OS X Leopard Impression Thread

[Salt Peanuts]

I've posted some of my initial impressions on another thread, but figured I'd start another thread since there are few Mac users on the forum.

Few things -

• The installation went smoothly without a hitch, even though I took a risk and chose the Upgrade option. No reboot or DVD mounting issues here.
  
• Safari runs much better than the beta (duh). No random crashes in middle of surfing and I think it's marginally faster than beta, but I could be imagining that.
  
• Stacks are stupid. It may be useful if you only have handful of document/downloads, but that's not the case here. I like the Tiger's folder on Dock better.
  
• I love Quick Look - I make multiple revisions of same documents and it makes finding the right one easier.
  
• On the similar note, I really love Cover Flow for my picture folder.
  
• I'm using Time Machine, but I've no idea how well it works since I've had no need to restore any files with it. The initial backup takes a long time, though subsequent backups are quick and not noticeable, for the most part. I like that it automatically backs up my 2nd external drive which contains my music. It supposedly can be used with network drives, but I don't know for sure.
  
• Transparent menu bar could be annoying with some background.
  
• I like the improvements on the Mail. To Do and Notes are nice additions since now I can add notes/to do list within Mail. I know it's not a big deal for most people, but it's useful for me.
  
• After using it for few days, Spaces is a no go for me. It has too many annoying quirks, and it feels bit unfinished for me. I may use it still if future updates gets rid of the quirks.
  

Oh, and I'm not running it with 3GB of memory and it definitely likes the extra memory. I was running it initially with 1GB and it wasn't slow or sluggish by any means, but the extra memory has made a HUGE difference, at least in my case.

So anyone else here upgraded yet?

[Salt Peanuts]

Oh, and I'm not running it with 3GB of memory and it definitely likes the extra memory. I was running it initially with 1GB and it wasn't slow or sluggish by any means, but the extra memory has made a HUGE difference, at least in my case.

I meant to type "I'm now running it with 3Gb of memory...."

[grawk]

I also upgraded. I had to manually edit the quicktime preferences to get flash to work, and max is broken until the author fixes a few things. I use and love spaces. I like the new look and feel. I haven't played with time machine, although I still plan on it. I'm using 2gb of ram.

I've posted some of my initial impressions on another thread, but figured I'd start another thread since there are few Mac users on the forum.

Few things -

• The installation went smoothly without a hitch, even though I took a risk and chose the Upgrade option. No reboot or DVD mounting issues here.
  
• Safari runs much better than the beta (duh). No random crashes in middle of surfing and I think it's marginally faster than beta, but I could be imagining that.
  
• Stacks are stupid. It may be useful if you only have handful of document/downloads, but that's not the case here. I like the Tiger's folder on Dock better.
  
• I love Quick Look - I make multiple revisions of same documents and it makes finding the right one easier.
  
• On the similar note, I really love Cover Flow for my picture folder.
  
• I'm using Time Machine, but I've no idea how well it works since I've had no need to restore any files with it. The initial backup takes a long time, though subsequent backups are quick and not noticeable, for the most part. I like that it automatically backs up my 2nd external drive which contains my music. It supposedly can be used with network drives, but I don't know for sure.
  
• Transparent menu bar could be annoying with some background.
  
• I like the improvements on the Mail. To Do and Notes are nice additions since now I can add notes/to do list within Mail. I know it's not a big deal for most people, but it's useful for me.
  
• After using it for few days, Spaces is a no go for me. It has too many annoying quirks, and it feels bit unfinished for me. I may use it still if future updates gets rid of the quirks.
  

Oh, and I'm not running it with 3GB of memory and it definitely likes the extra memory. I was running it initially with 1GB and it wasn't slow or sluggish by any means, but the extra memory has made a HUGE difference, at least in my case.

So anyone else here upgraded yet?

[archosman]

Install went fine and without a hitch. Haven't had a lot of time to check out all of the new features. Maxed out my Macbook Pro with 4 gigs of memory today. Damn that was expensive.

[Salt Peanuts]

Maxed out my Macbook Pro with 4 gigs of memory today. Damn that was expensive.

Yeah, I thought about just going with 2GB for my iMac, instead of maxing it to 3GB (I have the previous gen iMac) since going 2GB would've only cost me $60 as opposed to $130 for 3GB. In the end, I just maxed mine out.

Oh yeah, I'm liking the new look and feel as well - I forgot about it since I've already gotten used to it.

[archosman]

I use Final Cut and Photoshop... which are notorious memory hogs.

[Salt Peanuts]

So after figuring out how to make Finder assigned to every space, I'm going to give the Spaces a shot again. I wish there were easier and quicker way to assign each app to a space without needing to go into the system preference, though.

[ojnihs]

also waiting on leopard

[Salt Peanuts]

Okay, so even with 3gb of memory, Leopard still doesn't like non-native apps, like MS Office, though extra memory does help.

[Salt Peanuts]

well, i wouldn't really have expected Rosetta to get much better than it is in Tiger...

I know, but I was kind of hoping.

Stupid Microsoft taking their time to update the damn program.

