Get Ready to Dip Your Leopard in Snow

According to MacRumors, Apple today has bestowed the Great Seal of Golden Master upon Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the next major refinement of Mac OS X. Golden Master is software-speak meaning that the new cat’s code has been frozen and is ready to be pressed to disc, boxed up, and shipped to Mac lovers everywhere.

Well, most Mac users will benefit. If you have an Intel Mac you’re good to go ahead and upgrade. However, if you have a PowerPC Mac (iBook, PowerBook, Mac mini G4, iMac G5 or earlier, or a Power Mac) you’re out of luck. Snow Leopard only supports the Intel-based Macs. But hey, it’s been almost 4 years since Intel Macs made their debut, and that’s a long time in technology years.

And the pricing this time around for a major OS upgrade is terrific. I remember paying $129 each for 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger, and 10.5 Leopard. Snow Leopard will cost less than going to dinner and a movie – a cool $29 for an individual license and $49 for a 5-license Family Pack.

It’s good to note that those aforementioned prices only apply if you already have Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. If you are running an Intel Mac with 10.4 Tiger, you’ll need to buy the Mac Box Set when it is updated to include Snow Leopard. That runs $169, but is a deal in and of itself, as you get Snow Leopard, iLife ‘09, & iWork ‘09 all in one shiny box.

Now for some shameless plugging: I’ve added a box at the top of the sidebar to pre-order Snow Leopard on Amazon.com. Why don’t you treat yourself to a lovely pre-order, which will also give me a pecuniary kickback. Come on, we both deserve it. I used the word pecuniary, that has to count for something. That link will take you to a page to choose from any flavor of Snow Leopard you need.

(Oh, and if you buy anything else in the same shopping session, I’ll get a kickback on that, too. You need a new MacBook Pro, right?)

(One more thing: if you’re reading this in an RSS reader, here’s that Amazon link for you. *wink*)