OS X Leopard review

[dragonsrock]

I've been using the newest release of Leopard for a while now and I though I'd give everyone a review of what I think of it so far.

Pros:
-Much improved spotlight (it's loads faster than the Tiger version)
-Stacks is quite cool and very well done
-Quicklook is a very nice feature and I've used it a lot so far (much easier than opening an application)
-Time Machine is very good for back ups
-Having a search bar in the help menu will probable be useful
-Installation was noticeably faster than the Tiger installation
-Haven't run into many applications not liking Leopard, only a few here and there
-Movies widget, that's very useful
-Empty trash button now is actually in the trash window, much easier than going into a menu
-Thesaurus and Dictionary are now separate, although they are in the same app, now I can just look up the definition of a word or other words like it, without having to have both come up
-Processor menu in System Preferences so you can turn off a processor core, don't know if it saves battery life though
-Cool new screensavers, I like the Retro one
-Downloads aren't automatically sent to the desktop anymore

Eh: (Isn't good or bad yet)
-Open this page in dashboard, I would like to use it to get updates on the three newest posts on the boards, although I can't use it on MacRumors because the searches expire
-New way of showing what processes are currently running in the dock, it's definitely not as noticeable as the arrows were, I'll probably get used to it though
-Mail, they moved the "get mail" button, but I'll get used to that as well

Cons:
-I very much dislike the new UI, I would much like it a lighter shad of gray
-I don't like the new menubar design, it makes it harder to read everything on the menubar, I sure hope a hack comes out to bring back the white menubar
-I got several kernel panics during the Leopard installation (just after it finished loading the language select screen), I narrowed it down to one of my USB devices, so I just unplugged my USB hub and used the trackpad and keyboard on the MacBook Pro
-The new folders are UGLY
-I made a bootable backup of 10.4.10 on a USB external hard drive and I couldn't use migration assistant, Apple should allow you to use FireWire or USB
-Mail did not download all my old messages from my Gmail account, only the new ones, I had gotten after I installed Leopard
-You can't change the permissions of a file, or at least not in the Get Info menu like in Tiger

Overall I'd definitely say that it's an improvement and although it has some shortcomings I'll use it over Tiger.

 

[clevin]

thanks for the information.

 

[plinden]

It might be a good idea to add "Leopard" to the thread title.

-I don't like the new menubar design, it makes it harder to read everything on the menubar, I sure hope a hack comes out to bring back the white menubar

Does this work?

 

[dragonsrock]

It might be a good idea to add "Leopard" to the thread title.



Does this work?

It does, thank you .

 

[plinden]

It does, thank you .

Good to know ... thanks for trying this out. I don't have access to Leopard myself.

 

[flopticalcube]

What Mac are you using?

 

[plinden]

-Open this page in dashboard, I would like to use it to get updates on the three newest posts on the boards, although I can't use it on MacRumors because the searches expire

Just noticed this bit. Can you view Forum Spy in dashboard?

 

[dragonsrock]

What Mac are you using?

I'm using a Core Duo Macbook Pro with 2GB of RAM.

 

[flopticalcube]

I'm using a Core Duo Macbook Pro with 2GB of RAM.

Thanks for that. Do you find it all round faster than Tiger?

 

[bartelby]

For the Kernel Panic Con. I thought it was best to not have USB devices plugged in during installation.
So it's not really a con, just user error.

 

[dragonsrock]

Just noticed this bit. Can you view Forum Spy in dashboard?

That does work, yes.

Thanks for that. Do you find it all round faster than Tiger?

If there was a speed increase from going to Leopard, then I haven't noticed it. I did a GeekBench test and still got around 2500, which was about how fast it was in Tiger.

For the Kernel Panic Con. I thought it was best to not have USB devices plugged in during installation.
So it's not really a con, just user error.

Yeah, it's probably not best to have USB devices plugged in during the installation, I figured that out .

 

[dragonsrock]

One more thing I noticed. Open in Dashboard does not use safari, or at least cookies, because it says I'm not logged in at the very top of the widget I created of forum spy.

 

[elfin buddy]

-New way of showing what processes are currently running in the dock, it's definitely not as noticeable as the arrows were, I'll probably get used to it though

What does it look like?

 

[lancestraz]

What does it look like?

Little glowing dots.

 

[elfin buddy]

Little glowing dots.

Hmmm...not sure what I think of that. Thanks for the info and pic though

 

[dragonsrock]

Hmmm...not sure what I think of that. Thanks for the info and pic though

I'm starting to get used to it, but it's definitely not as visible as the arrows were.

 

[numlock]

I'm starting to get used to it, but it's definitely not as visible as the arrows were.

Is there an option to make the glow more powerful? For novice users you could atleast communicate with them about the arrow pointing up toward a dock icon. I feel this glowing dot (only seen the screenshots) is way too vague especially when you have a transperant and reflective dock

 

[rhagen]

I don't use the dock, just make sure quicksilver is out when i get my hands on leopard.

 

[Alloye]

-Mail did not download all my old messages from my Gmail account, only the new ones, I had gotten after I installed Leopard

Gmail uses POP, not IMAP. The behavior you describe is normal. If you log into Gmail with your web browser, you can reset the date for which items are considered "new" when downloading with a POP client.

 

[Sbrocket]

Is there an option to make the glow more powerful? For novice users you could atleast communicate with them about the arrow pointing up toward a dock icon. I feel this glowing dot (only seen the screenshots) is way too vague especially when you have a transperant and reflective dock

There are multiple ADC bugs logged by developers (including myself) suggesting a change to make the blue dots more visible. Whether or not Apple's engineers get around to it is a different question.

 

[bazzler]

Apparently they're working on refining the Dock anyways (according to the roadmap that was posted a few days earlier). I found the dots to be OK.
.

Apparently refinements/changes are possible :

 

[hotdamn]

Seriously though, how many "my Leopard experience" threads do we need?

that's horrible. I'd rather hardly see the indicators than see those.

 

[flopticalcube]

Apparently refinements/changes are possible :

That looks better. A darker dock helps with the contrast too. Not sure if three lights are better than one bigger one.

 

[Sbrocket]

Apparently refinements/changes are possible :

Yech, that looks worse in all regards in my opinion. Especially the three dots thing, that's just amateur. No offense, of course, but I sincerely hope Apple's modifications to the Dock (if any) look nothing like that.

 

[Killyp]

I like the arrows. It's clean and simple, and well defined. When I first saw the glowing dots, I really didn't like them, and I like them even less now...