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Snow Leopard is out of the bag

by Megan Lavey-Heaton Jun 8th 2009 at 4:45PM



For the ultra low price of $29 (for existing Leopard users), Apple gave a deeper look into the upcoming Snow Leopard release -- slated for some time in September.

"We've built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before."

Here's more highlights of the Snow Leopard release...
  • Quicktime 10: Has a post of its own, but will sport a redesign and the ability to integrate with MobileMe, YouTube and more. There's also word that the Pro version of this application will be dropped.
  • Safari 4: Available now. Initial reports say that the tab bar has dropped back below the address bar. It too will be getting its own post.
  • Exposé integration: Exposé is now embedded in the Dock. Click and hold on the application, and all the documents you're working on within that app will be exposed so you can pick one. Nice bonus for Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign etc. users. Stacks will also now be scrollable and can navigate through the folders (and this wasn't in Leopard, why?)
  • Tweaks to Finder, including faster Quick Look and Spotlight. This will be beneficial for the later-mentioned Microsoft Exchange support. All system applications (Finder, Mail, iCal, iChat, Safari) are 64-bit, and will also remain compatible with 32-bit applications
  • Grand Central Dispatch: Takes advantage of multicore processors through a process called threading. OpenCL for graphics
  • Microsoft Exchange support built into Mail, Address Book and iCal. Exchange data can also be accessed via Spotlight and Quick Look.
  • A slimmer OS: You'll reclaim 6GB of your hard drive with Snow Leopard, and it installs faster to boot.
  • Multi-Touch trackpad integrated with VoiceOver so different parts of the desktop/open window are heard when moving a finger around the trackpad. Also has built-in support for wireless Bluetooth braille devices. You can also draw draw Chinese (kanji) characters on the trackpad. What I'm curious to know is if you can also draw Japanese hirigana/katakana on it as well.
  • 640x480 video resolution for iChat and iChat Theater. Only 300Kbps bandwidth required as opposed to the current 900Kbps. If iChat fails to make a connection to another user for a video chat, it will reroute the request through the AIM relay server.
  • Enhances to PDF text selection in Preview. The need for Adobe Acrobat grows dimmer by the day ...
  • Snow Leopard + Airport Extreme/Time Capsule = The ability to share files over a network while your computer is asleep.
As Erica mentioned in her previous post, Snow Leopard will be available at some point in September for $29USD for upgrades from Leopard, $49 for a Family Pack while Tiger users can get a Mac Box Set with Snow Leopard, iWork '09 and iLife '09 for $169. A Family Pack of that set will be available for $229. In addition, anyone who purchases a Mac with OS X 10.5 on it between June 8 and December 26 can upgrade to Snow Leopard for $9.95.

Snow Leopard requires at least 1GB of RAM, 5GB of available hard disk space and -- in a day long dreaded by PowerPC users -- is only available for Intel processors.

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For the ultra low price of $29 (for existing Leopard users), Apple gave a deeper look into the upcoming Snow Leopard release -- slated for...
 

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bikeham

It appears that Quicktime 10 removes the pitch and speed adjustments window?

August 29 2009 at 8:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ben

Actually, intelligent text selection for a pdf in Preview already existed, by using the ALT key when selecting the text (with the text selection tool)

June 21 2009 at 8:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
now4real954

work it the f**k out apple...gotta love it

I'm just wondering how it will work with the 32bit intel machines...is it even worth it to get it...I need it because my Macbook core duo is lagging a lot...I know it's time to buy a new one...but I have no money for that...can barely keep the roof over our heads...but for $29 I can swing that if it is going to give me better performance

but I need to know if it will work well with my macbook and my core duo mac mini....all this talk about 64bit systems is making me sad...cuz don't have one...I wish I did...please explain this to me oh wonders of the TUAW family

thanks in advance

June 11 2009 at 5:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to now4real954's comment
now4real954

@shaunisadirty

well it's not that simple...the problem is I have reinstalled the operating system from scratch before...but I have to import my stuff...I have way too many programs and all of the settings already set up for most of them...I am not about to go thru tons of apps and try to figure them all out...

@everyone else...

please answer the questions that I asked and not make me wrong for using my computer the way I use it...thank you

June 11 2009 at 8:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jonathan

ouch, only 3 years for PowerPC users to switch to intel

June 09 2009 at 12:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kdcubic

So, is this a no-go for a MacBook Pro with a Core Duo processor?

I wonder how long after release it will take for Digidesign to approve it for use with Pro Tools so I can install it on my Mac Pro...

June 09 2009 at 11:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Caspar Aremi

I'm a tiger user and have put off upgrading because of the price - I would for £29, but not if I've got to pay £129! Why can't the upgrade be used from Tiger? Or have the tiger to leopard upgrade available for the same price...

June 09 2009 at 9:51 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mick Dann

Has ZFS support disappeared from the Server version ? No mention on the Tech Specs any more.

June 09 2009 at 8:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
luc

"Snow Leopard + Airport Extreme/Time Capsule = The ability to share files over a network while your computer is asleep."

This could have a big impact on AppleTV. Currently, one of my big annoyances with it is that I have to have my iMac turned on while watching videos (which I don't sync to the AppleTV).

With this functionality, suddenly my Airdisk becomes much more useful and I can watch whatever I want without having to run upstairs to turn on the iMac. It would just be used to manage files in iTunes.

June 09 2009 at 1:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Narm Plabstik

Oh, God. it's true. All my fellow mac users ARE retarded....

June 09 2009 at 1:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Narm Plabstik's comment
lamb

lololol

June 09 2009 at 5:33 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cygnus X-1

Any details regarding which CPUs are going to support 64bit? I have a Core 2 Duo in my MBP and I know Intel says it has 64bit but sometimes there are firmware and motherboard support issues.

June 08 2009 at 10:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Cygnus X-1's comment
dagamer43

All Core 2 Duos support 64-bit. Only the original Core Duo in Macs bought before September 2006 are 32-bit only (excluding the Mac Pro).

June 08 2009 at 11:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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