Oct
26
2007
OS X 10.5 Leopard - Review
Posted by luna6
OS X 10.5 Leopard builds upon the solid OS X 10.4 foundation and refines all the rough edges of Tiger to make for one truly spectacular operating system. As nice as 10.4 Tiger was, the OS had quite a few quirks. The way different applications had different “look and feel” bothered me. Finder was clunky and my least favorite file manager on any operating system. Spotlight seemed slow at times and didn’t work with boolean queries. Finding an open network with Tiger’s wireless applet was a chore. All of these quirks have been ironed out in Leopard and there are also plenty of new features to get excited about. In particular Spaces, Time Machine, Quick Look, Stacks, and the new & improved Dock gives Leopard the feel of a true cutting edge modern operating system.
Desktop
Initially I was taken back by the look of the default desktop. Apple designers usually do a great job in this department, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the initial desktop. The default wallpaper is horrendous, with a Yanni meets Star Trek like backdrop and obnoxious purplish lights streaking across the desk. On the positive side, if that’s the worst complaint about an operating system (which it is) than you know you’re in pretty good shape. Changing the wallpaper is as easy as hitting cntrl + mouse click or clicking system preferences –> Desktop & Screensaver. There’s plenty of appealing alternatives to choose from and I eventually went with “Leaves” from the Plants category. Amazing how a good wallpaper can change your impressions of the system.
Dock
The new & improved dock in Leopard would be one of my favorite things about Leopard. Although the dock doesn’t radically differ from Tiger, it sure does look a lot nicer. The dock now has a 3d’ish look to it, thanks in part to well done shadows and a 3d dimensional looking platform which the Dock resides on. If you move the dock to either the left or right side, then the Dock reverts back to the Tiger style Dock. Another new feature found within the dock is “Stacks”. Any folder that’s dragged to the right side of the Dock turns into “Stacks”. Once you click these Stacks the items within that folder will spring out. If there’s more than 10 items in the folder then a pop-window will appear. Very cool feature and something totally unique to Leopard.
SPACES
Since I use Linux on a daily basis, Leopard’s “Spaces” is something I am already accustomed with in Linux. “Spaces” provides virtual desktops so you can run separate applications on desktop 1, separate applications on desktop 2 and so forth. You can select “Spaces” either from the Dock or by hitting the F8 key on your keyboard. Then you will get a visual overview of the different desktops. From this view, you can easily drag and drop apps from one desktop to another or hit the F9 expose key to switch between windows in the “Spaces” view. By default you can switch between the desktops with cntrl+arrow keys or cntrl+number keys. Apple did provide nice overlay graphics to point you in the direction of which desktop you are changing too. With that said I did wish the “Spaces” icon on the dock would give a live preview of the different desktops like what is available in Gnome or KDE. If you have a dual monitor setup on your Mac, then you will enjoy spaces even move - as you can have one virtual desktop for each monitor.
TIME MACHINE
I have to applaud Apple on their new “Time Machine” concept. They did take the mundane process of backing up data and made it a fun thing to do. Back-up is done automatically so you don’t have to remember to do so. When you launch Time Machine for the first and you have a external hard drive plugged in, you’re treated to quite a view of all your data in a 3D time space. You can then navigate through the days since you first initiated the backup by days and hours. Restoring your system is now as easy as going back in time with Time Machine.
FINDER
I personally felt Finder was one of the weaker aspects to 10.4 Tiger, but now Finder has been improved enough that it’s become one of the best things about Leopard. The look of Finder has been toned down, with unified colors and better alignment of directories on the left hand pane. There are now four different viewing options: Icons, List, Columns, and Cover Flow. Cover Flow view is the same type of sliding 3D view that you get within iTunes. With that said, I’m not completely sold on the Cover Flow view for browsing files in Finder, but it did well for browsing through photos.
