[[Image:Picture-3-299x300.png|thumb|280px|Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard]]
Apple’s latest operating system, [http://www.apple.com/macosx/ OS X 10.6], aka "Snow Leopard" is something of a departure for Apple. It’s less about new features and more about incremental upgrades, refinements and speed boosts. And priced at $30 for an upgrade, Snow Leopard is also considerably cheaper than past OS X versions.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the things you should do before you make the leap to Snow Leopard, and how to go about the actual installation, including how to install it even if you aren’t using its predecessor, OS X 10.5 Leopard.

==Before You Upgrade==

Before you join the legions of Apple faithful in your upgrades, there are a few things you should know about Snow Leopard.

===Requirements===

Snow Leopard requires an Intel-based Mac, at least 1 GB of RAM and a DVD drive. Check out the Apple website for the [http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html full list of Snow Leopard requirements].

Technically, Apple also says that the Snow Leopard upgrade will only work for those using OS X 10.5 Leopard, but it looks like anyone running a Mac with 10.4 that also meets the new OS’ hardware requirements can upgrade to 10.6. (More on this below)

===Clean house===

Whether you decide to do a clean install of Snow Leopard or simply update your existing system, now is the perfect time to clean up your hard drive. This means getting rid of unused applications, cleaning out your start up items folder or even just getting rid of that desktop file clutter. As for deleting bloated logs and other background files, we like [http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html OnyX] which can handle those tasks and quite a bit more. Other options include [http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php Cocktail].

See our [http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Speed_Up_Your_Mac How To Speed Up Your Mac] guide for more details.

===Back up!===

The next thing to do before you upgrade to Snow Leopard is to back up your current OS X installation. Than means using Time Machine or one of the many third party solutions available.

Have a look at our [http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Back_Up_Your_Data_on_a_Mac Guide to Backing Up Your Mac] for suggestions and backup strategies.

==Installation==

Once your Mac is cleaned, optimized and backed up it’s time to install Snow Leopard.

===Tiger users===

According to Apple, Snow Leopard will only upgrade your Mac from OS X 10.5 Leopard. If you skipped Leopard, Apple will point you to the $170 Mac Box Set, which contains both Leopard and Snow Leopard.

However, Wired.com was able to successfully perform the Snow Leopard installation on a MacBook running Tiger (10.4) — without even erasing the drive. In other words, even if you insert the $30 Snow Leopard disc in a machine running Tiger, the installer will not block you from upgrading to Snow Leopard.

Separately, Lifehacker has [http://lifehacker.com/5345690/prep-your-mac-for-snow-leopard confirmed] that it was able to erase a hard drive and install Snow Leopard. That means if you backup your files on Tiger, you should be technically able to buy Snow Leopard for $30, install it on a clean drive and then migrate your files over. You’ll likely have to download newer versions of third-party software that are Leopard — or Snow Leopard — compatible. That extra work is probably worth it, because this OS is a pretty big performance upgrade if you’re switching from Tiger.

Of course, using the $30 upgrade to go from Tiger to Snow Leopard may violate Apple’s terms of service. We were unable to confirm this with Apple, which did not respond to our queries about Snow Leopard pricing.

”If you have any updates about this process, please add them here. This article is a ”’wiki”’, anyone can contribute.”

===Leopard users===

There are two choices for installing Snow Leopard:

* ”’Option 1”’: Install Snow Leopard on top of your existing Leopard install. This is the method recommended by Apple and will be the easiest, quickest option for most people. Just pop in the disk, select "Upgrade" and wait for Snow Leopard to install.

* ”’Option 2”’: Wipe your drive and start from scratch. If you see OS upgrades as chance to make a clean start on a pristine new disk, then this option is for you. To go this route just insert your Snow Leopard DVD and choose "Install Mac OS X."
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”If you have any updates about these processes, please add them here. This article is a ”’wiki”’, anyone can contribute.”

==Conclusion==

Now that Snow Leopard is installed, have a look at our [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/6-things-snow-leopard/ guide to the major new features].

There are also some smaller new tools that aren’t grabbing the limelight, but are nevertheless handy. For example, Quicktime now offers the ability to record screencasts. Snow Leopard’s screencast tools aren’t as powerful as some third party apps, but if you just need a basic record function it’ll fit the bill.

And remember, this is wiki. So if you’ve found other little, less obvious upgrades in Snow Leopard, be sure to add them to this page.

==External links==

* [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/snow-leopard/ Snow Leopard coverage] on Wired’s Gadget Lab

[[Category:Mac]]
[[Category:Computers]]