[Review] Leopard

[Paranoid Marvin]

I have decided to bring my self out of retirement just to write this review, so feel honored

 

Well, where can I start with Leopard? First of all, it's fast. I found myself getting really frustrated with performance issues with Tiger and even the recent dev builds of Leopard, but it seems they have finally got things right with the final retail version. Even on my 1.5ghz Powerbook it is nippy, though I highly recommend that you have at least 1GB of RAM, and perhaps more than the 1.5GB I have. One thing Apple have really improved is stability, which is, of course, critical. After using many of the dev builds, I got the impression that the final Leopard was either going to be fast, or stable, but, praise the Lord (Steve, of course) the retail version is both. However, there are a few niggles I am having with 3rd party apps such as Adium, that annoy me at times. All the system apps, however, are near perfect form what I have observed.

 

Two WWDCs ago when we were first shown Leopard, like quite a few people, I was disappointed with the new features of Leopard - it made it seem more like Tiger SP1. And then next year, we were shown a new UI - well big woop. However, after using Leopard, Apple has managed to cast such thoughts out of my head. Admittedly, I won't use many of the new features of Leopard, but it's the little things that really count. For example, Dictionary.app is great — the wikipedia support is really helpful. Stacks are really useful when used in conjunction with the Downloads folder (included by Apple as a little taster of Stacks). It can show you at a glance of an eye how well a download is doing and provides quick access. However, the benefits are only there if you use Safari, and clean out the folder regularly.

 

iChat is one of the applications that I never used in Tiger, for two reasons. One, it used AIM - and no one this side of the pond uses that. Two, it seemed like the poor man's chat client, compared to Adium, for example. But with iChat 4, I am sold! Admittedly, my use is hampered by the lack of MSN support, but for the few people with AIM and Gtalk, iChat is a joy to use. It's hard to describe, but when using iChat 4, you really enjoy using it! Apple has really fine tweaked the visual effects and UI to make iChat an extremely easy and powerful client. Again though, I can't get the full use of features such as video backdrops, because I have no compatible webcam, and my Powerbook isn't fast enough (iChat backdrops require a Dual G5 or C2D). I am yet to use the screen-sharing, but my experiences from the dev builds were positive, if a little bug ridden.

 

Yet again, I failed to utilise another app in Tiger - iCal. Perhaps my life isn't busy enough, perhaps I am too lazy to make appoints. Whatever the reason, iCal 2 just seemed to laborious to do something so simple (hence why I keep a good old fashioned paper calender and a pen beside my desk). All it did was sit in the Dock and annoy me with that icon that never changed unless the app was open — and since I never used it, it never was. iCal 3, on the other hand, has taken at least one step in the right direction. iCal day is dead, welcome your new master, the ever changing iCal icon — and I love it. I may not use it much, but at least iCal has a place in my Dock to tell me the date. From limited use, it seems that iCal has been made a lot slicker, and I will see what I think as time goes on...

 

