Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard Reviews

• Worth it for Time Machine alone... but there's lots more reasons to buy

  
  By A1RQYQO7CLYV54 on 2007-10-27
  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.
  
  

• Serious drawbacks

  
  By AN92S28RV1FQ4 on 2007-10-27
  It's premature to judge the value of many of 10.5's new features. I'm pleased with the improvements to Mail, iCal, and iChat. There are, however, some serious problems that should give a buyer pause. Apple has changed the Finder menus so that they are translucent. The lettering is no longer black-on-white unless you choose white as your wallpaper, which is hardly pleasing. I've compromised by choosing a solid light blue, but for the sake of efficiency and clarity nice designs and pictures are out. There is no corrective for the translucent pull-down menu: you always see a hazy semblance of whatever is behind it. This has introduced a lot of visual noise and may be a serious problem for individuals with vision impairment. In this case Apple has sacrificed clarity and performance for a dubious new aesthetic.
  
  There are instances when icons and buttons which are themselves grey and placed against a gray background. This is true with the Trash on the new Dock background (if you place the Dock on the right). This makes them more difficult to see at a glance.
  
  In changing many aesthetic features of OS X Apple seems to be addressing problems that don't exist. There is a reason why most books are not printed on translucent or colored paper, and that same reason is why the Finder should be black-on-white. Apple has added milliseconds to basic functions, thereby reducing productivity. Apple's habit of offering take-it-or-leave-it features which cannot be modified or turned off is frustrating.
  
  One of the few regular maintenance requirements of OS X is repairing permissions. In 10.4 this took less than a minute to accomplish, but after installing 10.5 I found that it took about 7 minutes, and then a cryptic message appeared. Each time I repeated the procedure the same thing happened, though it does report also that permissions have been repaired. (Update: It is being reported that Apple acknowledges this bug and is working on a fix.)
  
  When I click on the Applications folder in 10.4 the contents appear almost instantly. In 10.5 it takes more than 4 seconds for the contents to appear. It remains to be seen how many other basic functions of OS X have been harmed.
  
  In summary, Apple seems to have made substantial changes merely for the sake of change, rather than to improve productivity, and some of these changes have degraded both productivity and comfort.
  
  I installed Leopard on one of my three Macs, but I will not "upgrade" the other two until Apple eliminates the aesthetic drawbacks and brings speed back to parity with Tiger. It's nice to have eye candy, but productivity is my first concern. Some of the new visual features remind me of the clutter which is now standard on the screens of cable news channels.
  
  (The installation discussed is on a MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz.)
  
  

• Wait for the First Update **UPDATED** 11-19

  
  By A26877IWJGISYM on 2007-10-29
  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.
  
  

• Just Brilliant new OS

  
  By A3FPSY1M6G7XIB on 2007-10-27
  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.
  
  

• Best Operating System So Far

  
  By A2YO5JDPKQKHU7 on 2007-10-28
  I've only been using Leopard for a couple days, but so far it's worked perfectly for me -- better, actually, than 10.4.10 was. Here's a short list of the features that I like:
  
  1. Quick View/Finder Icons -- all my documents, PDFs, pictures and Excel files show up as icon previews in the Finder. When I press the space bar, a large version pops up. Now I no longer have to open an application to read over a file quickly. It's also nice for photos
  
  2. Spotlight -- That's the quick find search box in the upper right corner of the screen. It's WAY, WAY, WAY faster than in the previous OS X and can do complex searches if you like. Plus, now when I type a math problem (for example "123-25") in the box, Spotlight shows the result (i.e. "123-25=98"). If I type in a word I don't know, the definition also appears with the other search results.
  
  3. Preview -- Anyone who's ever opened the regular version of Adobe Acrobat knows how dog slow this application is (plus waiting for the updater takes forever). When I open a PDF in a web browser, I have to wait like 10-20 seconds for Acrobat to load. No more. Preview can open PDFs, and now it has lots of controls that make it useable. I can highlight text, write comments, draw shapes on PDFs without opening Acrobat. Yeah!!!
  
  4. Mail -- This is Apple's email client, and it's finally good enough to replace Microsoft Entourage. It's integrated with iCal and Address Book, so everything is connected while still being easy to use. For example, Mail will find stuff that looks like an invitation to do something and offer to put it in your calendar if you hover over that part of the text. By the way, it's also very FAST, especially when showing fancy html messages.
  
  5. Speed -- Overall, this system is just speedier and eliminates a lot of minor inconveniences. By speedier, I don't mean that you really don't need to wait for things to happen. Photoshop opens a lot faster than before, and Safari is also faster.
  
