Snow Leopard review

Snow Leopard. Even the name seems to underpromise -- it's the first "big cat" OS X codename to reference the previous version of the OS, and the list of big-ticket new features is seemingly pretty short for a version-number jump. Maybe that's why Apple's priced the 10.6 upgrade disc at just $29 -- appearances and expectations matter, and there's simply not enough glitz on this kitty to warrant the usual $129.

But underneath the customary OS X fit and finish there's a lot of new plumbing at work here. The entire OS is now 64-bit, meaning apps can address massive amounts of RAM and other tasks go much faster. The Finder has been entirely re-written in Cocoa, which Mac fans have been clamoring for since 10.0. There's a new version of QuickTime, which affects media playback on almost every level of the system. And on top of all that, there's now Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, making OS X finally play nice with corporate networks out of the box.

So you won't notice much new when you first restart into 10.6 -- apart from some minor visual tweaks here and there there's just not that much that stands out. But in a way that means the pressure's on even more: Apple took the unusual and somewhat daring step of slowing feature creep in a major OS to focus on speed, reliability, and stability, and if Snow Leopard doesn't deliver on those fronts, it's not worth $30... it's not worth anything. So did Apple pull it off? Read on to find out!

Installation

Interestingly enough, installation is one of the few parts of Snow Leopard that's dramatically different than previous versions of OS X. Unlike Microsoft's subtle nudges towards clean reinstallation of Windows 7, Apple's quite proud of the new 10.6 installer, which upgrades in place, quarantines incompatible apps and plugins in an "Incompatible Software" folder, and boots you right back up with little to no user effort. Seriously, you just stick in the disc, open the installer, enter your password and go -- that's it. You don't even have to reboot off the DVD. Of course, that made us a little uneasy, since we've always chosen Archive and Install to get a fresh OS, but you can't have cold feet here -- that option's been removed. We've been told it's now the default action behind the scenes, but the bottom line is that you have to trust the installer more than ever before -- and while we didn't have any major problems, it would be nice if we could force a new install of the OS without having to wipe a disk.

Installation itself took about 45 minutes on most of the machines we tried, although we did run into some snags once things were complete. We didn't have any problems with the more pristine MacBook Pros in our fleet, but one of our production machines is a cranky older iMac that's been in constant use for over two years without a system rebuild, and when it restarted the desktop pictures were all set to the defaults, the System Preferences app wouldn't launch from the Apple Menu, our MobileMe sync states were a little confused and Spotlight began reindexing all the external drives. Fixing these problems didn't take much, but if your machine is already acting up don't expect everything to go perfectly.

Other installation notes: We were promised 6GB of storage savings with 10.6, and Apple more than delivered -- we got anywhere from 10GB to a whopping 20GB back after installation. Rosetta is no longer installed by default, so if you're still rocking some legacy non-Universal apps you'll want to make sure and install it. Printer driver installation is much smarter, installing drivers only for those printers you've used in the past and printers that appear on your local network. We have no idea why Apple continues to insist on installing language translations by default, but they're much smaller now at 250MB.

Overall, installing Snow Leopard is just like installing any other major OS update: it works great, except when it doesn't. The process itself is fine (in fact, Apple has even built in some safeguards to let you pick up an install if your computer dies or is shut off half way through), but it's the little kinks you have to work out afterwards that can be tricky. If you haven't loaded up your system with hacks and tweaks chances are you'll be fine -- and if you're living on the edge, well, you're probably used to doing some extra work around upgrade time.

UI enhancements

Dock Expose

Previous OS X releases have brought major UI features like Expose and Dashboard with them, but there's nothing that major in Snow Leopard, although the various tweaks to the system are certainly appreciated. The biggest new feature is Dock Expose, which, as you'd expect, simply links Expose to the Dock. Holding down on an app's icon triggers Expose for that application's windows, and if you drag a file onto an app, you can then select which window you want to drop it into. It's definitely nice, but it's not earth-shattering. Here's a little video of it in action:

Stacks

We've never been huge users of the Stacks feature, but it's been tweaked and is much more usable in 10.6 -- as long as you're using grid view, which is now scrollable and offers the ability to drill down into folders just like a Finder window. All the other views are essentially the same -- and for whatever reason, dragging a file onto a stack icon doesn't open the stack, but instead opens a Finder window. While we're on the subject of folders in the dock, explain this nonsensical operation to us: command-clicking a stack icon doesn't open the folder (as you might expect), but instead pops open the enclosing folder. This counter-intuitive (and frankly frustrating) glitch has been around since Tiger -- and we have no idea why. Here's some video:

Finder file previews

We'll get to the big Finder changes shortly -- the Cocoa rewrite definitely improved things -- but the big UI tweak here is live file previews. That means you can watch a video, flip through a document, and generally peek at things without having to open an app or even hit the space bar for Quick Look. It's quite handy -- but again, not earth-shattering.

And... that's really it, as far as UI changes go. There's some other minor stuff, like better PDF text selection in Preview, new glass-look menus for the Dock, and alphabetical / per-app window organization choices in regular Expose when you press command-1 or command-2, but overall it's all extremely iterative and incremental -- welcome, to be sure, but not major. The new Finder, on the other hand, is both major and more than welcome.