Now I come to Leopard's new Desktop, Finder, and Dock as well as Spaces and tweaks to Exposé and Dashboard. At first, I thought the new Leopard Desktop look "ok". It's clear to see that they have tweaked it slightly since the WWDC preview — the menu bar is a little clear and easier to read. One thing I dislike about it is the way it doesn't fit in if you have a dark background and a flat Dock (more on that later) — it just sits there and look rather grey and awkward; somewhat like a large elephant in the room that no-one is talking about. One thing I am glad they changed since the WWDC build was the colour of the Spotlight menu. It's now the traditional blue, rather than the mucky grey we saw Steve demonstrate. There are numerous slight UI tweaks generally across the system, such as windows appearing a lighter grey when inactive, drop down menus blurring the stuff underneath and more colourful, gem like buttons on the top left of windows (close, minimize maximise traffic lights?). Spaces is an interesting kettle of fish. Admittedly, it is fast, responsive and easy to configure, but virtual desktops are one of those things that you either use and love, or just don't. I guess they require a certain adaption, as many people, I am sure, lay stuff out on their screen in a certain way, and using virtual desktops changes that. It is, undoubtable, a great time saver for cramped screens and could even help you focus more and become more attentive and productive (warning: for external use only). It's another one of those features in Leopard I need some time to adjust to. Exposé has seen some interface tweaks — when in use, the background appears much darker (almost black) than in Tiger. Dashboard made me writhe in agony and seethe with anger under 10.4. Load times were atrocious and Dashboard would often bring the whole system to a one minute tea break whilst it got its act together — and when it did, it was slow. With this new cat, Dashboard is infinitely (maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration) more responsive. Apple boasted about the new widgets they included, but they are pretty useless in general use. Webclip is great, if you want to watch website that changes frequently (and most of us use RSS feeds for that purpose). I guess it saves you waiting for someone to make a countdown widget to Windows 7 - it's easy enough to find website and make a web counter to 28th August 2018 and then Webclip it (social websites such as Bebo normally have things like that). The movie widget is as useful as a Vista powered washing machine if you live out of America (as most the world happens to be). I expect Apple to address this soon. The shining gem of Jobs' new big cat is its fancy new Dock. The Dock has gathered a fair bit of criticism, after all, it's big, shiny, distracting and somewhat no more useful than Tiger's Dock. Admittedly, I have turned off the shiny Dock for the much less distracting flat, black Dock which trumps its predecessor and blinged up brother in many ways. Firstly, it' easier to make out at first glance. The icons stand out and the active ones are lit quite concisely by a pearly, blue dot. Secondly, it does the same function in less space. A smaller, flat Dock is easier to use, because it is clearer. The new Finder is a bag of mixed nuts. The new UI is nice and somewhat familiar, but the Coverflow just seems, well, pointless. It's nice to see your applications, but other than that, it makes file browsing a bit more clumsy. The huge new icons and improved preview icons on text documents and movies are great, however. Quicklook is by far my most favourite feature in Leopard. Preview and Quicktime no longer need a permanent place in my Dock, they seem to be able to handle any file with ease and speed. PDF support is fantastic, Keynote support is odd. Rather than presenting your slideshows as slides to click through, you scroll through the show, with effects and transitions omitted (odd, eh?).

 

You won't be burned at the stake for claiming Time Machine is the jewel in Jobs' wireless, blogging, virus proof, out-of-the box crown. And it's true — just look at the packaging and default wallpaper! Time Machine is probably the most basic application in Leopard's arsenal. It's a backup utility. Plain and simple. Except Time Machine is only one of those things. Plug in an external drive, and Leopard automatically asks if you would like to backup. It takes all the fuss out of setting up your backup routine — all of that is decided by the Apple Elves back in Cupertino, who obviously know more about efficient backups than your average Joe Blogs. Leopard then presents the seamless automatic backups with a slick, simple and unique interface. Time Machine makes file recovery seem like a fun adventure of traveling into the (near) past a physically retrieving the lost files. Time Machine works well with Finder and the Address Book. Sadly, iTunes support is lacking — iTunes 8 please Apple?

If you are reinstalling Leopard, you also have the option of restoring files from Time Machine backups — from any Leopard build from any Mac. I've also realised that by some sort of wizardry, you backup disk does not fill up as quickly as would be expected if you cloned your drive several times to an external medium. This must be because Time Machine does not duplicate files, or perhaps even compression is used? Time Machine is good, if you are clumsy and have a habit of deleting the wrong files. It is, however, a little sluggish on slower machines. I'm sure this sort of problem will be fixed with updates soon enough.

 

Safari and Mail are two of the applications I used the most on Tiger, and I am delighted to say that Apple has made the every day experiences of browsing and email that much more easier and faster. Safari 3 is fast. Simple enough. Not much more needs to be said. The webclip is a nice feature, but as I explained before, not really useful if you don't use Dashboard much. On a slower Mac like mine, Safari is a breeze to use. It makes browsers such as Opera and Firefox (even Camino) feel like you are traveling through a large vat of molasses to get to the next site. I am a huge fan of Safari's RSS implementation. I found Firefox's to be fairly useless, and Opera's to be clumsy. Safari had it spot on with v2, and continues to make performance refinements with v3. My favorite way to read RSS feeds is to have about 10 sites consolidated into one feed. Little features like the spell checker and a google search box on the 404 pages make things just that little bit easier. Mail, in Tiger, did exactly what it said on the tin. In Leopard, it does more, and does it in style. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of the stationary: Outlook did that and cursed it many years before Mail 3 was just a wet dream of the Apple dev team. My shoddy use of iCal also lessens the usefulness of the notes and appointments — perhaps its time I organised my life. RSS in Mail, on the other hand, is big hit with me. I like to have the RSS feeds for a few web-comics (PHD and xkcd are awesome!) delivered straight to my inbox — it just seems to streamline the whole experience.

