Mac OS X Leopard Apple released Leopard commercially in October 2007. This most recent version of Apple's operating system incorporates a dramatic makeover with more than 300 new features. Click on the links below to learn more about use and support of this new release at Boston College. More information about Leopard at Boston College will be posted here as it becomes available.

Learn about Leopard's features from Apple.

On this page:

Licensing, support, and recommendations
System requirements
Known issues and testing results
Where can I preview Leopard?
Related links

Licensing, support, and recommendations

ITS staff are actively testing Leopard for compatibility with the BC infrastructure and supported applications. Check the latest testing results for details.

Should I upgrade to Leopard?

At this time, Information Technology Services (ITS) strongly recommends that BC community members wait to upgrade their BC owned or home computers to Leopard.

However, if you are buying a new Mac computer, Apple only sells Leopard now. For this reason, all new Mac computers distributed through the BCCR program will have Leopard installed on them.

How can I get a copy of Leopard?

Faculty & staff

For BC-owned computers that were distributed through the BCCR program, upgrade licenses are available. If you're interested in upgrading to Leopard, please contact your TC or Christine Pise for details.
For all other BC-owned computers, email licensing@bc.edu to request an upgrade.

We recommend that you contact your TC for assistance with upgrading to Leopard.

Students & personally-owned computers

You can purchase Leopard at an educational discount online only at Apple.

We recommend that you get assistance with upgrading to Leopard. Students can bring their computer to the Walk-In Help Desk in O'Neill 248 next to the Campus Technology Resource Center ( CTRC).

Which option should I choose to install Leopard?

To install Leopard, you have 3 options:

Clean install - recommended
Archive and install
Upgrade

When possible, we recommend that you choose a clean install (option 1). This requires that you backup all your data before installing Leopard. Then, you need to migrate your data back to your computer and reinstall your applications.

If you choose to upgrade (option 3), Leopard is installed over Tiger. With this option, there is a greater chance of application incompatibilities and performance issues.

Important notes about Leopard:

Installing Leopard may take 1.5 hours to 3 hours or more (if you migrate your data and reinstall applications).
Mac OS 9 is no longer supported on Leopard, which means that no Classic applications will work.
Not all applications are fully compatible with Leopard. View our latest testing results, which are updated regularly.

What is Time Machine? Is it a good backup solution for me?

Time Machine, which is included with Leopard, automatically backups up everything that's on your Mac (digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, documents, etc.). Learn more about Time Machine from Apple.

Time Machine is for personal home use and is not intended to be an enterprise-level backup solution. An enterprise-level backup solution would be one where the files and data are encrypted, compressed, and stored on a secure, off-site server. Note: BC will be implementing a Mac backup solution for faculty and staff in the future.

What is Boot Camp? Where do I buy Windows so that I can run it on my Mac?

Boot Camp, which is included with Leopard, lets you run Windows on your Mac. Learn more about Boot Camp from Apple.

You just need to purchase a copy of Windows:

Faculty & staff: Please contact your TC or Christine Pise to get a copy of Windows.
Students & personally-owned computers: Get Windows Vista Enterprise for free at the Walk-In Help Desk in O'Neill 248.

System requirements

General requirements

Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
512MB memory (1 GB recommended)
DVD drive for installation
9GB of available disk space
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply
Some features require Apple's .Mac service; fees apply

Also, learn about the feature-specific requirements for Leopard from Apple.

Known issues and testing results

At this time, the following commonly-used applications at BC have known compatibility issues with Leopard:

Adobe Acrobat 8
FileMaker Pro 8.0 or earlier
VPN
X11 applications

ITS is testing software commonly-used at Boston College on Leopard. View our latest testing results, which are updated regularly. For more testing results, see MacInTouch's list of software that have compatibility problems with Leopard.

Where can I preview Leopard?

On November 6, 2007, representatives from Apple came to Boston College to demonstrate Leopard. See the streaming video of this Leopard demo (BC sign-in required).

We're also working with key locations on campus to make Leopard available for viewing. Please check here for updates.