A new Quick Look option has also been added within Finder. Select a document or music, image, movie, pdf file and then click the Quick Look button (has the icon of an eye) and the selected item is quickly shown without having to launch an additional application. No more clicking and hoping you are opening the right document. I did find Quick Look to be an indispensable feature and had to wonder why such a thing wasn’t implemented before.
FRONT ROW
Front Row seems to have gotten the Apple TV interface treatment. I haven’t used Apple TV before so I can’t compare between the two, but compared with Tiger’s Front Row interface, the new Front Row looks far more sleek. There are now additional categories for TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, Settings, and Sources.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS
Besides these major upgrades and new features there are also plenty of smaller improvements to get excited about with OS X 10.5 Leopard. All applications now share the same look and feel, which I welcome whole heartedly. Say goodbye to the at times Frankenstein look of different application styles in Tiger. Spotlight has also become a lot faster and now handles Boolean queries (yes!!!). The wireless network applet that resides on the top OS X panel now differentiates between encrypted and open networks with a simple locked or not locked icon. This change may seem small, but for everyday use when your out and about it really is appreciated. Next time your sitting down at a cafe or another public area, you don’t have to randomly peck around for an open network. Photobooth now includes more templates. You can superimpose yourself over preset backgrounds like the city of Paris or a Rollercoaster and even add your own backgrounds. My niece will go gaga over this. iChat features tabs and better integration with Google Talk. You can now also login in with multiple AIM accounts. Mail 3.0 now automatically sets up POP3 enabled Gmail accounts. Preview features an improved layout and works with PDF files much better.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Is Leopard worth the $129 upgrade charge? I would say “Yes” without hesitation. As nice as the new features are in Leopard, the smaller improvements made in Leopard really made the OS shine for me. Having applications with a unified look and feel is something I wanted for a long time. Finder has been improved enough where I didn’t wish for Gnome’s Nautilus or KDE’s Konqueror or even Window’s Explorer. Icons to indicate open or secured network was a long needed addition for their wireless networking app (especially so if you are a Macbook or Macbook Pro owner).
Out of all the new features, Spaces would be my favorite. Although there isn’t a live preview for Spaces on the Dock, using virtual desktops with Spaces still works great. If you are lucky enough to have a dual monitor setup than Spaces becomes even more indispensable. Time Machine really did take the “chore” out of back-ups and actually made it a fun thing to do (who would have thought?).
OS X 10.5 Leopard is the best operating system released by Apple so far and runs neck and neck with Ubuntu’s Gutsy Gibbon as my favorite operating systems to use. In the past I wanted to get an iMac, but not because of OS X but rather because of their sleek hardware. Now after using Leopard, I want to buy an iMac to run Leopard. Nice job Apple.
Pros:
Loved the unified look of all applications.
The new and improved dock looks & works great.
“Spaces” finally brings virtual desktops to OS X by default.
“Time Machine” makes data back-ups fun (whooaa).
Finder is vastly improved and looks a whole better.
Spotlight now works with boolean queries.
Cons:
The default wallpaper is fugly.
Live preview with “Spaces” on the dock would have been nice.
iPhoto is not included.
Users Rating: 7.39 
(70 votes)
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Comments
28 Comments so far
My biggest beef with Leopard would be with the broken Preview application. It drives me absolutely nuts that the “next” and “previous” buttons don’t work. I can’t browse folders of images without closing one and launching another. Apple needs to fix this!
Some additional data:
* OSX 10.5 runs pretty well on my PowerBook G4 (1.25 Gb, 1.5Ghz)
* The os install was painful because there’s a silent background fsck process that runs the prevents your hard drive from appearing in the Install Destination for several minutes. If that process fails (as it did in my case because of a minor link count difference), you may never see the drive appear. Even if you want to trash your old install, the installer doesn’t give you the option. I had to reinstall my old 10.3.7 before I could install 10.5.
