Installing Tiger
The Tiger installation process is extremely quick and painless. Although you can get a similarly simple installation method with Windows, if you enable the unattended setup feature, what's important is that stock (with no modifications) Tiger offers a very painless install. This isn't a new feature in Tiger, as Panther appears to install just as easily.With Macs, since there's no exposed boot menu, you have to hold down the "c" key while starting your machine to tell it to boot from whatever is in the CD/DVD drive. Doing so works flawlessly (even on non-Apple keyboards, if you were wondering), and you are greeted with a familiar screen.
You select the language in which you'd like to proceed, agree to the software license, select the hard drive to which to install, and then the type of installation that you'd like to perform. The type of installation is where things differ a bit from Windows. The Tiger installer offers three options: Upgrade, Archive & Install or Erase & Install.
The Upgrade and Erase & Install options are pretty self-explanatory. It is the Archive & Install option that is unique to OS X. The installer describes this option as doing the following: "Moves existing System files to a folder named Previous System, then installs a new copy of Mac OS X. You cannot start up your computer using the Previous System folder." You can also check an option that will copy all of your users, their home folders, and their network settings to the new install - effectively giving you all of the benefits of an Update, but with the cleanliness of a clean install.
Although not explicitly mentioned here, most of your applications should work just fine after the Archive & Install option. Remember that for the most part, OS X applications are fairly self-contained and modify very little outside of your Applications folder, so moving your old System files shouldn't change the behavior of most applications. Some applications don't behave properly after this type of an install. I had to re-install Stuffit Expander and there is a known issue with Photoshop CS and no longer opening images dragged onto its icon in the Dock after an Archive & Install. But for the most part, applications were fairly well behaved.
I've tried all install options and have pretty much settled on Archive & Install as my favorite of the bunch for the reasons mentioned above. One thing that I was curious about was how long the OS X Tiger install would take, and so I conducted a timed install procedure on three machines: a Powermac G5 2.5GHz, a Mac mini and a 15" PowerBook G4.
Both the mini and the PowerBook G4 came in with identical install times of 36 minutes, while the G5 installed Tiger in 22 minutes. What's also particularly nice and quick about the Tiger install is that the procedure is complete without any reboots until the very end; after the OS is installed, a single reboot will drop you into the brand new OS.
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Brian23 - Saturday, April 30, 2005 - link
Does Tiger Direct carry tiger?JarredWalton - Saturday, April 30, 2005 - link
11 - The Windows XP-64 write-up is in progress, as indicated on page 3. While I can't speak for Anand, the stuff I saw at WinHEC didn't give me any reason to upgrade just yet. Those pesky drivers still seem to have issues, and there are software applications that don't work properly right now. (Benchmarking apps in particular.)Unlike Panther to Tiger, the change from XP to XP-64 is literally just a change of architecture. Unless you're doing high-end computing or running servers and workstations, I think waiting for a few months is probably the best case scenario.
daniel1113 - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Check out the PearPC site for speed comparisons. Basically, PearPC runs at about 1/40th the speed of the host processor, so there is no comparison between native Mac hardware and and AMD or Intel equivalent.vailr - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Any comments on using Tiger 10.4 with the PearPC? Comparing speed on, for example, an AMD FX55 vs. speed on native Mac hardware?Thanks.
chennhui - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Why as a hardware review site doing a software review? May be include a windows 64bits in future? Mac to me is nothing but an expensive system full of eye candy that does run game well. A Powerbook G4 can't even run DOOM3. Lolslashbinslashbash - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
You forgot to mention that there's a Family Pack of Tiger for $199. It's 5 licenses. Even with only 2 Macs (say, a desktop and a laptop), you're looking at a ~25% discount. Great for those who aren't students. With 3 Macs, you're already doing better than the student discount.Cygni - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Good piece, for sure. I think im gonna hold off on Tiger for my 15in Powerbook, even though i can get the student discount. The bugs and such kinda un-nerve me, and i cant really see myself using alot of the new features. Maybe after a few patches, i will move on up.Netopia - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Great job and interesting article Anand.You might want to correct the following typo though:
Like it or not, there is a lot that has changed in Tiger but obviously the question is whether or not it is worth the $129 entry [b]free.[/b]
I think you menat FEE.
Glad to see any review from YOU!
Joe
Atropine - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
Yeah Jbog me too, don't want the wife seeing my porn browsing..........................Jbog - Friday, April 29, 2005 - link
"...Safari has grown old and now complains about those darn kids and their programs that they are downloading these days."Ha ha :)
"Private Browsing" -
If this feature is exclusive to Safari, how come no other browsers have thought of this before, I wonder. As a Firefox user, I find myself cleaning history, cache and other junk every so often.
* In second paragraph of Page 4 - Tiger: The Overprotective Parent?
"... to protect the user from him/her actions -"
should read "his/her"