Leopard Under The Hood And Requirements Analysis

[MacRumors]

With Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard's" formal announcement, many readers have been reading through Leopard's list of over 300 new features and their associated technical requirements. With the list being quite extensive, we will attempt to analyze some of the less talked about points here.

Under The Hood
Leopard has seen many enhancements that many users may not be immediately aware of. AutoFS claims to multi-thread the practice of mounting and dismounting network filesystems, which should virtually eliminate the familiar spinning beach ball network users may have become familiar with. Leopard will also include various security enhancements aimed at tracking applications (including potential malware), including application signing similar to what Microsoft has done in Windows.

System Requirements
Leopard is the first release of the Mac OS to exclude all G3 class machines, and it also will exclude many G4 class machines as well. In order to run Leopard, a user must have a G4 (867Mhz+), any G5, or any Intel processor. Also, while most features of Leopard appear to be universal, some will require more advanced system requirements or an Intel system. Below is a comparison chart comparing Tiger's system requirements vs. Leopard's.

Requirement : Mac OS 10.4 "Tiger" : Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard"
Processor : G3, G4, G5, Intel : G4 (867+), G5, Intel
RAM : 256 MB : 512 MB
Disk Space : 3 GB : 9 GB
Miscellaneous : Built-in Firewire required : Photobooth backdrop effects require Intel Core Duo or faster, Boot Camp requires Intel Mac, Front Row requires built-in IR, DVD Player requires 1.6 GHz processor for improved de-interlacing


If you plan on buying Leopard at a retail store on the night of the 26th, be sure to check our new Leopard Meetup forum to meet other MacRumors members.

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[zakatov]

yay for faster network drive mounts!

[Xenious]

So does this mean front row will refuse to run without the IR port or that it will run and just not be as functional as it could be?

[sigamy]

A 1.6Ghz processor required for DVD Player deinterlacing? Ouch.

[chrisdazzo]

If only I had a car... I could be there 3 hours early.

[j26]

9 gigs for the OS? Boo!!!!!

[pieman02]

Well at least my new MBP won't have trouble running it :P

Anyone have any idea how much disk space Leopard requires without all the drivers/other language support etc?

[longofest]

Originally Posted by Xenious

So does this mean front row will refuse to run without the IR port or that it will run and just not be as functional as it could be?

I believe it to mean you don't get Front Row at all if you don't have a built-in IR port.

[pdpfilms]

So no Photobooth backdrops for G4s or G5s? I somehow have a hard time believing that my G5 Quad can't handle a backdrop.

[gkarris]

I asked this before but no one answered. Apple says the 800MHz machines are too slow, so why are the 867's okay? What kind of difference does 67MHz make?

[i_am_a_cow]

9 gigs!???

[Glenny2lappies]

What were the 'secret' features Jobs mentioned last year? I've lost track!

[markfc]

Originally Posted by longofest

I believe it to mean you don't get Front Row at all if you don't have a built-in IR port.

It will run, you can assign a hot key or use the new frontrow icon...

[tennismanclay]

So does this mean it will take up 9 gigs of what i have, or will it take up 6 gigs since i wont be using tiger anymore?

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by zakatov

yay for faster network drive mounts!

Oh so true. NFS has had too many file ghosting issues lately in 10.4.10.

Originally Posted by j26

9 gigs for the OS? Boo!!!!!

Originally Posted by i_am_a_cow

9 gigs!???

Drive space is cheap.

[!¡ V ¡!]

Originally Posted by longofest

I believe it to mean you don't get Front Row at all if you don't have a built-in IR port.

It states that FrontRow will "refuse" to run, not that it will "never" run. I am sure a hack and a BlueTooth remote will fix that problem or maybe a WiiMote.

1.6GHz for DVD Player, so I am guessing that I can still play DVD except it will not include the advance de-interlacing feature. I am fine with that.

Some of these requirements are insane when compared to Tiger.

[Krevnik]

Originally Posted by pieman02

Well at least my new MBP won't have trouble running it :P

Anyone have any idea how much disk space Leopard requires without all the drivers/other language support etc?

3-4GB.

[iBunny]

Originally Posted by i_am_a_cow

9 gigs!???

9 Gigs... Why is this alot?

There are hard drives now that are 1TB large. Why is 9GB such a concern?

[081440]

Originally Posted by pdpfilms

So no Photobooth backdrops for G4s or G5s? I somehow have a hard time believing that my G5 Quad can't handle a backdrop.

I completely agree! I don't see how a 32 bit intel can out pace a 64 bit loaded G5 tower!?

I hope this little chart isn't the whole truth.

[mkrishnan]

Originally Posted by gkarris

I asked this before but no one answered. Apple says the 800MHz machines are too slow, so why are the 867's okay? What kind of difference does 67MHz make?

It is kind of odd, considering for instance that the 867MHz Powerbook G4 has an inferior (AFAIK) video card to the 800MHz iBook G4. Most likely it makes little or no difference, but they decided to draw a line (there are G4s in Cubes and other Macs well below 800 MHz, so it isn't like they only excluded the 800MHz iBook).

If it makes you feel better, 99%+ chance that something like XPostFacto will let you install Leopard on an 800MHz iBook if you so desire.

It's a tough tradeoff. Have you ever watched how Microsoft handles requirements? When XP came out, it was completely baffling whether or not it would work on a given computer unless you were told explicitly by your OEM that your model was supported. Vista likewise. So at least Apple is keeping it relatively simple.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by !¡ V ¡!

It states that FrontRow will "refuse" to run, not that it will "never" run. I am sure a hack and a BlueTooth remote will fix that problem or maybe a WiiMote.

1.6GHz for DVD Player, so I am guessing that I can still play DVD except it will not include the advance de-interlacing feature. I am fine with that.

Some of these requirements are insane when compared to Tiger.

Unless Apple changed things Front Row will run.It's now an app in the applications folder.

Command-Escape

[iBunny]

Originally Posted by 081440

I completely agree! I don't see how a 32 bit intel can out pace a 64 bit loaded G5 tower!?

I hope this little chart isn't the whole truth.

Why do you say this? Do you know anything technical about the processors?

Intel Processors use SSE, SSE2, and SSE3. Advanced instructions for multi-media. How do you know that these backdrops arent coded heavly with SSE? Thus, Making the G4/G5 unable to execute these tasks.

[Foxglove9]

9 Gb is crazy, all those features use up that much more hard drive space? Yikes. I'd like to know ram usage as well, on average if it will use more or about the same.

Either way, I can't wait to hear early reviews this should be a great upgrade!

[Jim Campbell]

... Whether the 10.4.10 Airport bug is eliminated in 10.5 ...?

I'm most impressed with many aspects of Leopard, and I can see definite advantages to upgrading my three-Mac network at home ...

Except that I've had to roll back two of the machines to 10.4.9 thanks to the Airport bug, and I'm not shelling out a wedge of cash for a multiple-seat license if it's going to break my wireless network.

Any news, people?

Thanks!

Jim

[BornAgainMac]

I bet this is the last version to support PPC. Universal apps will eventually disappear and one of the new secret 300 features for 10.6 is that the binaries are smaller and uses less memory.