Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5.6 Leopard (OLD VERSION)

The OS comes in a very small package with a little manual. Install took 45 minutes to confirm that the CD was in good condition, 45 more to install. This review is not going to be full of technical jargon... instead a brief first impression from a long time Mac user (circa 1984 Mac 512Ke vintage). For the technicals, go to Apple, read geeky blogs. For the rest of us, I'll try to keep it more straight-forward. They claim 300 changes... here are what I think are some of the more interesting ones... apologies for the length of the review, relative to the number of changes claimed, a moderate length to this review. Updated December 09, 2007 to reflect new experiences.

Pro:
-Time machine! OK, back up programs are available, but how many of them are sold versus the number of macs out there? This program is native, created by Apple for Apple. All I did was plug in a hard drive and Leopard asked if I wanted to make this my back-up drive for Leopard. I clicked yes, and that was it, all set up. It begins back up once the computer is left on and idle. The first takes a very long time, hours, subsequent back ups are hourly, however only files that have changed are saved, preserving storage space and computing power. Time machine looks like any open folder window when it gets down to it... like you went back in time and browsed around (hence the name). Similar to "snapshot" for those Windows XP users out there.
-Install was very easy. Boot machine, insert CD, restart with CD. The computer verified that the CD is in good condition (a lengthy process of about 45 minutes that you can skip but which is recommended). The rest of the install takes about 45 more minutes, but it is basically all automated. It's a Mac, it's so clever that it's easy. Apple does what computers promised to do... automate smartly.
-Price is very reasonable relative to other operating systems (e.g. Vista)
-This OS includes the release version of Boot Camp. I've not used it yet as I have Parallels, but I like how Apple has included this feature... sometimes it's just best to get along as even programs offered on both platforms are just different enough to be annoying. So if you are using PowerPoint at work on a PC, you can use it at home on your Mac acting like a PC... thank you Apple.
-The new "you can see the content of folders in the dock bar" feature is handy, especially if you have many projects going and you dump a lot of picture files into them. They call this new feature "stacks" and it works really well.
-I find that movies too now give you a preview icon which is great.
-New OS did not trash my preferences, such as my Son's photo on the desktop... very plug and play
-Safari web browser is appears somewhat faster, perhaps 1x faster to load a page but I didn't really notice that much difference as I was using another browser up to this point
-The widget-maker is really interesting... I made my first widget of a stock I follow, in about 30 seconds. This was really great. I expect future versions of the feature to add more punch (e.g. the ability to add a title bar to your new widget, improved ability to make very small widgets, ability to use arrow keys to get the widget just right, ability to resize the widget once made instead of deleting and starting all over, etc.), but is still great as is.
-When I have multiple windows open I notice a slight shadow to help me identify which one is active, or on top. Apple continues to impress with their ability to tune into subtle usability features that are so obvious that they have been overlooked. Wonderful (although I would love a darker shadow, and perhaps a bold frame around the window too).
-The Apple web site offers a very nice 9-10 minute introduction. Check it out, it's worth it (trust me).
-Cover Flow is AWESOME! If you are familiar with flipping through album art on the new iPhone or iPods, you'll recognize the power of this feature right away. For those who've been on the sidelines, let me catch you up. There's icon view. There's list view. There's also a column view that's less popular. And there's now cover flow. Much like iTunes, you can flip through files like albums in a juke box, or turning pages in a picture book. The Mac lets you see the first page, so you don't get just a dumb icon, or even a tiny picture, you get a nice big image. It's nothing short of amazing. Cover flow does more (like you can play a video in cover flow without exiting the program or launching a player, fast and convenient), but again, this is a simpler version for the rest of us.
-A further extension of file management is Quick Look. You can sort of open files without launching a program. It's designed to be a time-saver for the person with a lot of files.
-Spaces. OK, this might be a little hard to describe. Essentially, are you someone who like to have 10 programs running at one time? If so, Spaces is ideal for you. You can open say a few photos in one space, a publishing program and Photoshop in another. You can toggle back and forth between the spaces and the effect is a less cluttered environment. It's neat.
-Mail. THere's many new things here, most small. However, for those setting up a mail account for the first time, say on Yahoo or "another popular website", you enter your email address, password, and click OK. Leopard finds it and sets it up. This blows me away. Forever are gone are the days of entering POP and SMTP data, which I guess wasn't terribly bad, but again, this is 2007. Computers are supposed to be more intuitve, not less right? Mac delivers yet again.
-I didn't mention the Notes and To Do features in Mail, which are excellent adds. Example of what these are: I often send myself an email so that I have a note: Well, instead of sending a mail to myself, which can, if hung up take a minute or an hour to return to me, I can write myself a note which sits in my inbox. I can add attachments like an email. I can also turn a note into a "To do", assigning a due date and getting a check box to check when it has been completed. Anywhere I can access my email, I can also get my notes. Weird and wonderful! To do events sync to iCal (which also syncs to my iPhone)... excellent.
-Email contacts, addresses, phone numbers can be added to existing contacts, or a new contact with a couple clicks. This is very handy for the busy professional.
-The teleconferencing features of iChat makes presentations really personal and also allows you to share desktops. I won't use this at home, and I can only dream of this at work when working remotely with our team/my boss in the UK. Words don't do this feature justice.
-My existing programs seem to work ok. I did get a minor error with Parallels (see Cons section for more), but all other programs tried functioned fine.