  
  I noticed that some people are having problems. Of course, you can never predict other people's problems, but here's two tips that may help some people:
  
  1. After you first upgrade, Spotlight needs to create an index of your computer. This can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, but the computer will be slow until it finishes. Don't worry, this only happens once.
  
  2. Make sure you have enough hard drive room on your computer. The operating system takes nearly 9 gigs of space. Keep in mind that you want at least 10 percent of the space free on your hard drive, otherwise it will slow down. Try deleting or backing up unused files (or buy a bigger hard drive).
  
  
• Great features but major stability issues when also using .Mac
  By AZE2ZP618W1EP on 2007-11-01
  Frequent system freezes, crashes, and a huge hit to productivity all outweigh the many nice, new features.
  
  I would give this 5 stars if it were reliable, but reliability trumps all else.
  
  This is the least stable OS I have ever used (I haven't used Vista, but I have used every other version of Windows).
  
  I have 3 Macs running OS X Leopard, so my issues are not unique to one computer.
  
  If you must use Leopard, disable iDisk local sync, as this seems to be the culprit for many stability issues.
  
  Highly recommend you wait for at least 10.5.1 or 10.5.2, as this feels like a late alpha/early beta version.
  
  UPDATE: Now on 10.5.2 and much better now. The early problems seemed to focus on .Mac sync, which was highly buggy. I expect better reliability from Apple, as I have high expectations (which is why I use a Mac).
  
  
• Sophisticated and beautiful
  By A3P5CW4IFNT21R on 2007-10-26
  I've been running 10.5 for about 5 hours so far, and what can I say - it's great! Theres a lot of minor polishing that has gone into the UI (opaque title bar & menus, the new dock), as well as some major revisions (Time Machine, coverflow in the quick-preview in finder). Overall - an excellent upgrade! Install went smooth, and everything has worked as it should. Microsoft - eat your heart out.
  
  
• Works great for me...
  By A3SP7T2PZ3HSDE on 2007-10-27
  First, an important message: When installing, make sure to SKIP the Disk Verification process...otherwise you will waste about 45 minutes for nothing.
  
  I installed the Leopard upgrade on my first-generation Macbook Core Duo 1.83ghz with 2gb of RAM and a 60gb HD. The installation went smoothly, taking about 40-45 minutes to do so. When I started Leopard for the first time, all my files were intact as before and all my applications worked great as well. There were two items that did not work: an isync plug-in for my Sony Ericsson phone, but reinstalling the plug-in fixed that; and a widget for gas prices does not work, with no fix yet. I also had Windows XP installed via boot-camp; there were no changes made to that and it is also working fine. The manual says to insert the Leopard disc in Windows so that it will upgrade the drivers.
  
  I tried out time machine; it took about an hour to back up about 38gb worth of files to a USB 2.0 external drive. Photobooth's new backgrounds are fun to play with, but they work well only if your background is a plain wall with no objects behind you. If there are objects, then they tend to distort the background; not very pretty, needless to say. Another feature that is greatly improved is the Wifi networks menu in the menu bar; now you can finally tell which networks are WPA/WEP secured thanks to a padlock icon. Also, the menus seem to be faster when clicked; there doesn't seem to be a lag anymore as was apparent with Tiger. Spaces is a very nice feature to organize the "clutter" of different programs open at one time. Make sure to learn the CTRL- shortcut keys to get the maximum benefit from Spaces.
  
  Finally, the only serious bug I've noticed is that my Macbook seems to be running much warmer than with Tiger. The average CPU temperature with Tiger was about 120 degrees F with a fan speed of 1500 RPM. With Leopard, the average seems to be around 170 degrees F and a fan speed of 2400 RPM. The keyboard also feels noticeably warmer to the touch. I'm hoping Apple will release a fix for that.
  
  Otherwise, Leopard is a great buy and is definitely worth the money. I highly recommend getting it if you love your Mac; Leopard will make you love it more.
  
  EDIT: The 10.5.1 update has resolved the fan issue. The CPU is now running closer to 140 degrees F but the fan speed runs around 1500 RPM again when idle.
  
  
• Frustrating installation
  By A2QDPJRVXL7P4F on 2007-11-08
  My brother bought me an Apple Computer a month ago with the hopes of having me migrate from my PC to an Apple computer. I got used to the Apple Tiger OS quickly and I really enjoyed the OS's interface and ease of use. Learning a new operating system was not difficult.
  
