Snow Leopard brings subtle improvements to Mac

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August 28, 2009 3:29 PM |
By John Bowman

By John Bowman, CBCNews.ca.

Apple's latest version of the Mac OS X operating system, code-named "Snow Leopard," was released today and the online reaction has been, well, staid.

The consensus seems to be that there's nothing wrong with it (except if you have a Palm OS-based smartphone or run one of a handful of programs Snow Leopard doesn't like), but its improvements are subtle. Other than support for Microsoft Exchange, allowing you to sync mail, appointments and address books, there aren't any new features to speak of.

Then again, it is only $35. (Or just $29 in the U.S. We're not as bad off as the Europeans, though, who'll pay 29 euros, or about $45 Cdn.)

Snow Leopard is also a leaner operating system, freeing up up to seven gigabytes of hard drive space and running faster than Leopard on the same hardware. But if you're on a PowerPC-based Mac, one sold before 2006, you won't be able to upgrade.

Here's a round-up of the reviews:

Gizmodo: Snow Leopard Review: Lightened and Enlightened
Smarterware: Fine, Ill Say It: Snow Leopard Is Ultimately a Service Pack
NYTimes.com: Apples Sleek Upgrade
Chicago Sun-Times: Apple Snow Leopard a speedy no-brainer upgrade

Comments

Comments (13)

Alexey wrote:Posted: 2009/08/29 at 6:34 PM

Hopefully, Microsoft won't take after Apple and start charging for service packs.

Greg wrote:Posted: 2009/08/31 at 5:58 PM

There will be many calling Apples latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, little more than a service pack. From a distance, it can look that way: Theres no new eye candy mostly core technology stuff [Grand Central Dispatch, Open CL, 64-Bit, etc.], and even the ballyhooed addition of support for Microsoft Exchange (ironically, even Windows doesnt come with it) is even sort of boring.
But the $35 upgrade is well worth it, and will reach into every corner of your Mac to speed things up. Surprisingly, Snow Leopards biggest improvements are to your hardware. Think of it as a tune-up for your machine. For instance, on my MacBook, Safari would run at around 25-35% of CPU, and spin up to around 100%+ under stress in 10.5 Leopard, right now, under 10.6, its not even showing up in the top five list, meaning it is idling at under 4%. This is with 12 tabs open.

The retail disc of Snow Leopard will install on a blank hard drive OR a drive with Tiger or Leopard, and won't complain about anything at all. There are absolutely no restrictions on that disk regarding what you need to have on your Mac before installing it. No serial number either. Apple continues to have faith in their faithful and trust that everyone will buy the proper package and install it in the proper number of Macs.So to all those claiming Apples Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard "little more than a service pack" I say they are either paid-off, ignorant, and/or too lazy to do even basic fact-finding.

Alexey wrote:Posted: 2009/09/04 at 4:58 PM

Greg, easy there. There is no reason to resort to name-calling. In fact, it is perfectly normal for service packs to improve performance. It is strange, though, that you advocate paying to upgrade your web browser, since all the other popular ones are free. As for the lack of SN requirement, it is the strangest definition of major OS upgrade I have seen.

Curious bystander wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 10:35 AM

Apple only has itself to blame for people referring to Snow Leopard as a service pack. With all their previous upgrades, they made the interface easier to use and introduced new features. To use a car analogy, people got used to getting a new paint job, improved handling and something akin to a new GPS/stereo/proximity detector with every upgrade.

So when Apple effectively rebuilds the engine for better performance and reinforces the chassis for long-term durability, people just say "meh, it's a tune-up."

Gayleen Froese wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 10:55 AM

I'm delighted to have so much hard drive space back--between my main computer and my external hard drives I've got over a TB, but 7GB still helps. I've also noticed some improvement in speed.

On the other hand, Snow Leopard refuses to play nicely with Thoth and has a strange (and very annoying) problem in which the cursor disappears at random.

I have two more computers on which I could install Snow Leopard under my family licence, but have not yet decided whether I will.

