I had never heard about that "tailored" business, and I question how accurate that is.
See Topher Kessler's
Differences between update options for OS X which spells it out as far back as Snowy:
Apple's Software Update utility is the most common and recommended method for updating your Mac. It is available in the Apple menu and will analyze your system for the files you need in order to apply the latest updates. This is beneficial because it minimizes the download size, consolidates multiple updates into one update routine, and performs the update automatically. (Emphasis added)
For the quote about Apple's Software Update utility, you forgot to mention the next paragraph:
"While recommended for everyday updates,
Software Update has a few drawbacks. The first is that it only provides you with the latest versions of updates, so if you want to upgrade a fresh OS X 10.6.0 installation to OS X 10.6.5, you cannot do this with Software Update because it will only provide you with version 10.6.7 (the latest version to date). In addition, since Software Update will only give you the files your system needs to be updated, then if you have experienced a problem with an update and need to reapply it,
Software Update will read your system as already being updated and will not provide you with any more options."
Secondly, note that what the link says about the Combo Updater is the most positive of the 3 methods. Bur again, the important one for me is the ease of getting from the "base" OS up to the latest version.