  Though the MAC OS is supposed to be more stable than Windows, I had several crashes with iTunes, especially when trying to import some old CDs I had. Forcing the program to quit was easy though, but it still was a pain.
  
  With Leopard, Apple promised to fix some bugs and introduce some stunning new features; that is, if you are able to install it in the first place.
  
  Upon upgrading my Tiger OS to Leopard, I was greeted after the install and restart to the login screen. I did not use a password while using Tiger, so I was surprised that I was asked for one to login. I tried to press the enter key as I usually do, but this did not work this time. I even tried pressing the green arrow to continue, but that did not work either. The computer was insisting for me to type in a valid password in order to enter the system.
  
  I spent half a day trying to figure out what to do, and my work was delayed. I tried reinstalling Leopard, but was greeted by the same login message after install and restart. It was really frustrating.
  
  Using my PC, I signed in to the Apple support website at www.apple.com/support to get some help. Here's what I got at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306508
  
  1. Start up from your Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Install DVD.
  2. From the Utilities menu, choose Reset Password....
  3. Reset the password for the affected account(s).
  
  I tried the above, but it did not work for me.
  
  At http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306840 was the following solution to remedy the problem:
  
  1. Restart in Single User mode (hold Command-S during startup)
  2. At the prompt, type: mount -uw /
  3. Press Return
  4. Type:
  launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
  5. Press Return
  6. Type:
  
  dscl . -delete /Users/username AuthenticationAuthority
  
  Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name
  7. Press Return
  8. Type: passwd username
  
  Note: Replace "username" with the affected user account's short name
  9. Press Return
  10. At the "New password:" prompt, type the user's password
  
  Note: It is recommended that the original user's password be used to match the keychain password
  11. Press Return
  12. At the "Retype new password" prompt, type the same password
  13. Press Return
  14. Type: reboot
  15. Press Return
  
  The above solution did not work either.
  
  I finally had to call Apple support. The lady at the other end of the line told me that this is a known problem in Leopard and that the only workable solution is to reinstall Leopard, but that on the installation screen to choose options, and then install using the archive system feature. This method basically saves all your files and settings to an archive that you can later retrieve after installing Leopard.
  
  Caution: when using the install with archive feature, do not tick on transfer user settings option, since this will also transfer password information and you'd still be unable to log in after install.
  
  After installing Leopard for the third time using the above method, I was able to login into the system, and everything from thereon worked flawlessly. I opened the previous system files, and transferred all my previous files such as my pictures, movies, music etc... I did not transfer any previous user settings as I didn't want to mess out the system again. I then looked for any update to Leopard, and found one update to resolve the issue of Login and Keychain that I faced on installation. This is a very important update and you need to download and install it!
  
  For someone used to being told that Apple OS is more stable, better, and with much less bugs than the Windows Operating System, the above problems I faced came as an unwelcome surprise. As far as I can tell, from the very limited experience I have with Apple, that both Apple and Microsoft's OS are the same animal! Would we have picked less on Bill Gates if he was not as rich and famous?
  
  I gave Leopard a one star rating for the problems I faced above, and not for its features. Leopard is a great OS with stunning features, but my first impression left me with a sour taste of what is to come.
  
  
• it is ok
  By APKM7O7CJ2MBO on 2007-10-27
  I am not sure what is all the excitement about Leopard...
  I love my MacBook Pro, but Tiger worked better for me. I have quite a stunning collection of desktop background pictures which are flipped every 1 min, it was never a problem on Tiger. On Leopard, every background cross-fade takes 60% of CPU, even freezing the UI momentarily, probably related to the [useless] menu transparency. My Mac is MBP with 2GB, the 2007 version of Core 2 Duo.
  
  Then, Finder crashed on me once already. iTunes too froze once, which never happened before.
  
  2 of my apps which I used every day (httpmail, Groupcal) no longer work.
  There are also problems with some apps that post modal dialogs (the dialogs appear behind the app window, effectively making the app unusable).
  
  Translucent menus don't work for me, I wish there was a way to disable it. I don't know how people can like this even bigger dock at the bottom, eating precious vertical screen space. I have my dock on the left, but it is now more transparent than it used to be on Tiger, and background creates a lot of visual noise. I understand new features (and even breaking backward compatibility) when they make sense going forward. But these menu gimmicks don't buy anything, and just about all users complained about them, so why Apple keeps them??
  
  Gee, the screen snapshots with green grass and glass dock sure look pretty, but put a few windows on the screen, and the dock will start getting into your eyes. I think Apple over-designed this one. IMHO Apple users love Macs for good (ergonomic) design, good performance, and clean (Unix-based) OS, not for screen gimmicks. If translucency is a selling vehicle, why not make it optional to please the hard core users.
  