Rob wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 11:54 AM

OS X has never required a serial number for installation (major upgrade or not), because Apple knows that if you're using their OS then you're spending big bucks for their hardware as well. That said, there are also a lot of benefits to having both hardware and software developed by the same company. That's very evident in the Mac's far superior usability and style over generic PCs.

Greg Midensky wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 1:00 PM

Alexey, thanks for proving my points to be spot on. Unlike you I have actually USED Snow Leopard and installed it on a half dozen Mac's, despite your twisting my post to somehow imply that Snow Leopard is little more than a paid upgrade for a web browser, all this just proves that you know not of what you speak.

I'll let you choose whether you'd like to be in the paid-off, ignorant, and/or too lazy to do even basic fact-finding categories, you may choose to slot yourself in all three.

William wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 2:16 PM

When you buy an Apple product don't forget to get fitted for your very own Apple straight-jacket! You can't download tunes from Media Monkey or any other third party software. Their MID's only allow you run app's that run on the O/S that you must run on their hardware. Yes, they are the easiest computers and devices for the technologically illiterate - but there is a big trade-off! You can only do what the paternalistic Apple corporation allows you to!

Greg Midensky wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 2:50 PM

Snow Leopard is not as big an upgrade as past versions of Mac OS X in fact at first glance its not that dissimilar to Leopard. But under the hood its been completely rewritten with a host of subtle, but powerful changes that vastly enhance user experience and productivity. Among the new technologies 64-bit support enables applications to access more RAM, so they run faster and more efficiently. Snow Leopard also support Open CL. Open CL utilizes the power in the computers graphics processor, so instead of just being uses for graphic intensive tasks, its idle power can also be allocated to every day tasks. The final technology, Grand Central Dispatch makes use of multiple cores simultaneously, so they run more efficiently. Snow Leopard is an essential upgrade for any Leopard user. Its almost cheap for the increase in speed in everyday use and perhaps more importantly for the potential for future improvement. And coming in a whopping 7GB lighter than Leopard, it will actually free up disc space. How many upgrades do that? A Service Pack? I think not.

Greg wrote:Posted: 2009/09/08 at 3:07 PM

William, your post is erroneous, false and full of FUD.

A Mac can run ANY OS natively, that includes Windows, and Unix/Linux etc. and is rated best in class in terms of hardware when compared to PC's, and they have Zero viruses, so what are these trade off you speak of? [crickets]

James wrote:Posted: 2009/09/09 at 2:03 PM

Wow, that's gotta be the worst review (or lack of) I've ever seen.

Greg wrote:Posted: 2009/09/11 at 4:22 PM

BTW: Daring Fireball's John Gruber noted yesterday that Apple has released libdispatch, the source code for the user space implementation of Grand Central Dispatch, taking a significant portion of the company's technology for more efficiently utilizing multicore processors open source. While some may consider the move a surprise due to the technology's key role in the core of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, MacResearch points out several reasons why the move may not be all that risky for Apple.

So why did they do it? Only Apple knows for sure, but there are compelling arguments for open sourcing Grand Central Dispatch, even for a commercial enterprise. First, Apple will of course reap the rewards of any development that takes place, just as they have with WebKit. Second, it is unlikely that Grand Central would be used by any direct competitor to Apple, like Microsoft. Grand Central is more likely to be added to other UNIX and Linux systems, none of which really pose a threat to Apple's consumer-based business.

Opening up Grand Central Dispatch for broader distribution into the UNIX community could ultimately serve to spark new innovations using the technology that could make their way back to the Mac platform. In addition, wider distribution of the technology could drive the adoption of other technologies such as blocks, the non-standard extension to the C programming language upon which Grand Central Dispatch is based.

Mitchell Cook wrote:Posted: 2009/09/15 at 10:52 PM

I believe that this latest version of OSX is Macs continuing efforts to force people to buy their newest Intel powered computers. My G5 runs Logic 8 beautifully on OSX 10.5 but that's the end of the road. If I want to upgrade to Logic 9, I'm forced to give Mac $3000 for a new tower and my old one is worthless as a trade-in. Forced Obsolescence!