Even Apple says that OS X Snow Leopard isn’t a full–on rebuild of the mighty Leopard. Instead, Cupertino is claiming the latest update of its killer operating system is simply “the Leopard you know, finely tuned.” So is this paintjob worth a punt? Read our full OS X Snow Leopard and we’ll dose you up with all the details.
There’s no doubting that OS X Snow Leopard is a stunning, Windows 7–beating OS. But the question you’ve got to ask is is it really a necessity for Mac lovers. After a few days tinkering, we’d say yes. From Exchange support, speedier apps and a little extras like expose in the dock, it’s a winner.
Apple claims that installing OS X Snow Leopard should only take an hour. In actual fact it took a minute more for us, but it was 60 seconds worth waiting. While the look is identical to that of Leopard, Apple claims it has refined 90 per cent of the projects in its OS. That means Finder moves a lot faster and also that Quick Look now works for icons too. Zoom in and you can flick through docs rather than opening them right in Finder. It’s a small tweak but one we’ve found ourselves using constantly.
Expose has also been refined for OS X Snow Leopard. Hit the shortcut button and your windows will now resize to match rather than being a string of mismatching docs. Each one is now named underneath too, but the real organisational coup is using expose from the dock. Hold the cursor over each icon and it’ll only show the windows open in that app. It refines everything nicely and we found it kept things moving along nicely when trying to stay on top of myriad files, especially in Photoshop.
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Mail clearly opens far quicker thanks to OS X Snow Leopard and the inclusion of Exchange support makes taking your Mac to the office easier than ever. However, if you’re a freelance warrior, it’s something you won’t need to touch. However you will see its evident just how much speedier it is to fire up your Mac from sleep mode.
Upgrading from Tiger is more expensive and if you’re packing a Mac with a Power PC chip, you can’t come to the OS X Snow Leopard party. That’s a real shame and something which Apple should redress if it really wants to keep everyone in the loop. However, with new Macs always coming, it seems it’s not interested in old–school models.
Open CL and GCD will obviously help as devs work on their apps and create ones which utilise these super fast extras. If you’re after a whole new look, OS X Snow Leopard will disappoint. But if you can spare a mere £25, this will give you some natty extras, more speed and future proof your Mac to boot.