  I am so disheartened, I think I am going back to Tiger. Silly me, I didn't do a backup...
  
  
• Frustrating update, Not what I expected.
  By A1UVWTNPX8TR0G on 2007-11-12
  I updated to Leopard yesterday. I've bought every update since I purchased this Mac and have never had trouble after installing.
  
  Well, today I can't open my older (freebie) version of iPhoto, which has worked perfectly for years, and I can't open word processing documents that weren't originally created in MS Word - in other words, all my Appleworks archives are inaccessible!!!! that's years of work. I've contacted Microsoft.
  
  In addition, when I went to print a receipt from an internet purchase, I had to reinstall my HP laserjet driver. When I tried to retrieve my MYOB accounting files the computer couldn't find them and I had to manually click through all the possibilities until I found the file myself.
  
  This is infuriating. It's like a blast from the past when OS updates were always full of headaches. Or worse, it's like being a Windows user.
  
  Time machine does not compress files automatically in order to back them up, like Retrospect (the old standby) does, so that means if you want to back up, you need an external hard drive with at least as much space as your internal disk. I've been able to back up my system for years...now I have to buy a new external hard drive. You can compress files manually, one by one. Who has that kind of time?
  
  Looks like I'll have to buy the new iLife too, if I want iPhoto to work. So, it's adding up to a lot more than I figured.
  
  So, the bells and whistles...maybe they'll be worth it, maybe not.
  
  
• Nothing but frustration
  By A2F66WDN8IO18N on 2007-10-31
  I installed Leopard on my intel Mac Book and noticed immediate problems. Apps were not closing even after force quitting, the machine did not shut down, at all. After downloading and installing the first update the desktop stopped working entirely. It is currently at the Mac store and I was told the problems were not hardware related. They are attempting an erase install to see if it will work. Thank goodness I archived everything before installing, otherwise an entire novel that I have written would be gone. Overall, the most frustrating experience I've ever had with a computer. I wish I had just stayed with Tiger.
  
  
• Leopard Installed Successfully on PowerBook and Intel-based Mac mini
  By A3VC5NV5NAJ2V4 on 2007-11-01
  I have been lucky so far. I was able to upgrade (not clean install) to Leopard on both my G4-based 12" PowerBook and my Intel-based Mac mini. The install took about a little more than an hour.
  
  I like the new 3D dock simply because it looks good. However, the light blue "ball" that indicates that an app is running isn't right away noticeable to the eye (unlike the black arrow in Tiger).
  
  On my PowerBook, I noticed that the menu bar was solid gray. I am not bothered by this because I prefer it over the translucent menu bar. The translucency makes it harder to see the menu items.
  
  Performance on both machines are snappy. I am surprised that Leopard performs fast on my 12" PowerBook (1.5GHz G4, 1.25GB RAM) since the PowerBook is an older machine.
  
  Spaces is very useful, especially if you have a small screen. It makes it more comfortable to work on multiple applications.
  
  The Terminal application has been improved. It now supports tabbed windows just like the Safari browser. This makes it easier to work with multiple shells if you have a small screen (like a 12" PowerBook).
  
  Some applications, however, misbehaved on my Mac mini. This includes Last.FM's startup application, and Yahoo! Widgets. Firefox and Thunderbird, however, work fine on both PowerBook and Mac mini. They seem faster too. iTunes 7.4.2 worked fine too.
  
  Time machine works well with my Mac mini. I have an external Firewire drive to which TM saves the backups. However, if you use FileVault to encrypt your home directory, TM only backs it up whenever you log out.
  
  What's also good about Leopard is that the development tools are included in the installation disks. You don't have to pay extra for those. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is the compiler used on Leopard (as in the past versions too). Objective-C has been updated to include a garbage collection facility.
  
  Java is included but the version is Java 5. Java 6 has not been released for this released version of Leopard (though it was available in previous beta releases of Leopard). If you are looking to run and program in Java 6, you're out of luck until Apple releases the SDK and runtime for Java 6.
  
  Overall so far, my experience with Leopard has been very good. I am quite happy with its features and performance on both my PowerBook and my Intel-based Mac mini.
  
  
• Not as advertised
  By ATAO2UGKMZSY7 on 2007-10-27
  As a recent MAC convert, I can certainly say that I've been thrilled with the MAC products. I love the workflow and professional look of iwork and ilife. So I was quite excited to upgrade to Leopard. However, Leopard, while having many slick features (time machine, cover flow for search, etc.) lacks some of the things that you may have seen in an advertisements. For example, (and I know this is corny), but I was quite excited about playing with the holographic effect in ichat. Well, turns out that it wasn't included in the final version. YO APPLE, please be more up front with product changes and omissions. You can't show it off at a major unveiling and then drop the ball...makes folks think of the term "false advertisement".
  
