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In Depth Mac OS X Leopard Review
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I was working all day last friday so when UPS arrived there was nobody to answer the door... Now I'm waiting for the package to arrive and this article certainly helps to kill the time 
I hope UPS comes soon because I want to see what's true.
Btw, I just love the very last sentence: "Caution, Dock slippery when wet".
I hope UPS comes soon because I want to see what's true.Btw, I just love the very last sentence: "Caution, Dock slippery when wet".
I enjoy stacks even if it is worthless. The ability to sort out my downloads from a line sprung from the dock seems easier to me then going through a folder.
Right, but that's the exact point! The old way also used to spring up a pop up list of the items contained in a docked folder, but it also showed you many more items, and allowed you to navigate through any folders within that folder just using the arrows keys! All right from the pop up list without opening a single finder window!
Leo
It took me FOUR times to successfully install Leopard!! Power Mac Dual 2.7Ghz.
PROBLEM: The finder didnt work.
The third time was at the apple store. They successfully installed it. When I got home, it didn't work again!!
Finally got it to work. I wonder if this had anything to do with CS3..
It took me FOUR times to successfully install Leopard!! Power Mac Dual 2.7Ghz.
PROBLEM: The finder didnt work.
The third time was at the apple store. They successfully installed it. When I got home, it didn't work again!!
Finally got it to work. I wonder if this had anything to do with CS3..
I must say that just for the reason to spread Leopard adoption and to give developers a reason to use the new Leopard features this is a worthy upgrade.
This will result in faster, more stable and overall nicer applications for all of us, once they are Leopard only.
This will result in faster, more stable and overall nicer applications for all of us, once they are Leopard only.
I think we need them to catch up on this one first.
We will look back on 10.5 as being a watershed event. The transition to nearly full 64 bit, the shedding of OS9, declaring it real unix, the transition away from all but a few "legacy processors", the full transition into Intel, and notably the transition to 10.5 on portable devices.
10.5 is literally Apple's new core.
Rocketman
I love Ars reviews, they cover all the bases and often add quite novel information.
Anyone remember their review of the first iPod nano? The did one of the first stress tests on the device, culminating by driving over it with a car to find that it was still playing! Convinced me to buy the 1st gen nano.
Can't wait to read this Ars review after my test this afternoon. Maybe they'll convince me to get Leopard (doubtful, but maybe).
Anyone remember their review of the first iPod nano? The did one of the first stress tests on the device, culminating by driving over it with a car to find that it was still playing! Convinced me to buy the 1st gen nano.
Can't wait to read this Ars review after my test this afternoon. Maybe they'll convince me to get Leopard (doubtful, but maybe).
I share the growing consensus of stacks. If you could drill down in stacks, it'd be awesome, but, you can't, so .. . Like, a folder would fan out again into a second layer off to the left or something. Or, the ability to disable the "stackyness" of a folder in the dock, so clicking on it opens the folder (or menus, if right click)
. Like, a folder would fan out again into a second layer off to the left or something. Or, the ability to disable the "stackyness" of a folder in the dock, so clicking on it opens the folder (or menus, if right click)
I share the growing consensus of stacks. If you could drill down in stacks, it'd be awesome, but, you can't, so ..
I've said it before, Stacks have sooo much potential, but currently they're a mess. First Apple needs to add a simple preference to bring back the 'right-click' menu for dock folders (when desired).
Next it would be interesting to see more robust Stack features, such as spotlight integration, submenu capability, or even simply a "more" button to continue truncated lists. I hope Apple is not done with Stacks development...
I agree with you! This is more eyecandy than actual usability benefits. I get confused when getting lots of icons and folders in my face AND now I can't "drill down" in folders - what is that? I have to open finder and then...drill down
apple better improve this!
apple better improve this!
John's review is as always very technical, very demanding and very good.
I am using leopard on our G5 iMac and I must say it is awesome. Everything is faster and it feels so solid. The look really stays out of your way now as it all is very uniform. I just love what they have done to iCal which I live in. Safari screams. Mail doesn't get hung up anymore. Scrolling in a window in the background. You've seen these comments and they are true.
I don't think most of us will get as gung ho about a few things like John does so I suggest using it yourself before completely agreeing with everything he says. I don't disagree with him (too much) but he does let some things nag at him that I don't think the majority of us worry about. (I'm glad he does though.)
Leopard version one will be seen as much more stable than Tiger ever was in its early days and so far, I think it is as stable (and certainly much faster) than the latest version of Tiger.