Notable app changes

Finder

It's hard to explain how dramatically improved the Finder is now, because there's nothing externally different beyond those file previews and an icon-size slider in icon view. Suffice to say that the Cocoa rewrite has simply made things better: opening folders with thousands of items is instantaneous and scrolling is just as fast; network connections are snappier; and everything hums about with essentially zero lag. Sure, all the old Finder quibbles like inconsistent windows states and those damned .DS_Store files are still there, but trust us -- speed cures all ills. At least until we dump another couple thousand files into the system and slow things down again.

QuickTime X

Like the Finder -- and, really, all things with Snow Leopard -- QuickTime X is a set of major changes wrapped in seemingly-minor interface tweaks. Although the big change for users is the "dark" interface with a title bar and controller strip that disappear during playback, underneath QuickTime has been entirely rewritten with hooks into modern OS X components like Core Video, Core Animation, and Core Audio. That doesn't mean much if you're just playing back an MP3 or a single video, but remember that QuickTime is more than an app -- it's the entire media layer for OS X, so the Snow Leopard rebuild will have big consequences down the line.

That said, there are some notable changes with QuickTime Player: there's a new screen recording tool (we made all the videos in this post with it), you can record right off your built-in iSight, and there's a new iPhone 3GS-like "Trim" tool to cut your videos fast.

That glossy title might come at a steep price for some of us -- at least at first glance. QuickTime Player X has certainly added some welcome new options for most, but for QuickTime 7 Pro users, things get a little confusing. If you've already got Pro on your system and do a straight install, you'll end up with the standard new QuickTime -- which means a lot of what you're used to will be missing. Hell, there isn't even a preferences dialog -- so say goodbye to presenting movies on a different monitor, or choosing a default full screen setting. The changes also means that you can't do quick'n'dirty edits by copy-and-pasting anymore (a favorite of Engadget editors), and export options have been reduced to presets for iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, MobileMe, and YouTube.

On top of that, some QuickTime-dependent apps seem like they need a rewrite to work correctly -- we couldn't get our Turbo.264 HD stick to function, and other QuickTime programs we tried seemed similarly stressed. Oh, and those screen recordings? They're encoded with some combination of H.264 and AAC audio that didn't play nice with Viddler out of the box -- and YouTube's uploader refused to load under Snow Leopard (we had a number of server errors), so we ended up uploading all these screencasts from a Windows machine. That may not be the case for all, but it was for us.

This won't be too much of an issue for users who are sticking with the basic QuickTime functionality, but for those of us who've become accustomed to Pro, it may be a little shock. Interestingly, Apple let us know that you can actually re-install QuickTime 7 Pro from the Snow Leopard disc (and from your Utilities folder, oddly), but if you hop right into a standard upgrade, it's amazingly easy to miss (we did on multiple systems).

Safari 4

If you're thinking of upgrading to Snow Leopard on day one, chances are you're already running Safari 4, since it's been available since June. The big changes in 10.6 are (obviously) 64-bit support, which here translates into much faster Javascript performance, and a new browser plugin architecture that runs individual plugins as separate instances. That means if a plugin like Flash crashes it won't take the whole app down with it, but sadly, we weren't able to test it -- for maybe the first time ever, we couldn't crash a browser. Hopefully our good luck rubs off on you.

Exchange

By any measure, the most important new networking feature of Snow Leopard is built-in support for Microsoft Exchange in Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Since we're not heavy Exchange users, we won't go in-depth here -- our man Michael Gartenberg has got you covered there -- but in our quick tests we found setup to be simple and the integration to be flawless. It's hard not to look at how well Snow Leopard integrates with Exchange and see exactly why Microsoft decided to kill Entourage and bring a proper version of Outlook to the Mac, but that's not happening for a long while -- until then, we think OS X users who need Exchange will be pretty happy.

Compatibility

Here's where it gets a little rough. Although Snow Leopard is ostensibly just a polish and repair job on Leopard, there've been enough changes under the hood so that plenty of things are likely to break -- or at least not play nice. As with the installation, if you're running a stock or close-to-stock system, you probably won't run into any problems, but if you've got a setup as tweaked as most of those in the Engadget labs, you're going to run into some issues.

The biggest compatibility-breaker is the demise of InputManager plugins in 64-bit apps, which means things like Unsanity's Application Enhancer framework and Safari plugins like 1Password and Glims are now broken (or at least not really playing nice). InputManager plugins have had a long and sordid history, with many claiming that they're unstable hacks built on what's essentially a security hole, but now that they're gone the only thing to worry about is how to replace all the utilities and applications that depend on them -- 1Password's developers are already beta-testing a 10.6-compatible update, but we have no idea how something like Chax will soldier on. If you've got a critical workflow that depends on an InputManager plugin -- and although that's always been a bad idea, we're sure some of you do -- then we'd advise holding off on the 10.6 upgrade until you work something out, since we saw some random freak-outs (like the one pictured) when we forced Safari into 32-bit mode to run 1Password.