[mirumu]

I'd been running the Leopard betas for a while on an external drive and never ran into many problems but I wasn't using it full time with my normal usage patterns. Since the release I've upgraded the two Macs I use most, a G5 tower (Archive and Install) and a Macbook Pro (Format with fresh install) both with 2GB of RAM. Now I'm using it full time I've run into the odd issue here or there. The worst is the odd kernel panic when the network is under heavy load with lots of connections. From the logs it looks like in some conditions the BSD kernel layer is trying to free memory that had already been freed. The telltale sign of this imminent panic is the network layer stopping dead, usually about 20 seconds before the panic message displays. When I've seen this now I quickly save all the unsaved work before the crash. I've been submitting the logs to Apple about this so hopefully it'll be fixed soon in 10.5.1. For now I'm treading lightly with my network usage where feasible.

Some of the other issues are more flaws in design rather than real bugs. The new application-centric firewall is completely useless. Even when you check "block all incoming connections" it doesn't. Wouldn't be so bad if there weren't services running as root exposed by default but there are. I have two hardware firewalls between me and the internet so I'm personally not that concerned but I feel sorry for anyone directly connected to the internet as this is a massive security hole waiting to be exploited by hackers. The BSD ipfw firewall Tiger used is still there under the hood but is set to allow all connections by default. I expect soon there's going to be some good nice to use third party firewall tools to help people configure this given the flaws in Leopard's one.

I sort of agree with Salt Peanuts on stacks. I do like them for some purposes (like the download folder) but they should not have replaced the Tiger folder behaviour. I'd have been very happy if they had just been added as additional options. I've never really liked virtual desktops on unix-like OSes and Spaces seems much the same thing. Doubt I'll be using it much. The transparent menu bar is kind of odd with some desktop pics, but I find I customize most pictures I use as desktops anyway so adding a 22 pixel black bar at the top to make the menu bar look normal isn't a big deal. It would be nice to have an option to turn this feature on or off.

Time machine seems kind of redundant to me since you need at least twice as much disc space in total as what you want to back up. I originally assumed it would do something smarter. Gave it a 250GB drive kicked it off only to be told I needed another 1.3TB of disc space. After I'd excluded most of my data from the backup it worked fine but I don't see much advantage over using a more normal backup system or a mirrored RAID 1 array.

The coverflow view, quick look and mail improvements are great. I don't know how I lived without smart mailboxes. Love the speed of the whole system too. On the G5 it's less noticeable but on the Macbook Pro applications start much faster. I can only assume they've done a lot of tuning for the Intel architecture. Seems like they're doing some smart caching and it works really well.

[Salt Peanuts]

Couldn't wait, huh, Reks? Let us know how you like it (or don't). Of course, now that you're installing it, watch Apple release 10.5.1 next week.

It's been almost two weeks since I've installed it on my iMac and I have had no issues with it. I'm using and liking Spaces now after figuring out how to assign Finder to all spaces. It was rather handy when I needed to have almost 20 Word and Powerpoint documents open at the same time. I didn't like the 3D presentation of Dock, but I just changed it to 2D via Terminal and it's a lot easier to see again (like Tiger). Time Machine's working for me fine, but I don't have too much files, and I don't make too many big changes that often, especially with majority of my music files saved elsewhere.

[Salt Peanuts]

I was glad that I could change the way Dock looked without needing to add another software or pay for one. The 3D look was really annoying me.

[909]

About a week ago, I installed Leopard on my brand new entry level MacBook Pro after erasing the HD three times. Additionally I tested in disk utility the Leopard CD and my HD before and after installation, which every thing checked out OK. After installation when taking the pointer across the dock it seemed a bit choppy and not fluid as it is if the dock is positioned on the left or right side of the desktop. The most noticeable jerkiness is when I load dashboard off the dock. I would say 90% of the time it does NOT load fluidly and either pauses or rushes choppily into position. However, when I load dashboard from my application folder it is completely smooth and looks flawlessly. I reported the problem to Apple after the phone tech couldn't fix it and decided not to go see a Mac Genius. My biggest concern is that there might be something wrong with my MacBook Pro since I just got it on October 24, but likely this should be resolved with an update (fingers-crossed). I went back to Tiger coupled with the other problems i have read about online such as the security/firewall issue. I want to wait for an update and try again, but I miss Leopard.

[909]

same as you 2 GB. so dashboard loads perfectly off your dock?

[909]

Just as bad. I have been through a few new replacement MacBooks (not pros) that were defective out of the box (out of spec-- clicking chassis, bad display, touchpad etc..). So I opted to upgrade to the Pro for $250. I had been 100% pleased until this little issue with Leopard. I have read others having similar experiences. On a scale of one to 10, one being best loadng is anywhere between two to three and the dock jerkiness is bearly a two. It isn't really bad, but noticeable.

[Salt Peanuts]

No problem here loading the dashboard off of the dock either.

[archosman]

Only problem I've had so far is Toast 7 doesn't work. Went ahead and upgraded to 8 and so far so good.

With 4 gigs of ram my MacBook Pro is flying. 2.4GHz/160gig drive/HighRez screen. Very happy...

[909]

hey, what do you know, 10.5.1 is out already.

thanks for the tip, just did the update.

[archosman]

Hmm.. mine would not restart after the update. Just hung there. Did a hard reboot and it appears to be ok... although Disc Permissions won't repair some of the items.

[archosman]

FSCK?

[archosman]

Appreciate it!

[Salt Peanuts]

Jut did a 10.5.1 update and it went without a hitch.

[archosman]

no problem. make sure you keep the space between -y and -f.

Worked like a charm. What exactly does that command do? About the only time I use the terminal is when I run Applejack...

[grawk]

fixes the file system. -y and -f just both mean "yes, I really mean it"