Well it had to happen, I had to write what I thought of Snow Leopard. The new shiny OS from Apple. This is not a technical review this is what I have found as a day to day user of the OS.
You will have to excuse the picture of me below. I am very shy and am rarely seen on the internet. ehem.
An excited Ernie with a Leopard
So install was a breeze. Then I did what I do everytime I start my Mac I checked for updates, there were 2 waiting for me. I check for software updates everytime I start my Mac regardless. I have noticed though since the install of Snow Leopard the checking for new updates takes a lot longer than it ever did.
Noticed a new icon up on my task bar. Yes a Keyboard icon, why do I need it up there? Put it back in System Preferences. It really serves no purpose to me where it is.
The firewall is still set as “off” by default, even Microsoft do not do that. So remember to fire up your System Preferences and turn the firewall on.
Snow Leopard now supports Microsoft Exchange, well so pleased you could join the rest of the civilised world. It also now supports 64 bit computing again thanks for catching up. That all aside it is good to see Exchange integration, long overdue to be honest.
The install, as promised did free up quite a lot of space, I gained about 6 GB. Mind you I also free’d up space by deleting apps that no longer work under Snow Leopard.
There is a lovely richness to the desktop now, icons seem more detailed and the standard wallpaper oozes a deep rich feel. This all makes for a very lush feel to your work space. There are new glowing switches dotted around the OS, most notably the volume control ball glows bright and proud.
There are plenty of graphical tweaks. But to the occasional Mac OS user they would take one look at Snow Leopard and not notice any difference.
Open a window, like the applications folder you will notice a little slide bar on the bottom right hand corner. By sliding this to the right you can enlarge the icon within that window, very smooth. This is part of the accessibility push by Apple.
OnyX did not work when I went to fire up the latest download. Why would I want to run OnyX you may ask. Well I find that Snow Leopard does not perform smoothly. There are lots of “hold on let me think about it” moments. Windows do not open slick there seems to be lots of the OS re-rendering as it goes along. There is a bloaty feel to it. I cannot quite put my finger on it but it just does not feel polished.
Like the rest of the world I will find out where these hidden improvements are, to date I really have not found any that shout here I am look I am special. But that is probably why the OS was only £25. To be brutally honest it is not a new OS it is a service pack.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Why? well the more folk that buy, tinker and find the faults, the better the OS will become.