We also noticed problems with old standbys like Growl, GrabUp and Skitch -- really clutch go-to applications that seemed to buckle under the 64-bit noise. Although we could start them in 32-bit mode, nothing seemed to work exactly right, and we're pretty sure we spotted Growl making off with a ton of free memory when we weren't looking. We also had trouble getting our Sprint Novatel U727 3G stick working, although our Verizon card was fine. Again, we're sure all of this is going to be updated, but if you're like us, the bugginess will prove maddening at times -- enough to make us consider waiting out the upgrade on some of our other machines.

There were some other head scratchers we saw on various systems, too. On a 17-inch unibody we were putting through the paces, the WiFi inexplicably has gone out and we have yet to get it working again. On a 15-inch, older generation MacBook Pro (3,1), Spotlight will only fetch search results in the dropdown -- results in a Finder window come up empty. More annoyingly, on two other, newer models we were testing with, Safari crashes out when booting into 32-bit mode -- meaning even Apple's workaround doesn't seem to... er, work.

That's the bad news, though. The good news is that almost all of our regular, non-plugin, non-third-party-framework, non-hack apps worked just fine. Office, Photoshop CS3 and CS4, Tweetie, Firefox 3.5, Ableton, Fluid -- you name it, it ran without a problem. Like we said, if you're running things close to stock you're going to be fine, but we tend to kit out our rigs with a ton of little hacks to really speed up our workflow, and that's the stuff that's broken in Snow Leopard. It's up to you to decide where on that line you fall before you commit to the upgrade.

Overall speed and stability

Compatibility with our various hackeriffic plugins aside, we found Snow Leopard to be just as stable and free from major hang-ups as Leopard. That cranky iMac we installed it on seemed to perk up a little, and while we don't think anything will ever make Firefox feel perfectly stable, we certainly didn't experience as many beachballs or other hangups while running 10.6. So yes, subjectively things seem fast and reliable, and the new Finder makes day-to-day usage seem positively zippy -- and the objective benchmarks tend to back that up.

As measured by XBench, Snow Leopard affects every Mac a little differently, but the basic outcome is the same: raw CPU performance goes up slightly, while the graphics numbers go down -- OpenGl performance in particular takes a big hit. We're not sure if this is due to our version of XBench not playing nicely with Snow Leopard or something else entirely, but we didn't notice any slowdowns while we actually worked -- or played a little casual CoD4. We're not deep into the benchmark scene, so we'd wait for some hardcore marks to hit before you race into fanboy battle with these numbers -- for now, just know that Snow Leopard certainly "feels" a little snappier than Leopard.

Wrap-up

Here's the thing about Snow Leopard, the single inescapable fact that hung over our heads as we ran our tests and took our screenshots and made our graphs: it's $30. $30! If you're a Leopard user you have virtually no reason to skip over 10.6, unless you've somehow built a mission-critical production workflow around an InputManager hack (in which case, well, have fun with 10.5 for the rest of your life). Sure, maybe wait a few weeks for things like Growl and MenuMeters to be updated, and if your livelihood depends on QuickTime you might want to hold off, but for everyone else the sheer amount of little tweaks and added functionality in 10.6 more than justifies skipping that last round of drinks at the bar -- hell, we're guessing Exchange support alone has made the sale for a lot of people. If you're still on Tiger, well, you'll have to decide whether or not you want to drop $130 on what's essentially a spit-shined Leopard, but if you do decide to spend the cash you'll find that the experience of using a Mac has changed dramatically for the better since you last upgraded.

Update: In the original version of the review we noted that QuickTime 7 Pro wasn't available for Snow Leopard. In fact, the software is available as a separate install on the disc itself and via the QuickTime 7 app in the Utilities folder.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:06PM]

First day purchase for me. Although I am really happy with it, hopefully it will help out my 3 year old MBP in speed.

[Jimbo Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:35PM]

I'm curious to hear how it turns out. I'm in the same situation with my MBP. Supposedly, SL will run in 32-bit mode on it but I'm wondering if there would be any performance difference to 10.5 in that case.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:38AM]

I would be upgrading, but I have 10.4, so I'd have to pay $115.... *sad panda*

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 10:05AM]

You can buy the 29 version because it works as a clean install also. It's just the price for good will people.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:02PM]

I have one of the first-generation (Core Duo -- 32-bit) MacBook Pros, and Snow Leopard is VERY nice. The system feels a LOT faster, especially in the Finder. This is a worthwhile upgrade.

I've found that "ooVoo" and some menubar programs don't work properly under SL... yet. ooVoo has a Java problem; some of the menubar programs cause the entire menubar to crash (check the Console for error messages).

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 20th 2009 9:02AM]

• you'll get 7+ GB reclaimed HDD space
• much more responsive Finder
• better Expose and Stacks
• GCD for advanced multiprocessing
• OpenCL for software that supports GPU offloading
• Native support for MS Exchange 2007
• virtually all apps and kernel operate in 64-bit mode (on capable machines; and this, technically is far superior to Vista x64 which is pretty good)
• QuicktimeX Pro

People paid $29 for Microsoft "Theme Packs" back in the day. Zero increased functionality or code refinements. Pure crap. $29 is a bargain one of Snow Leopard's features. And it has 100+ new refinements....

