Mac OS X Leopard Review: 1 Month In
So here we are folks. I have been kicking around in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for a few days over a month now. I have had plenty of time to form my impressions and thoughts, so I have collected them to share with you. For the scanners out there, the final outcome is I really like it. I am still a little iffy on the $130 upgrade fee considering the new features, but if you are a Mac head, it’s not much cash, so go get it.
Top 10 of OS X Leopard:
- Spaces, spaces spaces: If I had to choose one feature that sells me on Leopard, it’s Spaces. I would speak to the usability of them, but they are so well designed that you don’t even notice that you are using them most of the time. The big benefit is a much cleaner looking desktop while you are working without layers upon layers of windows. 5 stars.
- Stacks: For some reason, the most useful stack to me isn’t enabled by default. A quick terminal hack away, you can enable an awesome “Recent Applications” stack that has your 10 most recent applications a click away. Talk about useful! The other stacks are mildly useful at best. I am using one for Recent documents, which I organize so its just a list of folders, Recent Downloads which I don’t find very useful and applications which can be really handy. 3 stars.
- Apple Mail: It’s still no outlook to me, and I miss the 3 pane view, but there are some very nice features. Autosensing dates and address info is very nice. I also like related email highlighting. Being a new convert to gmail, I really wish it organized by conversation. 3 stars.
- Time Machine: While I have known a few people who are having great success with Time Machine, it ran horribly on my computer. Perhaps a fresh install would help. I’ll look at it more later, but for a bad out of the box experience, I have to give it 2 stars.
- System Preferences: With a much more organized look, they have made great strides, specifically in the network preferences. It’s subtle, but a huge win. 5 Stars.
- Terminal: two words, Tabbed Terminals! For someone who uses the terminal a lot, and for me it’s every day, this is a huge plus. 5 stars.
- New Menu: Who cares? Why was this such a buzz feature. It’s a little transparent, big deal. It doesn’t bother me, but doesn’t excite me either. Bring the Apple Menu back and then we will have something to talk about! 0 stars.
- Boot Camp: It’s official folks, and if you need it, it’s incredible. I don’t use it, but if I needed a screaming fast gaming laptop or had some apps I just couldn’t use in Parallels, I would be all over it. 5 stars.
- Finder: I am torn on the Finder. The new features like coverflow are really slick. But slick isn’t always useful. It’s still loads faster in grid or list view usually. I’ll give them an A for glam, but not sure it’s substance. 3 stars.
- Quick Look: This is kind of an extension of the finder, but it deserves it’s own mention. This is an awesome feature. I find myself using it all the time. With new additions for looking into zip files and folders, it’s a sure win. 5 stars.
So there you have it folks, my top 10 for Leopard 1 month in. There are some huge wins and some subtle ones, but if you aren’t using it yet, go ahead and get it. It’s pushing it at $130, but I think it’s worth the cash.
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Comments
regarding mail: it actually can organize by message thread. click on ‘view’ and make sure ‘organize by thread’ is checked. voila!
I found your info very informative, explains better then people in apple store. am considering the purchase of a apple. This helped! Thanks!!
Nice write up about the new Leopard. As a teacher Macs have been great and this new operating system seems very helpful.
Good to hear you’re still enjoying it.
I’m holding off on Leopard till January (bonus month!). I’m looking forward to the new finder, the networking additions, and spaces. Not sure I’ll use Time Machine
One thing I wasn’t sure about with finder in cover flow. You get a column view below it, and usually you can press right on a folder to expand it, but I don’t think that works when in cover flow. Is that right?
Looking forward to back to my mac and screen sharing too.