  Anyhow, Leopard is still a great piece of work, but as an early adopter, realize there will be glitches. All it takes is a quick look at the support boards to see that there are numerous bug fixes likely on the way. Thus far, I've run into issues with the mail app not being able to send mail via a non .mac imap server... Hopefully apple will get this cleared up soon.
  
  Overall, lots of eye candy...but likely not the major upgrade over Tiger you were expecting....
  
  
• Fabulous Upgrade
  By A225G2TFM76GYX on 2007-11-01
  Installed Leopard on three computers, a Mac Pro 2.66Ghz, MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz, and an old 1.5Ghz G4 Powerbook. I encountered no problems upgrading even though I chose the "Upgrade" option. I did this because I knew I had avoided installing programs with haxies. If you have done this be sure and choose the "Archive and Install" option instead to avoid having the known problem of a blue screen on initial reboot occur. The new features in Leopard look and work great. I am extremely happy with it. The only glaring problem I see with 10.5.0 is that repairing permissions does not work as well as it did in 10.4. The progress indicator does not work properly and the process takes 2-3 times as long. I am sure Apple will correct this in a software update.
  
  
• Leopard is the best OS there has ever been!!!
  By A3G0VC4V40KYFG on 2007-10-30
  I installed it without a hitch. It doesn't like third party hacks but other than that it's great. Quicklook, time machine, cover flow, stacks, the new front row, and the new mail all work perfectly for me. I'm not a MS hater but this makes Vista look silly. It's simply leagues beyond it! It's really too bad people are having installation problems. It installed great on my and my mom's computers. Everything's been working without a hitch. For some the new features may not seem like a giant leap from Tiger but if you compare it to the XP to Vista upgrade, the Leopard upgrade is huge!
  
  
• Couldn't Install on my PC, Why?
  By A2CMGXFMHSTNTP on 2008-06-26
  Ever since the end of last year, one of the baristas at the Starbucks I frequent had been going on and on about how great Leopard was on his macbook computer. He told me about all the great features like a time machine, spaces and itunes. I admit I had been using windows for years, but that I'd go ahead and give it a try, why not? Well that's when I was in for a huge surprise.
  
  I had recently bought one of the great dell XPS Ones and figured that'd be as good a computer as any to run leopard on, after all I wanted to be fair in comparing it to vista. As soon as I inserted the leopard disc, I realized I had been duped. On the disc, I couldn't see the installer, all it had were some directories for "bootcamp utilities" or some sort. I looked all over and could not for the life of me figure out how to install the wretched thing. It took me a lot of searching on altavista but I finally took it to Best Buy and the Geek Squad was more than happy to take a look at it. After I paid them 100 dollars to diagnose the problem, they told me my XPS one wasn't compatible with leopard, something about it not being an apple platform. I was of course very dismayed, so I attempted to return this to no avail, since there are no returns on opened software.
  
  When I got home I did more research on altavista and found out that if you want to use leopard, YOU MUST buy one of Apples' own versions of the XPS One, the imacbook line of computer machines. Never in my life as a software engineer have I seen such deceptive business practices. Why would they sell a 100 dollar piece of software to a person with the wrong computer? What kind of racket are they running? This kind of bait and switch tactic is not something I would expect from a large corporation, but with gas prices so high I guess everyone is trying to make a quick buck.
  
  What kills me is that the imacbook computer machines looked like such blatant ripoffs of the XPS one. It looks like all they did was change the color to white and throw their logo all over it. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw dell seek legal action against apple for this type of copyright infrigement. Serves them right!
  
  
  
• No speed problems here
  By AORB8PJ3U6MMV on 2007-10-27
  Will keep this short. Great upgrade, love the new look. Time Machine will be a big hit - works best if you have a Firewire drive. One of the reviewers here states he has speed problems, No speed problems whatsoever here, even our old iMac G5 is running like a champ. The way my Macs are now running I have to say Leopard is faster than Tiger.
  - fm -
  
  
  
• Works fine, Buy Firewire 800 or eSATA external drive for time machine
  By A2IIQSEX51AYXI on 2007-10-27
  I have it installed and its running fine on my 2.16 Macbook pro. May be an issue with Parallels and video RAM allocation; but I'm still investigating that. One thing I absolutely wish I had done differently is I wish I'd bought a Firewire 800 external drive( or better yet eSATA and Express card controller). Got a USB 2.0 Seagate Free Agent and the initial backup in Time Machine is going to take a long time. Spend a few extra bucks and get an external drive with a higher transfer rate.
  