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:37PM]

@ Heffeque

the 29 dollar version is not a full install it is an upgrade from leopard disc. You can not do a clean install with that disc unless you clean install leopard first. Thats why the mac box set is a real deal.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 28th 2009 9:41AM]

@Robert.

You are wrong. I was upgrading my hard drive anyway and did a clean install from the Snow Leopard DVD.

[Ipwnnubletz Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:06PM]

This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request.

[Ipwnnubletz Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:08PM]

In other words, we can't watch the videos.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:15PM]

We had a cache issue, but everything should be live now.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:40PM]

this may be $30 for 10.5. users but it's $170 for 10.4.11 users :( I was really hoping it would be $30 for all.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:49AM]

10.6 will install over 10.4,
it may not upgrade (yet to be determined?) may require a clean install but you were going to back-up first, right? so, migration assistant afterwards and you're all good.

[Fez Posted Aug 27th 2009 5:00AM]

it annoys me how I can always detect bias in engadget articles.
Majority of the editors are biased towards Macs including Nilay and Joshua, they try to keep it subtle but its there and its bull!

Do you guys get paid to do this or what?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:29AM]

Snow Leopard:

More* than just a Service Pack





*just a bit more

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 9:39AM]

It's $170 for Tiger users but you also get iLife. So *everything* will be up to date.

[Duke Posted Aug 27th 2009 10:34AM]

Fez, in a review the reviewer will either like or dislike a product. Welcome to reality. That's the point of a review.

I think the final word was pretty middle of the road in not highly praising the update nor trashing it. You are hypersensitive if that was too biased for you.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 11:48AM]

I can see the videos all right, but to be honest it's rather hard to understand what's being said – at least for me, a nonnnative speaker. Somebody's got to work on his articulation, I'm afraid.

[Raaj Posted Aug 27th 2009 3:15PM]

Nilay, Josh,

Care to throw some light on which Mac models can access which Snow Leopard features? I sent a tip to you, pointing to the handy chart put together by Stephen Foskett (and enhanced by Ed Bott of ZDNet) at:

http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/08/24/mac-os-106-snow-leopard-hands-august-28/

I am surprised you did not touch upon how older Macs are left out on some or most of the new features in Snow Leopard. I hope for objectivity's sake, you'd include this data as a PSA.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 7:52PM]

Snow Leopard is Awesome. I'm loving it since I installed it on my PC. Yes PC! Using OSx86 Guide available here http://www.taranfx.com/blog/?p=1744
I upgraded from Leopard 10.5.4

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 30th 2009 6:13AM]

Video is good and let's not bother about it.

Snow Leopard is Faster than Leopard. The proof is I upgraded to it from Leopard on my osx86 PC. Yes PC!
(if you are wondering how, here is the guide i used - http://www.taranfx.com/blog/?p=1744 )

And I found it to be at-least 20% faster at all moments. And I love it.

[ZZMitch Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:06PM]

Nice OS! I prefer Windows 7, but good OS none the less.

[Professor Kaos Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:10PM]

You are a rare individual indeed, we need more like you on Engadget. +1

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:18PM]

I prefer Windows 7 too.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:19PM]

Well heres #2, hey, maybe we could start a cult :-P

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:38PM]

i prefer windows 7 as well....but this still be a nice os but not enough to switch me over to apple completely... i use a mac at times.... but a windows pc i use a whole lot more.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:41PM]

I dunno, I'm dual booting both on a home built hackintosh.. Both have their pluses and minuses. I'd say for built in, company supported software, apple wins hands down. But, for overall usability and customization options (not to mention gaming) Windows takes the cake.

I enjoy using Mac OS X Snow Leopard mainly because as advertised things just work (even on a hackintosh.. mind you it took a lot to get it going). The software is really easy and attractive.

Going off on a bit of a tangent, what the hell is up with missing crap from windows 7? I can't even properly quick-fix my photos from windows image viewer anymore... I have to get live photo gallery or some crap? Why remove stuff?

[Stereotype Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:44PM]

@ ZZMitch

I was actually about to say the same thing. It's a great operating system....but it's still just not for me. Maybe. :P

[Jordan Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:49PM]

@Andrei:

It's a whole online eco-system that Microsoft is creating, Windows Live, such as tagging people in photos and everybody can see them and stuff. I'm sure it has has to do with the EU, as well all know they like to try and destroy Microsoft by making them remove components of the OS.

[Temple Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:54PM]

er..... really. What does this review have to do with Windows 7? Yes, they are competitors, but so what...

There is a fair and ample amount of coverage of Windows 7 on Engadget. Personally, I've ran Win7 RC on my PC for awhile, and I won't be giving Apple $30 to upgrade my Mac to Snow Leopard. But talking about Windows 7 is mere fodder for flame-bait; and irrelevant to the subject at hand.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:58PM]

I've been running Snow Leopard for about 2 months now. using my developer build. Overall i really like it but i will agree for the geek Windows 7 is almost on the same level as OSX. I lean to OSX for things like Adium, Growl, aperture etc.. Mostly software. Games though... thats what Windows 7 is for and well yeah... Visual Studio lol.