Con:
-Boot Camp requires reboot to run Windows
-Changed the icons some, which is not a big deal, but which was unnecessary
-With all this advanced file-sharing capability in iChat, I am concerned that a guest could inadvertently open sensitive files or emails. I get confidential materials sometimes, and I have little means of limiting access. It's too open and I'd love some locking features, both in iChat and in case I walk away from my Mac and someone decides to have some fun.
- Parallels has become unstable and won't launch. A free patch fomr the Parallels website (build "5582") fixed the crash on launch issue, however an IP conflict gotten originally still persists. This IP error does not seem to cause any issues as far as I can tell, it is just a nuisance.

Bottom line: Highly recommended. Sleek, smart, and straight-forward. The review title says it all, however there are obviously many reasons to buy, including staying current with the OS so that you have access to future releases and features.

THis is a brilliant update to Apple's operating system. Installed with no problems, runs beautifully, and the new features are wonderful.

This OS will not run on older Macs, but will run on any of the newer (last three years or so) Macs -- and it makes everything look clean, new, and runs faster (indeed!) than TIger.

Safari is particularly lightning fast in Leopard. Mail has some wonderful new features (most notably the To Do and Notes features) and everything just looks better.

Note that you might need to reinstall some printer drivers after updating - especially if you have Epson printers; but those are available at epson.com (or similar sites for other printers). Many of the "beta" drivers inside Leopard will not work.

One note: if you watch the Apple video about Leopard and follow their instructions ("You can start the install, and go out for coffee and it will all be ready for you when you return") it is simply NOT TRUE. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER while it is updating. You will frequently be asked to approve the next step as you install and if you don't answer them it will just sit there.

Note that they "say" it will take 30 minutes to an hour to install -- that is true only if you skip the disc verification that Leopard automatically performs at the beginning of the install -- otherwise, it actually takes 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to install.

One big warning: make sure you check your printer's compatability with Leopard before upgrading -- many printers (especially Lexmark and HP) do not currently have any printer drivers and the old drivers will not work. Make sure there is a driver for your printer for OS 10.5 or you will be out of luck. Same with scanners and all-in-one machines.

There is a ton of potential here with Leopard, including some very nice new features that makes the Mac even better. The only problem is that the bugs in this first release are so annoying and problematic that I've wasted more time trying to work out the kinks than being productive. Going from the stability of Tiger to this has been a huge dissapointment.

My advice is to hold off a bit until they get some of these issues worked out. Here are a list of the problems I am experiencing on both my Mac Pro and Macbook (other Mac owners are reporting similar problems on their machines):

1. Desktop freezing - both machines frequently have their desktops freeze up, making them inaccessible. The solution is to change the screen resolution to a lower setting and back. **Since the 10.5.1 update I have not experienced additional desktop freezing issues**

2. Installation woes - Leopard's upgrade disc did not recognize my Mac Pro's system drive initially, I had to run one of the programs on the installation disc in order to get it to pop up for the install.

3. Font problems - If you do a lot of graphic design work and are continually receiving fonts along with a Quark or Adobe inDesign document, definitely hold off on upgrading. A few current projects that opened up fine in Tiger simply don't recognize the fonts under Leopard.

4. Back to My Mac - This for me was I upgraded.. Sadly it just doesn't work and likely won't for most of us. Checking through online discussion boards many other folks are equally frustrated in trying to get this thing to work. Apple has recently posted a message indicating that expanded support for third party routers is "coming soon." Huge oversight to be hyping a feature that will only work for those with a $180 Apple router. Similar PC products like Hamachi work flawlessly, there's simply no excuse for this. *** Since the 10.5.1 update Back to My Mac is working MUCH better, including a recent stay at a hotel. I'd say a bulk of the problems described above have been fixed.**

5. Spaces - this great virtual desktop application is plagued by sucking applications into 'limbo' and occasionally cycles through the available desktops randomly when some apps display warnings.

6. Video glitches - The display on my Mac Pro (running an ATI x1900XT) often gets lines of gibberish streaking through the display. Others are reporting similar issues. **UPDATE: Leopard taxes video hardware significantly more than prior releases of OS X. X1900XT cards on the Mac Pro are experiencing an issue with dust building up on the heat sink which is blocking airflow and overheating the card. Vacuuming out the heat sink has improved the problem for me.

7. The new "Dock" is horrid.. The 3D "glass" effect makes it difficult to see which applications are currently loaded. Thankfully a simple terminal command can remove the fancy effects and make it a bit more manageable.

8. Time Machine works as advertised with an external drive attached to a USB or firewire port. Getting it to work over a network with a Macbook is another story.. It will recognize internal drives on a networked machine, but external drives attached to that same networked computer are hit or miss.

Are any of these show stoppers? With the exception of the font issue, probably not. But if your system is running reliably with Tiger, I'd hold off a bit until Apple gets some of these issues worked out and releases their first round of updates.

Clearly the development team struggled getting this out the door, and it shows. Definitely the most disappointing Apple product I've purchased in quite some time.