  I've heard some grumbling about Leopard not being able to use an external drive attached to Airport Extreme base for backup. I've got to think that wireless backup at even 802.11n is a pipe dream for now. My initial backup is 69 Gig, and I know a lot of folks will have much larger initial backups. Maybe you could do incrementals wirelessly; but the initial is just too big for that.
  
  
• A Solid Update
  By ACH2WSAFFQ6J6 on 2007-10-29
  I picked up Leopard on Friday and installed it Saturday morning in my MacBook Pro, which has 4 Gigs of RAM and the 2.2 Ghz Intel Core Duo Processor. The installation took about two hours (including 45 minutes for "disk verification", which I'm guessing you could skip) but virtually none of my time -- I started the process up, picked my language, and sent the installer on its way. I came back two hours later to a finished installation.
  
  I use VMWare's Fusion to run Windows XP on my Mac, and my biggest concern was whether I would run into compatibility problems between Fusion and Leopard. The VMWare website is only mildly reassuring, with a statement in the FAQ's that boils down to "gee, we think it'll work." I had pre-installed the Fusion Ver. 1.1 "Release Candidate" from VMWare's website before installing Leopard, and had absolutely no compatibility issues turn up over the weekend -- the Windows programs I use all worked just fine. In fact, the only compatibility issue I ran into was with Lightscribe's little utility program for burning Lightscribe CD labels using the Mac (I have an HP Lightscribe external burner). The utility program stopped working in Leopard, although the Windows version of the same utility program worked just fine in the Fusion Virtual Machine with the HP burner connected through a USB port. (Reviewer's Added Note: Since I wrote this, Lightscribe has posted an update to the utility on their website that resolves the problem).
  
  As an ugrade, Leopard is solid, but not remarkable -- most of the new features are minor tweaks, fancy frills, or features that will appeal mostly to niche users, with two very important exceptions.
  
  The first is Time Machine, which is easily the most useable consumer backup program on the planet. To make it work, you need an HFS+ formatted hard drive, and it works best with a Firewire connection. The La Cie Quadra hard drives for Mac, with their "auto on" switch feature, are perfect. Plan on it taking an hour or two for Mac to make the first backup, but after that Time Machine is completely seamless and quietly makes regular back-ups of your files. The interface for finding backed-up files and restoring them is nothing short of brilliant.
  
  The second remarkable new feature is Spaces, which is (for all you old-time Mac users out there) essentially Switcher on steroids -- MAJOR steroids. You can create multiple work spaces and put different programs in each workspace -- and if you have a background activity (like a download) going in one workspace, you can switch to another and the background activity cheerfully continues, out of sight. So you can work on a PowerPoint presentation in one screen while having your browser open in another, so they aren't constantly getting in each other's way. This feature is particularly useful with VMWare's Fusion --you can assign a full-screen Windows environment to its very own separate Space. In theory, up to sixteen "Spaces" are available. Incidentally, if you have a Mighty Mouse, try assigning Spaces to the trackball button -- you click on the trackball to pull up all the active Spaces, and then use the trackball to switch between them. Very spiffy.
  
  I imagine that over the next few weeks some glitches will appear, but overall the Leopard upgrade seems very stable and bug free. My only gripe is the price, really -- while Time Machine and Spaces are great achievements, most of the rest of the changes seem like trinkets, and the price seems a little high. But not so high that I wouldn't recommend adding it to any Mac eligible for the upgrade.
  
  
• Horrible poorly conceived product
  By A1RLWLTDC4B0LL on 2007-10-30
  Leopard, Apples new operating system for the Mac platform is a terrible waste of time and money unless you own an Intel Mac. On a G5 desktop it is full of bugs and crashes constantly. Worst product ever from Apple. Do not buy this if your Mac is not Intel. My machine is now in shambles and Apple's tech support is terrible. Buyer beware!!
  
  
• where is the greatness if there is no JAVA?????
  By AJZDHNIUUYAIC on 2007-11-18
  For those of us who need to use applications which run with JAVA (many internet based software do) Leopard is simply of no use, it does NOT work, its a nightmare.
  After consulting by phone with Apple's customer support for abut 40 minutes, and trying to instal a Java update which ended up not working on Leopard, their honest and candid advice was simply to go back and re-install Tiger again as there is, at the moment, no certainty when there will be an available update to correct this problem.
  I've been a satisfied Apple user for over 20 years, but this is just too much. Reading through the different internet forums on the subject one learns that Apple found out it had to wait for another 2 month before releasing their new fancy Leopard system in order to have it ready and Java compatible but that, of course, seems to have been much too long a wait. One wonders if the rush was to benefit their hungry customers of rather to calm the company's thirst for dollars...
  