[Steve B Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:08PM]

@Temple:
How is talking about Windows 7 irrelevant? A new product comes out and people automatically compare it to what it's competing against. Do you expect people in a post about the Zune HD to say nothing about iPods? A X360 post to have nothing about the PS3? Do you not understand anything about personal opinions?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:09PM]

I love Win7 too, but I'd still like to try it out on a hackintosh partition. I already got 10.5.8 there :P why not 10.6

[Boudou Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:16PM]

@cmsb55

It's 'irrelevant' because Windows vs Mac 'personal opinions' have never amounted to any level of intellectual conversation and always degrade to fanboi stupidity. Using your example. How often are Xbox vs Playstation fanboy conversations worth reading, or iPod vs Zune conversations? Never.

Why can't we talk about the product or review at hand for once without obvious stealth trolling. And this goes for both sides.

[Jerry Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:10PM]

I really like the cover-flow preview feature in Finder. I wish MS would fix up their Explorer preview feature =(.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:22PM]

So let's say Win7 and 10.6 are equal. How much sway will a $29 price tag have?

[Ignatius Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:24PM]

$29 for a tiny upgrade...?

What the hell?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:47PM]

I like Win7RC but I missed the $50 upgrade window. I'm not paying full price for new OS. I may have to go back to my WinXP :(

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:47PM]

So basically we get the same UNIX security (I hate UAC) with a zippier, more optimized graphics and codecs (it actually comes with a DVD codec out of the box, no thirdparty powerDVD or cyberlink crap crashing which is nice). Still has a universal spell checker in application windows from Safari to Mail, just faster. I like TimeMachine, it sure beats Microsoft's now dead OneCare.

Thats nice.

At $30, you can't even buy the extra crap needed to get other UNoperating systems to actually operate day-to-day with simple out of the box features humming along in 64bit mode, less you go Linux, but then again where's the support. I'll have to compare with Ubuntu's latest offerings. But $30 bucks!? Antivirus or (you can only pick one) EZ backup software addons aren't even that cheap.

Sounds nice over all.

[maveric101 Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:58PM]

@andrei & jordan

yeah, it has a lot to do with the EU. it's not a big deal though, i think they're all included in a Live Apps package that gets picked up by Windows Update.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:06AM]

I also prefer Windows 7, though I've already preordered Snow Leopard.

Once Windows 7 is released, I'll have a full retail copy of Windows 7 running under boot camp with Snow Leopard running as the normal OS on my Unibody MacBook Pro. It'll be nice to have both.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:34AM]

i agree i love windows 7 the one thing i wish windows had tht mac did was tht dock with all your applications on it tht seems very handy and more ideal than cluttering the desktop with icons. just my 2 cents tho....

[CJ Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:42AM]

You'll never get me using a Mac as my main OS, but I'll say this, this looks a fine bit of kit.

[maveric101 Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:44AM]

@win ftw?????

you know... you can delete those icons on your desktop. and if you've ever bothered to look a pic of Win7, you will see that you can load up the new taskbar with a larger version of all your program icons (just icons, no text), it's pretty similar to how OSX does it. of course you can turn that off and use the taskbar the old way too.

[MarkAnderson Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:57AM]

It does look nice, however I to prefer Windows 7 which is what will be getting installed on my Macbook as its primary OS. That doesn't mean OS X is bad - far from it - just that after using it for about six months it's really no better than Windows and less familiar.

Hey, it's me, not OS X.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 2:43AM]

@Mark Anderson

LOL, you have a MBP, but your going to forego the Optimized OS and Optimized Drivers for your hardware: read OpenGL drivers 'that just work' for Microsoft/thirdparty drivers.

Its pretty sad if Bootcamp driver's do a better job then the native OS drivers. But thats Windows, 'its open'. LOL

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 3:30AM]

@ Steveorevo

Windows Vista and 7 both come with DVD codecs out of the box. I haven't used a third party DVD player software in years. If you choose to get Windows Live Mail, that come with spell checker as well as IE 8 and pretty much any other browser. Windows 7 Home Premium will also have Shadow Copy and it's own back up system software. So all the features are there. The one thing I would say is restoring files is not as easy with Shadow Copy than Time Machine simply because it isn't as easy to get to. However, once you know what to do it is pretty easy.

[MarkAnderson Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:44AM]

@Steve

Actually I'm going to forgo the 'optimised drivers' in favour 'applications I use that run better or indeed at all' under Windows.

[MarkAnderson Posted Aug 27th 2009 8:16AM]

Oh and, Steve, while we're at it...

Exactly what 'optimised drivers' are required for a Foxconn (or is it ASUS?) board, a standard Core 2 Duo, DDR3 RAM and an nVidia 9400M? You know, the same components you get in most high end notebooks?

