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• Leopard

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard release notebook

The information on this page is largely meant for system administrators and technical support staff who must manage RIT-owned computers used for production purposes. Some of the following information will also be of use to home and student use.

Systems administrators and technical staff responsible for licensing may wish to jump right to the licensing and upgrading on RIT-owned computers page.

At this time, ITS does not recommend upgrading RIT-owned computers to Mac OS X Leopard.

Production computers used by faculty or staff should not be upgraded to the new operating system until either ITS or a department’s technical staff have evaluated the operating system for compatibility with RIT and departmental systems. Please refer to our list of known issues with Mac OS X Leopard for more details.

System requirements

Apple lists the basic system requirements for Mac OS X Leopard as:

• Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
• 512 MB of memory
• DVD drive for installation
• 9 GB of available disk space

There are also additional feature-specific requirements; consult Apple’s technical specifications for those details.

Existing computer upgrades

Both Institute-owned and personal computers that will be upgraded to Leopard should meet or exceed Apple's published system requirements.

Based on past experience with Mac OS X, we further recommend at least 1 GB of memory for PowerPC-processor Macs (wherever possible) and 2 GB of memory for Intel-processor Macs.

New computer purchases

New computers should similarly meet or exceed Apple's published system requirements. Since all new Macs ship with Intel processor — and effectively, multiple processors — we further recommend 2 GB of RAM or more be installed at the time of purchase. (See the ITS Buying Guide pages for new equipment recommendations.)

Licensing

Licensing encompasses the legal right to install and use software.

RIT does not have a “site license” for the Mac OS X operating system as of this writing. Apple offers only the options of volume licensing and software maintenance. We must count and cover each computer individually using those means.

In summer 2005, we therefore we made a bulk purchase of software maintenance to "stay current" with Mac OS. Please see the ITS software licensing and volume purchasing pages for more details on our Apple Maintenance Program (AMP) bulk purchase. Unfortunately, this was a one-time bulk purchase and cannot be expanded at the same terms.

Campus use

For institute-owned computers, there are four basic options available to obtain the right to upgrade to or install Leopard if the computer did not come with it:

• Apple Maintenance Program (AMP) software maintenance. Under RIT’s 2005 bulk AMP purchase, more than 1000 Macintosh computers are covered for upgrades until the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year. To find out if your computer is covered, consult with the ITS HelpDesk or your local technical support staff. Unfortunately, we cannot expand our AMP coverage at the same terms, including pricing and renewal dates.
• Volume licensing. For any shortfall in AMP, volume purchases of Mac OS X can make up the difference at the lowest possible cost. The bookstore is collecting information for departments (but not individuals) that wish to take part in a volume license purchase; please see the bookstore to sign up immediately. The order will be placed no later than November 15, 2007.
• Single copies. Single copies are not recommended for institute-owned computers, simply because they represent the highest per-copy upgrade cost for RIT-owned computers.
• Mac OS Up-To-Date (for computers purchased on or after October 1, 2007 only). New computers that do not include Leopard in the box or pre-installed on the hard disk can be upgraded to a Leopard license using the Mac OS Up-To-Date program, which runs for a limited time.

Home use

Apple has reduced its academic discount for personal purchases made through its stores. Therefore, the RIT bookstore appears to have the best price on shrinkwrapped single copies for members of the RIT community, and they are available for purchase as of Monday, October 29, 2007.

Our AMP maintenance does not cover home use. Unless your department has specifically ordered additional coverage for your home use, faculty and staff must buy either single-copy retail package or the “family pack” (which covers five computers in the same household).

Home users are not eligible to purchase the low-cost media sets intended for use with AMP maintenance or volume licensing.