  
• Wait before buying!
  By A3GX0LQESMAIU8 on 2007-11-06
  I purchased this software "upgrade" on an impulse, because I happened to be in a local computer store on the evening when it was introduced. It was a huge mistake! My problems started that night, when I encountered the now infamous "blue screen."
  
  Fortunately, I have a local Apple Store within a short driving distance from my home. Otherwise, I would have been in serious trouble. While the online documentation is much better than the totally inadequate instructions that are in the package, it still is not adequate.
  
  Once I had the OS running, I found that much of my other software was not working. Thunderbird, in particular, required a few separate totally new installations before I got it working acceptably. (It is still quite buggy.) Google Earth also needed to be totally reinstalled from scratch. There are a few other programs that I don't use as much which may also need to eventually be reinstalled.
  
  With regard to the OS itself, I have not yet had a chance to really experiment with any of the new features. I do passionately agree with several other critics who have stated that the translucent menus are a serious problem. On the whole, my best advise is to wait before buying or installing this software.
  
  
  
• Wait for Updates - Might Brick Your Mac!
  By A1V7F7O5P8JS3D on 2007-11-09
  I bought this and installed it on my two week old Mini. Everything seemed to go fine until I had to install updates and my password no longer worked. Turns out there is a bug that Apple knows about (that's the Keychain update) that causes ID and password problems. Their Web site says to install the update if you are having problems, but you can't install if your password does not work!
  
  After two hours on the phone with Apple support I had a computer that I could no longer use. No login at all, just a screen asking me to register (again).
  
  Once I was hosed, Apple wanted me to reinstall again and this time NOT transfer my user settings, meaning hours of checking to transfer file and information over, and likely many headaches with having to re-register software.
  
  Even if I do this, I no longer trust the computer and wonder what data I might be missing. Apple refuses to do anything other than tell me to reinstall. They will not replace computers for software problems they cause, just hardware. They told me to call Amazon if I was not happy! What service. Avoid if at all possible.
  
  
• Modest improvements, serious bugs
  By AJO24K1MUFCKM on 2007-12-12
  Despite a recent patch, OS X Leopard 10.5.1 has serious issues that require Apple's attention before consumers buy the product.
  
  Cons:
  
  --Installed on my 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB of RAM, Leopard boot times are more than twice as long as Tiger's.
  
  --Time Machine, combined with a .Mac account, generates huge, runaway caches of personal iDisks if .Mac Sync is turned on. Time Machine created a 108-GB cached copy of my nearly empty 30GB iDisk in a hidden area of my hard drive. In some cases, Time Machine creates an iDisk cache that's sized to equal the entire used space of one's main hard drive. In online forums numerous consumers report having suffered dangerous losses of hard-disk space. The only way for them to find and confirm the location of the lost gigabytes was to run cryptic Unix commands in Terminal.
  
  --Even with .Mac Sync turned off, Time Machine doesn't back up all documents and apps for all users of a computer. What data is being skipped and why? Time Machine doesn't say. It also has difficulty working with the Windows/Boot Camp partition of my hard drive. Should a good Mac backup program really be unable to backup Boot Camp?
  
  --A key new feature of the OS, Back To My Mac, doesn't work for many users of third-party routers, even with update to version 10.5.1.
  
  --The firewall suffers a significant downgrade, with lowered default security, less configurability, and little documentation. Connecting to other people's Macs is easy -- disconcertingly so, and lacking in documented security options to deter unwanted visitors without hobbling oneself.
  
  --iChat still doesn't support Yahoo or MSN, and without that support, it's just a souped-up AIM client.
  
  Pros:
  
  --Minor improvements to Mail, iCal, Dashboard, Safari, Boot Camp, and the Dock. Of these applications, the feature I was most hoping for -- topical mail tags similar to those found in Thunderbird and Gmail -- are still absent without a third-party plug-in.
  
  --Spaces is the simplest, most elegant and enticing virtual-desktop manager that I have ever seen.
  
  Until its speed returns to that of Tiger and until serious bugs are worked out, Leopard deserves approximately the same consideration as Windows Vista: Buyer beware.
  