* My old applications mostly work. My old copy of Opera core dumped on every startup so I’m using the 9.50 Beta now which works fine. However one exception for World of Warcraft - there’s a low-level graphics problem that makes the game practically unplayable. That’s probably a blessing in discuise :-)
* Lots of polish has been added everywhere. Expose has a nice dictionary now.
* DTrace rocks! I’m a developer and I’m thrilled to have this awesome tool at my disposal now.
* Lots of open source packages don’t quite build properly because of some UNIX 2003 conformance changes. Getting things like Apache APR, MySQL, etc to build requires you to look into various header file and library issues.
Big Mac, your friend has installed a lot of useless crap on his box. My friends have F-ed up computers too. It’s because they don’t know anything about computers, like most people who run Windows or OSX, or even Linux for that matter.
Tangentially, computer security is relative and environmental. Take OSX or Linux off 20 million desktops and put them on Windows’ market share of over one billion desktops and you’ll find that they aren’t as secure or virus immune as you think. They’re just under the radar now. Also, computer security actually has a lot to do with USER intelligence. Most sophisticated computer users rarely, if ever, even see their AV app give a warning, let alone get infected.
@ Sebhelyesfarku “October 27, 2007
Leopard is an overhyped piece of shite just like the iPhone.”
Unless this was supposed to be a joke…you need to consider some profesional help!
The folders look like 5417. Geez, all you had to do [Apple] was remove the ‘lines’ from the folders, but instead Leopard is now riddled with child-like ‘baby blue’ folders.
I am all for having a unified interface, however there is a line between the resultant art being either a toy or being professional! You can see this in other system-shipped icons, such as the “Spaces” icon.
^*%&
It’s nice that you were able to afford the software and that you did a review of it so quickly. It’s a shame you don’t know how to write or proofread.
“photo’s”
The photo’s what? What belongs to the photo? I think you meant, “photos,” the plural of the word “photo.”
Linux feels like a collection of shareware applications stitched together in an unholy mess. Getting hardware to work is still difficult and I can count on my left all the available professional applications available for it (and I’m missing a few fingers on that hand).
Some say Windows is easier to use, but whenever I use a friend’s PC the thing is always riddled with spyware and anti-spyware progams, viruses and anti-virus programs. In my book that doesn’t equate to “easy to use” but rather just a royal pain.
OS X on the other hand? Everything works and continually works like the first time you boot it up. The amount of professional applications available for it also makes OS X the clear winner.
I really wanted to be in to OSX 10.5, but there’s nothing new that hasn’t already been done, and with better implementations, in Linux and Windows. File management is mediocre at best and the look and feel of the OS makes it seem like I’m using one of those $100 PCs for kids. Maybe Apple should just ship KDE 4 with OSX after it completes Beta.
Also, Linux may be free of charge, but there are good reasons why Linux has less than 5% of desktop market share and recent reports show a 4% per year retreat in the server market. (Although, interestingly enough, OSNews.com reports that while Linux has 4.8% out of 125,000 unique visitors, OSX only has 2.6%). Apparently you still can’t give Linux away, and you can’t attribute the fall in the server market to users just not being tech savvy. But, I continue to believe it will have it’s day, someday, just not this year or next.
wow…mac, pc, OSX, vista..
some words about linux:
free of charge, no issues, has everything both others also have and works.
cheers guys!
Stacks is not “totally unique to Leopard.” Since Windows 98 at least, you’ve been able to create a toolbar out of any folder and place it on Windows taskbar. When you click on it it lists all the items in the folder.
It’s a nice feature, but not new or unique to Apple.
Great review, Luna6!
@EVM: I can appreciate the fact that you don’t have a terribly high opinion of OS X and you’re most certainly welcome to voice it.
However, and be serious now, Windows Me is better than OS X? Windows Millennium? Come on, even MIcrosoft doesn’t want to mention it in polite company. I work with hardcore tech support guys who wouldn’t touch OS X with a 10-foot pole. The best comment they have for Windows Me is 10 degrees South of sneering contempt. It’s a horrendous excuse of an operating system. And you even place it -before- Win98? Choices like that defeat your argument, really.