Oh and it's a late 2008 unibody Macbook, not an MBP, plus, since we're being pedantic - and as you're the guy who always bitches about the lack of a spell checker in Windows I think we should be - it's "you're going" not "your going". Shame your platform doesn't have a grammar cheker, isn't it?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 10:44AM]

@Mark Anderson

If OS X is not as good as Windows then why buy a Macbook in the first place when you could buy a PC. You always keep saying how Mac are expensive.

[MarkAnderson Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:17PM]

@adrian

Because the hardware and build quality is excellent. The OS, from my perspective, is not.

Apple won't care - they make their money from hardware sales.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:17PM]

"If you choose to get Windows Live Mail, that come with spell checker as well as IE 8 and pretty much any other browser."

Hah, that just mildly ironic.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 4:20PM]

@ Mark Anderson


Fair Enough. It's whatever you're happy with at the end of the day.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 4:57PM]

Agree. I have pretty much the same stance, except I prefer this to Windows 7, but I still admit that Windows 7 is a great operating system, and that Macs aren't the best computers ever.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 28th 2009 7:40PM]

I don't know why all the windows lovers are saying "lol 29 dollar for a upgrade release". I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2). It is no more different from Vista SP1 then XP SP2 was from XP SP1. It is slightly less bloated, more stable and has a few visual changes but overall Windows 7 is the same OS as Vista (the control panel is the same, the underlying kernal is the same, the drivers are the same ect ect ect.)

This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets) you have to pay over 200 dollars to upgrade. You HAVE to pay the 200 and not just the home premium deal price because you can only do like to like upgrades. Ultimate to Ultimate is the only choice.

In effect then, for a similar minor upgrade (with slightly more cosmetic changes and less bloat reduction) Microsoft is charging almost 10 times as much depending on where you buy. Apple is admitting it isn't a huge upgrade because most everyone who used 10.5 liked it, Microsoft is pretending Windows 7 is a whole new beast, because very few liked Vista and they need to rebrand. In reality Windows 7 and 10.6 are similar incremental changes, its just Windows 7 costs a LOT more (and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise).

[MarkAnderson Posted Aug 30th 2009 7:07PM]

"I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2)."

Except it isn't.

"This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets)"

In what way? OS X is a consumer grade OS. Home Premium would be the equivalent.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 12:00AM]

I love my macbook pro but ever since I installed windows XP via bootcamp, I find myself rarely using osx...I don't know why

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 1:20PM]

I have used the PC for years and finally bought a macbook pro. I find the mac has more useful features than windows and yes that includes windows 7. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find what you are really looking for in OS X. Of course there are somethings that windows does better. In the end though, if you spend the time to really understand the OS X I'm sure you will find it has many more useful tools than the PC has for productivity and workflow. There will always be something one OS does better than the other, just has to be up the the individual to decide which works best, but don't sell OS X short because it is unfamiliar.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 4th 2009 12:51AM]

windows 7 +1

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 12th 2009 8:02PM]

Impulsivity @ Aug 28th 2009 7:40PM

" the underlying kernal is the same,"
kernel.
Also, it's not the same. Do some research before you make claims like that. : )

"(and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise)."
Wrong again! Windows 7 made great strides in efficiency over Vista, especially while retaining and adding more features. Why do you think it's the next netbook OS instead of Vista?

You know, It's almost as if you think you've used Windows 7 but instead started using Vista SP0. Are you sure we're talking about the same OS here?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:06PM]

Go away.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:06PM]

Or you could pirate it.

[aeth Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:43PM]

Or you could fork out the meagre sum of $29, which is in my opinion entirely worth it.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:46PM]

Nah.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:52PM]

It's $30 you cheap bastard.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:58PM]

Yeah $30 for a friggin update. im with anonymous.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:05PM]

Wait, so it's perfectly legitimate to say that you're going to pirate Windows, but it's not to say the same thing about an Apple product? So, can I say that you should just steal a Mac, since like Windows, they're over-priced and therefore robbing them is completely acceptable? I wonder if there is a double standard going on here....

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:56PM]

Well $30 for a point update (10.5 > 10.6) is better than $130 for a point update (V6.0 > V6.1)

all marketing aside the "it's a point update" crap is just flame bait. XP was a point update from 2K which was a point update from NT4 in reality.

And you know, paying for an update at least is an update; it's not like paying for a service pack to make something work.

Damn, I fed the troll

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:44AM]

@ Shyam D - who said it was legitimate to pirate Windows, or that they were going to?

I cannot find any reference in this thread to pirating Windows.

It's only a double-standard if, you know, the other standard actually exists and is not just a figment of your imagination.

[jakem Posted Aug 27th 2009 6:08AM]

Without meaning to support Anonymous, people who aren't running Leopard are going to have to pay a lot more than $29 for the upgrade.

[Professor Kaos Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:09PM]

What a bunch of effort for a review that showcases the same thing we'ev seen before. 30 dollars isn't all that much though, but should many care just to "upgrade" because of a new name? I know ill catch flak for this, for sure, but what if XP SP3, was 30 dollars and let's say that sped up the system with some system updates? Many wouldn't care much. But, the main draw here is what Apple commands, many will follow, and there is no other simple way about it. Some will skip this update I know, but I just don't understand why Mac users must be charged for something so trivial when its not a large version change?

