Thoughts on Snow Leopard

[Angel of Ioren]

There aren't that many "visible" new features, but I do notice a big difference in overall snappiness. I had a few issues where all my widgets were gone and it was taking forever to go to sleep, but I managed to fix those problems.
It's well worth the $40 (it's $35 plus tax up here) I paid for it.

 

[pixelsmith]

There aren't that many "visible" new features, but I do notice a big difference in overall snappiness. I had a few issues where all my widgets were gone and it was taking forever to go to sleep, but I managed to fix those problems.
It's well worth the $40 (it's $35 plus tax up here) I paid for it.

i havent bothered with it yet. my main workhorse is a PPC based G5 and not supported by snow leopard. my macbook is supported but i have seen no real reason to upgrade yet. thank you for helping working the bugs out! please keep us informed on your experience.

 

[Stagger]

It is commendable for a heavy weight like Apple to actually spend time on improving performance/stability while (I've read) reducing footprint. Refreshing, considering the the kitchen sink features just for the sake of it approach most vendors seem to have adopted.
The AVG on my Windows box has basically turned into malware.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Aside from a few visual enhancements, Windows 7 is also primarily a shave and haircut and an improvement to the plumbing. The difference is marketing. Apple tells you precisely what they're offering and charges less. Microsoft, as usual, lies.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

After using it for a few days now, I can say I see the difference in performance. There's also the bonus that my hard drive went from 180 gigs to 200. I know that some of that extra "gigage" has to do with the fact that SL calculates size in a different way, but it's still some extra space I didn't have before.

 

[Stagger]

@Angel:
One question: did you do an upgrade or a clean install?

@Gene:
I have downloaded Windows 7 RTM and I will give it a good test drive one of these days, but it better be a *significant* haircut because Vista 64 was, quite frankly, unusable for me. The fact that it broke many apps (including some of my own ), its ability to blue-screen upon installing a SATA DVD (which worked perfectly under XP) and the habit of spawning resource-hogging processes for no good reason convinced me to downgrade!

Technicalities aside, if I can get a bit frivolous : am I the only one to think that the Snow Leopard picture is so totally awesome that the box alone almost warrants the purchase??

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I did an upgrade, not a clean install. From what I understand, Apple is recommending an upgrade, and they've made it a little harder to find the "clean install" option. I don't have too much stuff on my Mac, so a clean install didn't feel necessary.
I'm starting to find more and more things that I like about SL. I repaired permissions this morning and it didn't take forever. Time Machine seems a lot faster too.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

I did an upgrade, not a clean install. From what I understand, Apple is recommending an upgrade, and they've made it a little harder to find the "clean install" option. I don't have too much stuff on my Mac, so a clean install didn't feel necessary.
I'm starting to find more and more things that I like about SL. I repaired permissions this morning and it didn't take forever. Time Machine seems a lot faster too.

Technically the only cleaner install is to wipe the drive, install Snow Leopard and restore your apps. But the upgrade install is very, very smart. I haven't of many failures.

 

[Jeff Crowell]

I'm running it now and haven't noticed too much in the way of anything, but then again I've only had it installed for about 8 hours, now. I can say this: I've noticed my Macbook booting quite a bit slower in recent days and am going to have to dig up the application I'd installed a while back that supposedly improves that. I also doubled my RAM from 2Gb to 4Gb about a week ago and that seems to help quite a bit, too.

Considering I bought my MacBook just as a school computer; Net surfing and note taking, I find myself using it more and more. In a house with 3 Windows-based computers, that may tell you something.

.

 

[trilithium]

As others have stated, It seems quick. I did an upgrade and it seemed very clean. I left out all the language packs, saved more space. I tried to change my dock using Leopard methods and it screwed something up, could no longer right click in the dock, and the SL update would not install. Had to reinstall SL and now things are dandy.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

As others have stated, It seems quick. I did an upgrade and it seemed very clean. I left out all the language packs, saved more space. I tried to change my dock using Leopard methods and it screwed something up, could no longer right click in the dock, and the SL update would not install. Had to reinstall SL and now things are dandy.

Sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best way.

 

[marmer]

PPC not supported. Unacceptable. Yes, I've read Apple's and Macworld's explanation as to why, and I am still not convinced. My new machine is a 2005 G5 iMac, and my work machine is a 2001 PMac G4 Dual. I know people doing productive work on G3's. If the machines will last that long, why stop supporting them with OS releases?

Still smarting over the loss of Classic, actually. We're in a recession, people. Making old gear last as long as it can is a virtue.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

PPC not supported. Unacceptable. Yes, I've read Apple's and Macworld's explanation as to why, and I am still not convinced. My new machine is a 2005 G5 iMac, and my work machine is a 2001 PMac G4 Dual. I know people doing productive work on G3's. If the machines will last that long, why stop supporting them with OS releases?

Still smarting over the loss of Classic, actually. We're in a recession, people. Making old gear last as long as it can is a virtue.

Leopard, 10.5, will support faster G4s and all G5s. Snow Leopard 10.6 contains technologies that really only come into play with newer hardware, so there was probably little sense in investing in older models. Remember that even four years is an eternity in the computer business. Besides, the visual changes in Snow Leopard aren't very extensive.

Try running Windows Vista on most four- and five-year-old hardware and you'll see what I mean.

 

[aNorthernSoul]

From what I've been hearing (as we are still awaiting approval to do the update at our office) if you're running any of the Adobe suites, you best be upgrading to Snow Leopard. It's like night and day, which is good as that was a VERY dark night.

 

[marmer]

Leopard, 10.5, will support faster G4s and all G5s. Snow Leopard 10.6 contains technologies that really only come into play with newer hardware, so there was probably little sense in investing in older models. Remember that even four years is an eternity in the computer business. Besides, the visual changes in Snow Leopard aren't very extensive.

Try running Windows Vista on most four- and five-year-old hardware and you'll see what I mean.

Yes, I know. I just moved up to Leopard 10.5 as part of a new hard drive install. It broke a bunch of my favorite stuff, including Senuti, Cooliris, and Soundfont Synth. That's a whole other reason to be upset. Yes, I've been able to work around it so far, but I'm just waiting for the 10.6 only apps to start appearing. I know it's how the tech world works, but I'm still allowed to resent it.

 

[aNorthernSoul]

PPC not supported. Unacceptable.

From what I understood, they basically stripped out all the Rosetta and power PC components and made the OS optimized for Intel. They basically brought the Intel machines to where they should be via this update and thus the low price tag.

 

[trilithium]

Sometimes leaving well enough alone is the best way.

Very true Gene. I did find a solution though and it's called dock library. A free download. After install, you can download customized docks, pick one you like, add to dock library and voila!

 

[aNorthernSoul]

I find it odd that people use the dock thing... what am I missing?!? I probably don't realize how useful it can be... just never really found a reason for it.

 

[pixelsmith]

i keep my dock hidden and let it pop up and magnify if i need it.

 

[trilithium]

i keep my dock hidden and let it pop up and magnify if i need it.

Exactly pixelsmith. I keep my dock at the bottom of the screen but hidden.when you bring the mouse cursor down to the bottom,all your most useful apps are right there for you to access. Some people might keep their apps on the desktop but i like my desktop relatively clear.