OS X Leopard; Much better than vista!

[Colonel Ingus]

Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.

 

Leopard will come preinstalled on all new Macs. It can also be purchased for $129 as an upgrade to existing Macs that, depending on configuration, can be as many as six years old. Unlike Vista, which is sold in four noncorporate upgrade versions ranging from a $100 stripped-down “basic” edition to a $259 deluxe “ultimate” edition, there’s only one version of Leopard. It includes all the features, from those aimed at novices to those aimed at power users.

 

In fact, every piece of software and hardware I tried on two Leopard-equipped Macs — a loaned laptop from Apple and my own upgraded iMac — worked fine, exhibiting none of the compatibility problems that continue to plague Vista. link

 

And a review in USA Today can be found here;

 

Long before Leopard pounced onto the scene, I rated OS X superior to Windows for most consumers.

With Leopard, Apple's operating system widens its lead aesthetically and technologically.

 

I migrated to Leopard from the last OS X version, Tiger, without pain on a MacBook laptop and my own iMac desktop; there's mercifully none of the software driver and other hassles associated with a Windows operating system upgrade.

 

Leopard is one cool cat. link

 

Looks like Leopard was well worth the wait

[apowerr]

Uhhh, the press is always biased towards Macs. That being said, Leopard+an Intel mac is amazing. Apple has done such a great job with this new OS, and I am sure their sales will skyrocket. I plan on 'switching' soon, I am going to buy a Macbook after the update.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

Leopard feels rushed.

[rollcage]

Leopard feels rushed.

 

And Vista felt like it was done just so MS could say they did something...

 

But seriously, what about Leopard feels rushed? I've been running it all day opening all sorts of programs and I haven't found a single bug. The only thing I can think of that I don't like is the aqua scrollbars, I would have like them to go with the iTunes look.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

And Vista felt like it was done just so MS could say they did something...

 

But seriously, what about Leopard feels rushed? I've been running it all day opening all sorts of programs and I haven't found a single bug. The only thing I can think of that I don't like is the aqua scrollbars, I would have like them to go with the iTunes look.

why is it that everytime says something negative about Apple, fanboys always seem to bring up windows?

 

i don't think that leopard is a failure. i do feel that it wreaks of inconsistencies in both the ui and features... like,wtf happened to wireless backup in time machine? why is it that graphite leopard looks exactly like tiger?

[Colonel Ingus]

wtf happened to wireless backup in time machine?

I think that Apple and MS both learned a lot when everyone saw what terrible things happened with vista's problems. In other words, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment, that Apple not come out with something (like the feature you mentioned) unless it works 100%. I'd rather have Time Machine the way it presently is, then rush it by tacking on features that may give it problems later on. I'm sure Apple is looking into what you want. You're not the first to ask about it, but when they come out with it - it needs to work flawlessly. They can always add things like that later. The main thing is that Leopard work with as few bugs as possible. I think that's one reason why they took the extra time to come out with 10.5, to go over it with a fine tooth comb, and I'm glad they did. 10.4 is an incredible operating system and hopefully 10.5 will be just as solid

[iFred]

I feel somewhat disappointed. At WWDC, Lord Jobs had made it seem that Leopard was the greatest piece of software to grace modern computing. I had to install it on my grandma's iMac and it feels like this is something that should of been in a free update, and if people wanted Time Machine, an updated UI n' such, then they could of bought them separate. Its not a bad OS, but its not a $119 OS.... more like $49.95 ....ish.

[Colonel Ingus]

Its not a bad OS, but its not a $119 OS.... more like $49.95 ....ish.

I disagree. We only paid 99.00 for it and it's worth every penny! You seem to forget that many of the improvements in Leopard happen behind the scenes and are not just 'features'. Compare this to vista whose top of the line version costs over 350.00 and when all is said and done it's still a magnet for viruses, spyware and malware. Leopard, like Tiger, is worth every penny that they charge for it

 

Note: Update for clide; many people are reporting that Time Machine IS working with Airport. It appears that at the last moment Apple pulled the feature because of problems with older airports, and not Time Machine. They're probably just working on a update for those older units and then they'll release it again in an update

[apowerr]

I disagree. We only paid 99.00 for it and it's worth every penny! You seem to forget that many of the improvements in Leopard happen behind the scenes and are not just 'features'.

Windows Vista had many under-the-cover reworkings, (not that they were great, just that it did) Leopard however doesn't.

Paul Thorrott of WinSuperSite.com notes in his review (he gave Leopard 4/5 stars):

Meanwhile, Leopard is an incremental, evolutionary update over the previous release with no major architectural changes

For the record Thurrott does go on to say:

while the changes Microsoft made under the hood in Vista added a level of sophistication to the OS that was previously lacking, this kind of change was unnecessary in Mac OS X.

But seriously, as far as under-the-hood goes, all Leopard has is a UNIX certification and better performance on Intel Macs.

 

I also didn't like how Apple decrees *every single thing* they do a feature. If Microsoft had taken a similiar advertising route (maybe they should have) they probably could have advertised 300-600 new features for Vista.

 

In this post I am not trying to cut on Leopard, I am only stating that it does not have many behind the scenes updates.

[Headrush69]

i don't think that leopard is a failure. i do feel that it wreaks of inconsistencies in both the ui and features...

Agree. Ditch the 3D dock and menubar and I would have been happy with the "real" changes that leopard brought.

 

But we know eye candy is a big seller. (Vista, Compiz on Linux., people eat it up no matter if it's useless)

 

My favourite undocumented feature in Leopard: background window scrolling!

[apowerr]

As far as the dock in Leopard goes, I like how the dock looks when you put it on the side. It looks less tacky.