  
• Leopard rocks!
  By A3GY4G5LLAJRCG on 2007-10-27
  I'm so excited to finally have Leopard on my MacBook. One of the best features, that surprisingly never received any announcement before it shipped, is the inclusion of Bluetooth's A2DP profile to allow Macs to play music wirelessly to stereo Bluetooth headphones. I've been listening to iTunes through my iMuffs wireless headphones for the last couple hours and I couldn't be happier. The sound quality is fantastic and I don't have that stupid cord tethering me to the laptop. I know it sounds like a small thing, but trust me, once you go wireless you won't go back!
  
  Also also psyched about the new Mail app and it's integration with notes and to-dos although I'm sure it'll take a while to transition my current lists to the new way of working.
  
  
• Smooth as silk!
  By A3UMCOGYZ3EAS4 on 2007-10-27
  I have been using OSX since it came out, and this was the easiest upgrade I have ever done. I have had absolutely no problems at all with Leopard and haven't found any of my applications that won't run as they always did in Tiger. I keep a pretty clean system, so I just did the "upgrade" option instead of the "archive and install" as I have done in the past. It worked well and I liked the fact that I didn't have to reinstall some of my applications. I would highly recommend 10.5. Just do your homework before you upgrade so you don't find out afterwards that a key app. you use hasn't been upgraded to work with Leopard.
  
  
• WOW WOW WOW !!!
  By A27J7RO7TLZ94A on 2007-11-02
  I bought the upgrade to take my 2 Mac's from Tiger to Leopard (OSX.5). The simple upgrade install went off without a hitch on both my iMac G5 and my Macbook. It's all in the details and Leopard has refined the Mac more than ever.
  
  On both machines they are more responsive and work better. The dock is really improved and now looks like a platform and does much more. Spaces saves me allot of time and works perfectly. Safari in OS X.5 is improved and has new and better features-even spelling and grammar as you type within the browser.
  
  The new Mail client has templates that make my emails have flair and look like real letters and not a bunch of words smashed together. While it does take about 400k for an email with the templates, it is worth it. You can also write a fast email because system wide Leopard is faster-much faster.
  
  There are so many new features to play with but taken as the core of your computer, Apple has designed the strongest and most feature packed OS in the history of computing. And with both of my machines its been faultless and well worth the money.
  
  
• Buggy Leopard!
  By ABOTQXNUBA1MM on 2007-11-06
  Loaded fine for others here and there but I should've waited: it crashes on the RSS FEEDS SCREENSAVER and won't run Photoshop.The average novice or casual user will follow the simple prompts, but consult an expert first! The promises of easy back-ups and colorful add-ons (Safari, I'll admit, is a lot cooler) can't restore what just won't run right... and I keep a tidy Mac.
  
  Slowed down my eMac to an unbelievably crawl. Reinstalled with an archive, but no change.
  
  Nice overall look and nice features... IF they work for you, but "Dr Mac" Bob Levitus advises to wait; you'd better listen. I can't get ANY help on fixes and Apple's forum is really a long list of people begging for help.
  
  Love Apple, but...
  
  
• Normally I'm an Apple fan but...
  By A13UDAIB4TYB0C on 2007-11-10
  ...they buckled under pressure and released this OS upgrade too soon. Normally Apple sets itself apart from Microsoft in that they release when the product(s) are ready, not when the public demands a release.
  
  Apple had already pushed back the release because of the iPhone (great by the way) and I'm guessing they were under pressure to keep their promise release date to October so they let it go full of bugs.
  
  Don't get me wrong, OS X.5 (Leopard) is light years ahead of Vista in speed and convenience (at half the price), I know because I run both systems. It's just that Apple software is normally near flawless and this one needs work.
  
  I won't go into details here since other reviewers have described the problems well. I'm just agreeing with the consensus: wait a couple of months for the bugs to get worked out before buying Leopard.
  
  UPDATE - ok so a few months have gone by and we've received several "updates". Now this OS is even worse than before! I have had more trouble with Leopard than with ANY Windows release. I'm reinstalling Tiger on my Macbook Pro. Don't buy this POS!
  
  NOTE TO AMAZON - how come I can't edit my STAR rating??? I would rate this OS 1.5 stars because it's pretty but useless.
  
  

• Teach Yourself VISUALLY Mac OS X Leopard (Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech))
• Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition (Missing Manual)
• Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual
• Mac OS X Leopard Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference)
• Apple iLife '08

• Apple iLife '08
• Apple iWork '08
• Apple .Mac 5.0 [OLD VERSION]
• Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) MB053LL/A
• VMware Fusion