It seems all the well wishes and hopes for a March or an April release of Mac OS X Leopard didn’t help. The latest rumors flying around the web are saying even May is almost certainly impossible and that if you were going to place a bet on it June is probably the safest bet.

Our sources say that, from past experience, Apple typically ramps up production in the last six weeks before shipping with “many seeds—like two a week.” This constant seeding period continues for several weeks, and then is then typically followed by a sudden quiet period. Apple usually announces the ship date soon thereafter, and starts pressing CDs/DVDs (which in itself takes several weeks).

“If they follow the same pattern as Tiger, Panther, and Jaguar, we should start getting a lot of seeds soon, and then they’ll need the 3-4 weeks to start pressing CDs,” says one of our developer buds. “Which means, if they’re really shooting for late April, next week is the last week before CD production starts.”

Seems highly unlikely, given what we’ve been told from several sources about the instability of the current build.

If you need a new Mac you probably shouldn’t wait until June for it. If you can hold out you’ll save the cost of the Leopard upgrade and maybe get a little more computer for your dollars. But will it be worth another 3 months wait? It depends on your situation.

It’s not possible for me to continue waiting for Leopard. I decided to hold out until April 15 as Apple has a press event scheduled at the National Association of Broadcasters. But, if there is a price drop of any kind I’m going to take advantage of it as most likely those savings will pay for Leopard when it comes out.

[Leopard not ready for April--"Barely beta, not final or Gold Master"]

[tags]Apple, Mac OS X, Leopard[/tags]