[Osx-nutters] Mossberg on iMac and Leopard

[Kevin Callahan]

Q: I am planning to replace my aging Dell desktop with one of Apple's  
iMac machines. Now that Apple has announced that the new OS X Leopard  
will be released next spring, is it advisable to wait for Leopard's  
release to buy a new iMac? Or will the current iMac be able to run  
Leopard when it is released?

A: If history is any guide, an iMac you purchase now, or in the next  
few months, should easily be able to handle Leopard, which is the  
sixth version of Apple's Mac OS X to be released since 2001. Since  
Apple upgrades its operating system far more often than Microsoft  
does, the upgrades tend to require less of a jump in hardware  
capability. (Microsoft's forthcoming new version of Windows called  
Vista, due in January 2007, is the first major overhaul of Windows  
since 2001.)

However, Apple hasn't promised that every new feature of Leopard will  
run on any iMac sold now, and the company has coldly cut off users of  
older models in the past. So, if you can wait, do so. It's always  
better to buy new machines with a new OS preinstalled, even though  
Apple's OS upgrade process has generally been much quicker and more  
reliable than Microsoft's. Another benefit: Apple typically charges  
existing users $129 for an upgraded OS, even if their machines are  
only, say, six months old. But new Macs next spring will include  
Leopard free of charge.

Even if you can't wait until spring (you said your Dell was "aging"),  
consider waiting a few months to see if Apple brings out a new iMac  
with Intel's latest processor, the Core 2 Duo, which is faster and  
more efficient than the Core Duo in current iMacs. I have no  
information that this will happen, but you should know by November or  
so.

<http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/mailbox-20060817.html>