter is a commercial product that you should buy. The former is free and can be found using google or various filesharing utilities. I don't rip DVD's I don't own -- but I certainly make back up copies to take on the road! These tools will work fine for that. :)

According to some of the remarks and links here:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=251882

I am lead to believe Tiger will make my 1.5 Ghz 17" Powerbook run like a 1.9 Ghz 17"...
One sure way to proove it is to see if HALO runs any better; It stutters a lot on 10.3 without patches (which are supposed to smooth it out), which I never downloaded cause the patches prevent you from playing without the CD. We'll see.

I don't think that's a realistic expectation.

It looks like installing the patches will solve your problem. What's the issue with playing with a CD in the drive?