[A Nonny Moose]

To me, Vista feels like Microsoft spent too long in developing an OS that is catered to an IT department (the same one that loves to lock you out of your office system). It does its job and it does it rather nicely, but I still felt like it wasn't my system. Now it is a definite improvement over XP, particularly in security, but the security comes at a cost of the OS treating you like a child. Essentially, Vista makes me feel like I'm in MS Office all the time ("YOU'RE WRITING A LETTER!!!!!!!!!!").

 

OS X.4 (bear with me on this) is more usable than Vista and I don't feel locked out. I've never felt locked out on a Mac of any OS number. In the transition to OS X from OS 9, it didn't feel as jarring as the transition from XP to Vista did and I don't get the same "treat me like a child" feeling I get with any Microsoft product. With each Apple OS though, I can see some definite changes with the OS screaming at me and X.5 (from what I've seen) is no exception. Apple did it in a different way, though. It doesn't make a jarring change, but it is more of a gradual change in terms of the OS screaming at me. So for some reason I don't feel like the OS is treating me like a child the way Windows has always seemed to treat me.

[Colonel Ingus]

For the record Thurrott does go on to say

 

That's just one person view of things. Many other people seem to disagree with them. Here is a sampling:

 

What's new in Leopard? A lot. From the unified interface (goodbye, brushed aluminum) to major under-the-hood changes, to wholly new apps, Leopard is a substantial, albeit evolutionary, advance for Mac OS X that builds on a solid foundation and adds a modicum of eye candy to reinforce the notion that this is something new and improved.

 

While Apple lists more than 300 changes for the OS, most users will be focused on the biggies: Time Machine, Spotlight, Quick Look, Spaces, Parental Controls, a revamped Finder and Dock, an updated user interface, much-needed tweaks to programs like Mail and iChat, and behind-the-scenes changes that should make it easier for developers to improve their own third-party applications. link

 

 

Thanks to Leopard's many under-the-hood improvements, users can expect to see signficant gains in performance and responsiveness under Mac OS X 10.5, especially on recent Macs. link

 

 

Leopard brings a lot of improvements under the hood, plus new resources and tools for developers. Most noticeable to users will be Core Animation effects, from Leopard's new set of system services that make it much faster and easier for programmers to use animation in the interface. Apple has made extensive use of animation in Leopard's interface, from Time Machine's zooming effects to Spaces virtual desktops and window management. It's not all razzle-dazzle; good animation can educate the user about what's happening in their computer.

 

Improvements in the underlying system are extensive, ranging from faster file copying to a vastly improved process scheduler that makes multi-core Macs snappier and more responsive. link

 

All I'm saying is that Leopard is not just a collection of new 'features' and eye candy per se. Much of what you're getting is unseen improvements under the hood which helps OS X to be more stable and to run better, and Tiger ran pretty good to begin with. That's always a good thing, and well worth the admission price.

[apowerr]

All I'm saying is that Leopard is not just a collection of new 'features' and eye candy per se. Much of what you're getting is unseen improvements under the hood which helps OS X to be more stable and to run better, and Tiger ran pretty good to begin with. That's always a good thing, and well worth the admission price.

I agree with you there.

[macprodan]

I agree that is worth it, what most people forget is that most of the work has been done under the hood i.e 64 bit top to bottom, new services and frameworks and the like..You will be eating your words once a load of new apps come out to take advantage of leopard I think most users will change sides.

[iFred]

....meh

 

After spending the last couple of years working on both Macs and PC's

And spending the last year with Vista on my main machine

And buying a Mac Mini for OSX86 development

And taking the time to work with linux

 

OSX is pretty spiffy, Vista isn't that bad either

 

Its just frustrating to watch all of those Apple commercials and then having to deal with clients trying to inform me that if they had just bought a Mac they would never get viruses again, and if they had bought a Mac they would be happier because it is so far advanced ahead of Vista and if they had bought a Mac, the world would be closer to world piece and if the had bought a Mac.....

[macprodan]

Point being..

[Colonel Ingus]

Here are some hidden Leopard goodies.

 

Also, here's a tip if you don't want to wait an hour for Time Machine to update, you can hold down the spacbar and click on the Time Machine icon which will instantly update it

[Colonel Ingus]

Here's another review:

 

The feature that all three agree on as being the killer app is Time Machine, and I have to say that if Time Machine is as reliable and as easy to use as they claim it is, it will be a killer feature.  If Apple have come up with a backup system that easy to use and doesn’t kill system performance (which is the commonest reason why people switch off a backup utility) then this will be of great interest to anyone who’s lost data in the past.  Windows Vista doesn’t have anything like this (and no one start telling me that this is like Shadow Copy, because it’s not). link

[robotskip]

It's amazing how you guys justify certain things Apple does but when Microsoft does the same thing all [apparently] valid logic/reasoning goes out the window.

[glassJAw]

Only when robotskip opens his "I love Windows" mouth.

[Conroe Mac]

*shrugs* I'm not that impressed with Leopard. If you want to compare Vista with Leopard, Vista was a much bigger upgrade from XP (it also took much longer). Leopard was a smaller upgrade, but it's also cheaper. It's kind of like Apples and Oranges. I think OS X is better than Windows, but I think Vista was a better upgrade than Leopard was. They each have their own pluses. Vista has MCE and great hardware compatibility. OS X has a simpler, more polished interface.

[robotskip]

Only when robotskip opens his "I love Windows" mouth.

I have never said I love Windows. Can you please stop lying and building up pathetic straw men? Thanks mate. Also, don't troll.

 

 

And everyone on here can learn a thing or 2 from Conroe Mac, especially so since he doesn't get berated for having an objective opinion like I do, see, I more or less think the exact same. So, +1 to what he has said in this thread and in many others, but amusingly enough everyone on here seems to ignore his posts like the one above.