[Jordan Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:15PM]

Completely Agreed


.....waiting for the fanboi to come rebuttle with how it's just as much an upgrade as Windows 7 (which it's not) and it's got grand central.....

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:16PM]

yes, but if you had 32-bit XP, it didn't upgrade it to a 64-Bit architecture. Yes, I agree that it is a bit too expensive, and that it should be free for leopard users and $30 for others. But really, the only reason that MS didn't charge for SP3 was that it would destroy the last shred of loyalty anybody had for microsoft. And Apple would, of course, have had a giant attack campaign about how MS made people pay for something that should've been there from the start.

[Professor Kaos Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:19PM]

Loyalty when after SP2 confidence was largely all there, and the mass* majority of business and consumers use XP? I hardly call that disloyality.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:21PM]

Wtf are you talking about, XP is old as hell, and there are major under the hood changes in Snow Leopard. This is competing directly with Windows 7 (which still has a code base of 6.1) which basically just makes Vista what it was supposed to be in the first place yet sells for $120 upgrade, and even that limited sale only took it to $50.

The only complaint I have is that recent purchases pay $10 to upgrade,while many Windows manufacturers are promising it for free, but I guess it makes sense since they really have trouble pushing Vista to consumers.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:21PM]

Windows 7 Ultimate is $320 on Newegg. That'd cover the cost of 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6 and leave a bit of coin left over for drinks. This quickly becomes an (Don't worry ... I'm punishing myself for this) Apples and oranges comparison.

Just sayin'!

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:27PM]

because its not trivial, its a complete overhaul of the system architecture

[Greg7388 Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:36PM]

I disagree. It's more of a new OS than a simple update. And, even though I'm on a pretty strict budget, $30 seems more than reasonable for this update.

[Adamgs Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:57PM]

People refering to Snow Leopard as a Sservice Pack make me want to scream. Theyve obvious been duped by Microsofts marketing into believing that Windows 7 is this brand new fang dangled operating system with an ENDLESS list of features.

Its not.

Snow Leopard and Windows 7 are exactly the same, except Apple has happily called it what it is, a tuned up Leopard.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:40PM]

@JohnTitor

The only reason that the kernal of Windows 7 is 6.1 is because of compatibility issues. The guys at microsoft have said this over and over again. They've changed a lot with the kernal and they didn't want to make applications uncompatible. For instance Halo 2 for PC checks the version to make sure the user has Windows Vista not windows XP, it also works for Windows 7 because of this.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:20PM]

I can't help but laugh every time someone calls this a service pack, peoples ignorance is amazing. I don't understand how you would seem to justify that Snow Leopard is a simple service pack when theres a complete overhaul of the system architecture? Finder being completely written in Cocoa is only just a service pack? On top of a complete overhaul of the rest of the OS architecture? I don't remember a Service Pack ever giving you back up to 20gb of space due to a much smaller footprint from the OS, or noticeably increasing the performance.

Thats not just a Service Pack. This is a complete overhaul of the system architecture. Just because there aren't any major UI changes does mean it isn't an upgrade. At the end of the day, this is exactly the same kind of upgrade that Windows 7 is. Aside from Aero and a few UI changes, Windows 7 is the same thing as Vista and the whole point of Windows 7 is to fix what was wrong with Vista and increase the performance. Both upgrades have the same focus. Yet Snow Leopard is priced considerably cheaper than Windows 7. Ironically, Windows 7 is what Vista SHOULD have been, so wouldn't it be a better argument to say that Windows 7 is more like a Service Pack?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:37PM]

@Adderz and @Millah, and those people are no dumber then you two.

Version numbers mean jack to the end user when we have no clue of how much actually changed. You keep saying it's a complete overhaul, why because that's what Apple said. So why is when Microsoft says that Windows 7 is a new OS, you don't accept it? In the end all we can judge by is what we can notice.

The one thing I can say is all the idiots arguing what the actual level of development that has occurred are complete bull-shitters. When you're a part of the Microsoft Dev Team, or the Apple Dev team, then you can state something definitive. Until then, STFU.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:53PM]

@Omen
I still haven't played Halo 2 because of that version checking crap, the game itself would be perfectly capable of XP but microsoft had to make it a marketing issue. In any case it still doesn't disprove the fact that Windows 7 is mostly a makeover with some tweaks

[maveric101 Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:05AM]

@ohanes

not exactly:

"BlissX @ Aug 26th 2009 9:18PM
The entire OS is not 64bit. The consumer Snow Leopard is 32bit with native 64bit support for applications. XServe is 64bit out the door. Gizmodo is a bit thorough with the explanation.

http://gizmodo.com/5343443/snow-leopard-currently-restricts-64+bit-booting-to-newer-macs"

on the other hand, i don't have a mac, but for $30 i would definitely get it if i did.

and yeah, Win7 is a similar update (maybe a LITTLE big bigger, not a lot), but MS doesn't want to market it as an update to Vista. they want to market it as a whole new OS.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:24AM]