Out of the utilities category, Disk Utility is by far the best application in Leopard - finally: non-destructive partition editing! A godsend for people that have the annoying habit of changing partitions to fit their mood (read: me). Though the lack of full ZFS support is disappointing, I'm sure it will be implemented eventually (they had it in one of the dev builds). Though, to be perfectly honest, I know very little about ZFS. The 'Z' just makes it sound cool.

 

On the whole, Leopard is (generally) faster, prettier and stabler than Tiger. Though there are some features that take a little getting used to and some others that I'll never use (e.g...Mac) Leopard seems well worth the upgrade. hence why I am giving it a rather positive 4 stars

 

Leopard - Mac OS 10.5 - :star_smile: :star_smile:

 

Pros: Nice interface, much faster and some great new features at a price Redmond can't beat

Cons: Some apps will not live up to their full potential in my system and there are certain niggles that must be patched.

 

For a full set of Leopard screenshots, see here

[sarahbau]

How do you already know that it's more stable after just one day? Did your computer crash that often in Tiger? I generally go a month or more without problems.

[Paranoid Marvin]

How do you already know that it's more stable after just one day? Did your computer crash that often in Tiger? I generally go a month or more without problems.

 

True, I have been running it a few days now, and after using the dev builds which crashed *a lot* and then using just linux for a week, I guess anything feels more stable!

 

But I have had no system apps crash on me or even lock up yet

[Numberzz]

Pfft, way to steal my Thunder! Mine will be better, faster, include screenshots, and it will also end world hunger. Yes!

[Paranoid Marvin]

Pfft, way to steal my Thunder! Mine will be better, faster, include screenshots, and it will also end world hunger. Yes!

 

Too late Numberzz, every starving African has just been provided with a 3 course meal on me!

 

You futile attempts will not stop me now!

[Numberzz]

Too late Numberzz, every starving African has just been provided with a 3 course meal on me!

 

You futile attempts will not stop me now!

Touché

 

My attempts are not in vein! Mine will have a four course meal included, and will have a free $3500 ADC account. Haha! Yes.

[Paranoid Marvin]

Touché

 

My attempts are not in vein! Mine will have a four course meal included, and will have a free $3500 ADC account. Haha! Yes.

 

That's not a nice way to treat a tired, worn retiree like myself...

[Numberzz]

Yeah, why treat an old 16 or 17 year old boy like that?

[cyclonefr]

nice review

[DataTracer]

Since I've updated to 10.5.1, overall I've noticed the system is a bit zippier, but Leopard's instability been a slight headache for me. So do you still like it? I've been using it for a few weeks and while most of the times that I'm not doing anything important, it seems to behave. It has some weird quirks and problems though. Try something for me, open a decent sized JPG in Preview, then go to Tools > Adjust Color. Try some of the sliders. Are they slow? Do you get the spinning beach ball? Or does the whole thing come crashing down? If it works just fine for you, then I want to know why it sucks for me! lol

 

Networking is a little screwy too. Today I went to Go > Connect to server ... entered smb://192.168.0.5 like I've done everyday on Tiger and the Finder locked up, and it never gave up trying to connect. Right clicking the finder icon in the Dock and clicking "relaunch" did no good either. Firing up the terminal and doing a "sudo halt" didn't work either. I had to hard boot it with the power button! I bought a Mac so I didn't have to do things like that :-/ About 2 weeks ago I copied some text from a web page and tried pasting it into TextEdit. CRASH! The second day using Time Machine, I was just looking through a couple of backups, and guess what, CRASH! I'm hoping 10.5.2 update fixes a lot of my issues.

 

Stacks really blows, looks nice but isn't as functional as the older folder drops. I immediately replaced the dock with something better from LeopardDocks.com . I like the better integration with Mail, Calendar and Address Book, but those are really part of the OS, just add-ons.

 

I think it's too early to give positive reviews on Leopard. I've been in the Apple forums for the past few weeks, and other people have tons of problems.

 

You mentioned not being happy with Linux? What distro did you use? I've been happily using PCLinuxOS/KDE lately, and have had zero problems! Works like a charm.