Low End Mac's Best Deals

Best Mac OS X 10.6, iLife, and iWork Prices

2012.05.22

Short link: http://bit.ly/2vidZ2

LEM's Leopard Group is for those using Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6.

Although OS X 10.7 Lion has arrived and 10.8 Mountain Lion is on the way this summer, there are a lot of good reasons you may want to (or even need to) have Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

You must have Snow Leopard installed to order, download, and install Mountain Lion, which is available for $19.99 through the Mac App Store.
OS X 10.6 is the last version of OS X to support Rosetta, which allows use of software witten for PowerPC Macs (AppleWorks, Quicken, other discontinued apps, and legacy versions of current software, for instance)
If you have a Core Solo or Core Duo Mac (most of them introduced in the first half of 2006), 10.6 is the last version of OS X these Macs can run.

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard retail box Snow Leopard retailed for $29 for a single user license or $49 for a 5-user family pack. We think everyone with an Intel Mac and is still running OS X 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard should consider upgrading 10.6 Snow Leopard if they have at least 1.5 GB of memory (any less and 10.5 Leopard is your best bet) - although there are some areas where 10.5 is a better choice.

The Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X, iLife 09 or 11 (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and iWeb), and iWork 09 (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote). The Box Set is a great deal if you need apps from both bundles.

iLife 09 requires OS X 10.5.6 or later. iWork 09 requires OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or later. Both are compatible with both PowerPC and Intel Macs. iLife 11 requires OS X 10.6.3 and only works with Intel Macs. Apple no longer sells iLife on disc. iPhoto , iMovie, and GarageBand are now Mac App Store exclusives. Each sells for $14.99 and works with OS X 10.6.8 or later. iWeb has been discontinued.

While you can buy the entire iLife package on disc, and Apple also sells the individual apps (for those who don't need all three) via the Mac App Store: Pages, Numbers , and Keynote each sell for $19.99 and require OS X 10.6.6 or later.

Mac OS X 10.6 arrived on August 28, 2009, and it further raised the bar on hardware - every Intel Mac with 1 GB of RAM can run it, but no PowerPC Macs can. It's the end of the Mac OS road for those G4 and G5 Macs.

Low End Mac does not sell software. Please use the links below to order from the vendor of your choice.

Best Mac OS X 10.6 Prices

OS X 10.6, single user, $29 shipped, Apple
OS X 10.6, 5-user family pack, $49 shipped, Apple
iLife 09, single user pack, $35 shipped, Amazon.com
iLife 09, 5-user family pack, $49 shipped, Amazon.com. OWC
iLife 11, single user pack, $41 shipped, Amazon.com
iLife 11, 5-user family pack, $38 shipped, Amazon.com
iWork 09, single user, $54 shipped, Amazon.com
iWork 09, 5-user family pack, $69 shipped, Amazon.com
Mac Box Set, iLife 11, single user, $154 + shipping, Other World Computing
Mac Box Set, iLife 11, 5-user family pack, $154 + shipping, Other World Computing
OS X 10.6 Server, $499 shipped, Apple

Prices may be limited to quantity on hand. Not responsible for typos.

Buying through some of these links benefits Low End Mac. Buying at these prices benefits you.

Amazon.com

Free ground shipping on items direct from Amazon.com if order totals $25 or higher. Amazon.com collects sales tax on orders shipped to KS, KY, ND, NY, and WA.

Apple Store

Low End Mac is no longer an Apple Store affiliate and thus earns nothing from these links. However, they are the best prices you'll find. Apple collects sales tax.

Other World Computing

Add $2.50 for First Class mail delivery, $6 and up for other shipping options.

OS X 10.6, single user, $39
iLife 09, single user, $59
iLife 09, 5-user family pack, $49
iWork 09, single user, $61.99
iWork 09, 5-user family pack, $99
Mac Box Set, iLife 11, single user, $153.99
Mac Box Set, iLife 11, 5-user family pack, $153.99

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