There are a couple of reasons to charge for this and why $30 is the perfect price point. I'll ignore the undercutting of Windows 7 and just stick to Apple reasoning.
First off, there is so much that changed behind the scenes with 10.6 that it takes a lot of work to do an overhaul like that.
Yes, they could have made it free and just call it 10.5.9 but there's a problem with that. 10.6 runs Intel only. It's impractical to have 10.5.8 as universal and 10.5.9 as Intel only. Just doesn't make sense.
In order to make advances, you must be able to leave behind the past. Apple has done this many times. Most recently, Tiger needed a built in firewire port and Leopard left "classic" behind.
10.6 creates a platform from which to advance just as 10.0 did. The advances to Quicktime are so much greater than the advances to Quicktime Player but the user won't easily see the difference. The rewrite of the Finder allows for so much more than is available right now.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:36AM]

"but what if"


no hypotheticals here, so who cares. No one except the haters call this a service pack, and no one other than the kool-aid drinkers think it's all new.

What's happening is that Intel Mac users are able to get a leaner, faster, more stable OS and new system features (Exchange support alone is worth $30 to millions of people).

If Snow Leopard won't run on your computer, I don't know why you insist on talking about it like it matters to you. Leopard is a great OS and even after this Friday, it will still run on millions of PPC macs for a long time. You're just yapping about something that doesn't concern you because you want to argue with people over whether it's a service pack.

But for those it does concern, this is an important upgrade, a great deal at $30, and a very reasonable price even at $140, for those that never bothered with Leopard's excellent features and improvements over Tiger.

So sit down and mind your own lawn.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 12:53AM]

recipe for snow leopard

INGREDIENTS
---------------------
1, 12 to 15Gb whole leopard, cut into pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION
---------------------
Carefully stripe out the 6Gb Fat printer drivers located in the animal's stomach.
With the help of a sharp cutter, get rid of carnivore Rosetta: All chicken dressings will now have 50% less fat

In a large skillet, heat oil for frying. Fry coated leopard pieces in hot oil for about 5 minutes on each side.
Cover skillet and cook on lower heat for about 10 minutes.
Remove cover, turn up heat and tweak for 5 minutes on each side to make the cat crispy.
Cat is done when it is no longer pink inside and its white juices run clear.
Drain fried chicken on paper towels and keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

[CJ Posted Aug 27th 2009 1:58AM]

I think the Windows 7/Snow Lepoard pricing is perfectly reasonable.

They're both essentially the same thing: Upgrades to their respective current OSs.

The difference in pricing is simple: Windows is primarily a Software company, Apple, Hardware. Windows upgraders are likely to use old computers (very old, if the windows 7 specs have any indication - I've got the RTM version running fantastically on a 8-year-old P3), so if they sold it on the cheap, they'd make a massive loss on people who don't buy an OEM version.

Apple, on the other hand, is mostly a Hardware company. If you tried to run Snow Lepoard on, say, a G4 iMac, you'd have no chance. It's only been about five years since the switch to Intel chips, Older system users are going to either: a) Upgrade their hardware, or b) Stick to Tiger or Lepoard. If they choose the former (and a lot will, after all, the PPC chips are fast becoming hard to use), Apple have not made 30 Dollars, but several thousand.

Both approaches work, and both are more-or-less on equal footing.

... God I hope this made sense.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 11:27AM]

So you are commenting on an article that you could not have read. Impressive.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 7:30PM]

Just to settle this dispute, here is a Ballmer Quote: "I would characterize it as: windows Vista, a lot better," End effing Quote.''

Linky http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332756,00.asp

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:09PM]

This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:12PM]

The iPhone has done so well it is somewhat of a gold standard, comparing the Pre launch to the iPhone launch seems more than reasonable.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:13PM]

Quicktiiiime !! (raises fist into air)

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:44PM]

This review confirms my decision to wait on upgrading. I was cautious at first because I knew After Effects is sensitive to anything happening to QuickTime, but with this huge a change, I know I'm going to have to wait until Adobe and Apple can meet somewhere in the middle.

After Effects likes its QuickTime as exactly as your average Hollywood executive likes his coffee -- anything out of place and there'll be hell to pay.

[Jordan Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:13PM]

Well now I'm not sure about Snow Leopard. Given that QuickTime X is missing almost all the functionality of QuickTime Pro..what's the point of it?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:44PM]

Just FYI, even a clean install still gives you the option of installing quicktime 7 for legacy purposes. You can enter your old quicktime pro key there if you'd like.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 10:04PM]

@Andrei Vassiliev Safari does have adblock.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 27th 2009 2:07PM]

Michael: Are you high? Safari supports both proxies and GIFs. Whatever you're on must be some pretty strong stuff.

[michaelwub Posted Aug 28th 2009 7:24AM]

@Zak. You replied to the wrong comment but whatever. Try scrolling down a Safari page with GIFS on it and watch it slow down to a halt. Neither could I get on my own university network via proxy. Keep the personal attacks to yourself next time.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 26th 2009 9:15PM]

"Now if only Apple would let us download QuickTime 7 again..."

It is an optional install and if you have quicktime pro installed it should keep it by default.