John mentions something about Spotlight maybe making the whole system faster. Whatever it is, it is much appreciated. Our G5 seems like a new machine. I can only imagine those of you lucky enough to have one of the new Intel machines.
I am using leopard on our G5 iMac and I must say it is awesome. Everything is faster and it feels so solid. The look really stays out of your way now as it all is very uniform. I just love what they have done to iCal which I live in. Safari screams. Mail doesn't get hung up anymore. Scrolling in a window in the background. You've seen these comments and they are true.
I don't think most of us will get as gung ho about a few things like John does so I suggest using it yourself before completely agreeing with everything he says. I don't disagree with him (too much) but he does let some things nag at him that I don't think the majority of us worry about. (I'm glad he does though.)
Leopard version one will be seen as much more stable than Tiger ever was in its early days and so far, I think it is as stable (and certainly much faster) than the latest version of Tiger.
John mentions something about Spotlight maybe making the whole system faster. Whatever it is, it is much appreciated. Our G5 seems like a new machine. I can only imagine those of you lucky enough to have one of the new Intel machines.
Installation Troubles with Mac Mini
i had 3 macs to update this weekend. one new imac, a recent mac book and a first generation mac mini. the mini was the only machine to give me serious trouble.
after installing and rebooting i got the login screen. after choosing my or my daughters account all that would happen would be the spinning beach ball (no icons on desktop, no menu bar). numerous reboots did not remedy. reinstalling leopard did not help either. strangely enough, the guest account that i installed a long time ago and never had used was accessible. through that i was able to create new accounts for me and my daughter. close the old account be leave their respective data intact and after logging into the new accounts copy over whatever data was needed from the old accounts.... everything now works fine...
i had 3 macs to update this weekend. one new imac, a recent mac book and a first generation mac mini. the mini was the only machine to give me serious trouble.
after installing and rebooting i got the login screen. after choosing my or my daughters account all that would happen would be the spinning beach ball (no icons on desktop, no menu bar). numerous reboots did not remedy. reinstalling leopard did not help either. strangely enough, the guest account that i installed a long time ago and never had used was accessible. through that i was able to create new accounts for me and my daughter. close the old account be leave their respective data intact and after logging into the new accounts copy over whatever data was needed from the old accounts.... everything now works fine...
You guys aren't helping.
We have a 4yr old 1.25Ghz G4 PB, and were hoping to replace it with a new MBP in the new year. But realistically it's now looking like being the second half of the year.So I was trying to be sensible and just wait, thinking the old PB might struggle a bit with Leopard.
I'm not going to last much past Xmas at this rate....
I disagree with him on the Dock and menu-bar issues, which I feel were very subjective opinions. I have actually been hiding the dock less since Leopard. Although, I'd like to see a version of the dock without the curved highlight. Sometimes, I feel like programmers have a mindset of anti-eyecandy on the basis of usability. This so-called eyecandy on the Dock makes me actually want to use it more.
There is one usability aspect that the reviewer didn't take into account with the 3D dock. The new dock allows the top of applications to show without a background. The shape of the icons are more pronounced than they were with Tiger's dock, which makes them quicker to recognize. In fact I'd like the option to make the icons persistently bigger in relation to the dock. Also, I think stacks goes a long way toward avoiding Dock-abuse (like my mom who has a bazillion folders and icons on her dock).
The menu-bar looks really cool with some backgrounds, and gives the illusion of more screen real estate. Although I think the menu bar really starts looking good if you choose Graphite for Appearance and Highlight color.
There is one usability aspect that the reviewer didn't take into account with the 3D dock. The new dock allows the top of applications to show without a background. The shape of the icons are more pronounced than they were with Tiger's dock, which makes them quicker to recognize. In fact I'd like the option to make the icons persistently bigger in relation to the dock. Also, I think stacks goes a long way toward avoiding Dock-abuse (like my mom who has a bazillion folders and icons on her dock).
The menu-bar looks really cool with some backgrounds, and gives the illusion of more screen real estate. Although I think the menu bar really starts looking good if you choose Graphite for Appearance and Highlight color.
I would try Leopard first. I seriously don't mind the Dock folders. Now if you have a folder with a bazillion things in there.....
Spotlight is so blazing fast now that it is MUCH more usable. Dock folders may not even be an option for me now. Spotlight is da man!
Excellent review
I saw it on Digg last night. It is a very informative and honest review. It is subjective at times though.
I saw it on Digg last night. It is a very informative and honest review. It is subjective at times though.