PRODUCT REVIEW: Apple Mac OS Leopard

Due to a delay with Canada Post I just received my copy of Leopard, Apple's new operating system, last week. My expectations were high to say the least; I've been anticipating this upgrade since it was announced two years ago, and read about it every day since its release on October 26. Was it worth the wait?

The new look of Leopard

Upgrade or Clean Install?

The first thing you need to decide is whether to format your hard drive and do a fresh install, or just upgrade your existing Mac OS. Thinking of the amount of time it would take to reinstall my applications, which I use for work purposes and can't live without, I chose to upgrade to save time. After backing up my important documents and removing the almost 2GB worth of printer drivers Leopard wants to install, it took just over an hour to upgrade my 1.5GHz PowerBook G4. My 2.8GHz 24-inch iMac was much faster, clocking in at just under 40 minutes for the upgrade.

What's New?

Apple promotes that Leopard has over 300 new features. A lot of this is under the hood and will never be noticed by a majority of users. The big changes you will notice right away is the revamped Dock, Finder, iChat, iCal, Mail, and Safari. Brand new features such as Time Machine (for backing up your files), Parental Controls (to control how your kids use the computer), Quick Look (preview a file before you open it), Stacks (a Windows-like Start menu feature that can work on any folder in the Dock), and Spaces (which allows you to run multiple desktops), add a lot of functionality to your system, but are not for everyone.

Multiple desktops running via Spaces

I personally found Time Machine to be more of a pain than a blessing. I prefer to manually back up my files so this was not something that interested me and I turned it off right away. Spaces works great on my iMac but is so resource-heavy that using it on my PowerBook is unbearable. I don't know how I've lived without Quick Look - being able to preview a slide show, video, or PDF document before opening it in its native software saves so much time it's unbelievable. Stacks annoyed me until I added my Applications folder to the Dock; now I can click the folder and bring up all my applications without having to go through the Finder. Parental Controls is great for everyone (not just parents), as it allows you to share your entire computer, screen and all (meaning I can login to my iMac and have total control of iTunes from my living room)! If you do have kids, you can set a time limit for their accounts, have the computer lock at a certain time of day, log what they do, etc.

Time Machine

Quick Look

Bugs?

I have never had a problem with my PowerBook until I upgraded to Leopard. Suddenly I was experiencing random crashes, applications that wouldn't load, and overall poor performance - almost like running Windows 98! This appears to only affect non-Intel-based Macs as my iMac has not had any issues. It could also be that Leopard requires a lot more power to run than previous versions of the Mac OS, which the PowerBook just doesn't have (although it does meet the tech specifications). There have also been reports of a "blue screen of death"-type crash during installation that can corrupt your entire system (so it's essential to back up before installing).

Bottom-line

If you have a newer Intel-based Mac, then Leopard is definitely a nice upgrade (and is worth the $129 price tag). If you're running an older PowerPC-based Mac, I would suggest sticking with the tried and true Tiger OS until you upgrade your hardware.

Apple Mac OS Leopard is available at the Apple Store for $129US.

Have something to say about this review? Post a comment or drop a line to brian@bamcat.com.

Comments

[STL]

I'm baffled. Please identify where your article supports the Bottom-line conclusion on upgrading.

Time Machine is a pain to you so you turned it off because you prefer manual backups?
With TM you can manually backup by right clicking on TM in the dock and selecting "Back Up Now".

[Brian McKechnie]

I prefer to pick and chose what I back up, and where I back it up to. If I want all my RAW video on one drive, and my music and photos on another, Time Machine just can't support that. Even with the manual backup option it sends everything to the one drive you setup for it.

As for the bottom-line - I mentioned I have had no problems with my Intel-based iMac since the upgrade, but many with my PowerBook. Although I do feel Leopard is a nice upgrade (if you have the right hardware), I just cannot recommend it to anyone with a PowerPC-based Mac due to my experience with it.

-Brian

[STL]

My experience with my PowerPC-based Mac was very positive.

Leopard works great on my PowerMac G5, 2GHz. I do not use the upgrade option, rather whenever I do a full system install I use the "Erase and Install" (E&I) option and I've never had a problem.

I visit many Mac sites and they read that lots of PPC Macs are running Leopard without any issues. Many of the Macs that had installation issues during the upgrade or afterwards were do to OSX add-ons that had changed the OS code which the upgrade option assumes is in place pristine from Apple.

Time Machine - Give It A Serious Look
In addition to "Back Up Now" the menu from right clicking on the TM icon in the dock also shows "Time Machine Preferences" and "Browse Other Time Machine Disks". To me this reads like you can use these options to have more than one TM backup disk. As a result, you can have the capability to "pick and chose what I back up, and where I back it up to plus you will be doing the manual backup you prefer since TM automatically backs to only one disk.

[Brian McKechnie]

STL,

I will give Time Machine another chance and check back in on it in a week.

I may also do a clean install of Leopard on my PowerBook to see if that helps some of my issues there. I did notice that since Apple released the 10.5.1 update it has been running better.

-Brian

[Yaron]

Heya, a little bit late for a comment eh? :P
But nevertheless, I installed leopard (10.5.2) on my PowerMac G5 2Ghz, 2.5GB RAM, Radeon 9600XT 128 VRAM, 160GB HD. Works like a charm!
I did an Erase & Install to have a clean start and Leopard looks and feel faster than Tiger on my machine.
It's true - most posts with problem on leopard install and such are from people who took the upgrade path.
Upgrading an OS is never a good idea (25 years of experience talking here...).
Just do the clean install and all will be fine!

Cheers,
-Y.