I’ve been driving a Mac since the 7.5.1 days and I’ve never had a better user experience than I have now with OS X. No OS is issue free but I dearly love to work with a Mac, especially today. Can’t wait for January to roll around for my own update to Leopard.
Windows Millennium, jeezes.
Leopard is an overhyped piece of shite just like the iPhone.
Dude, you got properly punked over at osnews.
http://osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=18836
EVM, first you put LINUX on the wrong end of the spectrum. It goes on the far right. Secondly, you reiterated the same OS twice. When you say UNIX, you mean OSX.
Dumbass
I hate the new translucent menu bar.
I think apple should give us the options to change it.
EVM I got a good chuckle out of your comment. You should have started with BSD or placed it higher in that timeline.
Leopard is only $129. Even more reason to upgrade for you.
LINUX > UNIX > VISTA > XP > 2000 > NT > ME > 98 > 95 > 3.1 > 3.0 > 2.0 > 1.0 > ReactOS > EVERYOTHER OS > MACOSX
In Re : “the icons in the side bar in the finder are just tiny.. elderly people and people with bad eye sight are going to have a really hard time reading those.. they need to be bigger..”
The icons in Finder look fine on my 13″ macbook. I found the previous icons to be too large so no complaints here. Time Machine is b-b-b-a-a-d-d to the b-b-b-o-o-n-n-e.
If Apple runs out of names I bet they will move to a bird theme. FALCON, CONDOR, EAGLE, RAVEN, CROW all sound pretty bad ass to me.
It’s great to see a really good solid operating system in the market place for users and businesses. Apple’s ability to embrace Open Standards is awesome. With Leopard you are getting true 64 bit computing and it’s now in a rare class its FULL UNIX not UNIX like. With Apple’s engineering for great UI and the power of Open Standards truly makes this OS the most advanced.
Visita and its inability to let go of the past is really driving people away. Maybe Microsoft just got too old, fat and slow to do anything. Vista is a joke and I tell people to stick with XP as long as they can or move to Mac and run XP if they need too.
neo
There’s some extinct cat names they could use (sabre tooth tiger), but..
Thanks for the review; makes me feel this would actually be a worthy upgrade. For me, Spotlight was the one and only reason for Tiger at the time.
When I use my Macbook Pro things just work. When I use Windows at work I want to cry. Leopard looks even better and I can’t wait for my copy to arrive in the mail.
Has anyone noticed that the dock just sucks now.. forget all the hype.. There is no way to go down multiple levels in the grid or fan view.. you have to click on a folder and open it to view the contents.. what happened to dropping a folder of icons and folders and getting a menu by right clicking and getting a fly-out for folders?? I don’t want a million application icons in my dock.. i want a menu of alias that i can easily access with one click.. now i have to click.. open a folder.. scroll for the alias and open the application.. pretty graphics.. bad usability design
Also, i have custom icons for my folders to help me visually and quickly identify my working folders.. now their icon is the first icon of whatever file is in the folder.. the contents of the folder are changing constantly.. so is the icon in the dock.. that is annoying and makes it hard to quickly visualize what folder to click on..
also, the icons in the side bar in the finder are just tiny.. elderly people and people with bad eye sight are going to have a really hard time reading those.. they need to be bigger..
Hype, you must be kidding! Vista is so bloated and chock full of issues, that it’s the worst OS since ME. I’m a windows user and even I know that Leopard is a great product. It may not be a huge upgrade, but at least Apple did it right. Not like MS who took 6 years to botch up it’s next upgrade.
129$.
Nothing here that would make me switch from Vista. Apple has cornered the market on cultish fanatism.
Leopard looks just great. This looks like a better deal than what Tiger was to Panther. On a side note, Steve Jobs recently said Apply may continue with incremental updates to OS X for the next decade. I’m just wondering if they would run out big cat names by then?