Technologist Blog >> Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Top 10 New Features

Mac OS X version 10.6 "Snow Leopard" is the seventh major release of Mac OS X, Apple's operating system. This release focuses on improving performance, efficiency and reducing its overall memory footprint compared to its predecessor Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard".

Snow Leopard is only available for Intel-based Macintosh computers. Cost of upgrade for users running Leopard is US$29 (£25) for the single-user license, or US$49 (£39) for up to five computers with the family pack.

Top 10 Features/Improvements in Snow Leopard:

1. Apple's Boot Camp utility under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard includes Windows HFS+ drivers. Boot Camp is Apple's software package that allows customers to boot Microsoft Windows operating system on their Intel Macs. As of now Windows does not recognize Mac formatted hard drives and is unable to read or write to them. The newest version of Snow Leopard's Boot Camp includes special drivers to allow read access to Mac data even under Windows.

2. QuickTime has a new built-in function in that allows you to record video of actions you take on the Mac screen. QuickTime video player has been upgraded, with a clean new interface for playback, and the new ability to record and trim videos. Icons can be more easily enlarged, and you can preview the files they represent, even playing videos in miniature or paging through multipage PDF or PowerPoint files.

3. Opening and closing applications, flicking between windows, and even booting up and shutting down feels slicker. Snow Leopard's support for 64-bit computing is key to this, as is its use of OpenCL, which utilises the power of the Mac's graphics processors to run other programs and applications, giving the entire system more grunt.

4. Text substitution is a new feature which lets you create shortcuts for phrases you use frequently that will expand automatically as you type. Common substitutions are built in for example, changing (c) to a copyright symbol (©) and fractions from 1/2 to ½. You can also add your own substitutions; for example, 'ars' can expand to 'All Rights Reserved' and your initials can expand to your full name.

5. Spotlight can now index Faces and Places in iPhoto '09.  You can search for pictures of your friends by simply typing their name in Spotlight.  You can even search for your photos based on where they were taken.

6. Snow Leopard takes up less than half the disk space compared to its predeccessor, freeing about 7GB+ for you - enough for about 1,750 more songs or a few thousand more photos.

7. When upgraded to OS X 10.6, all MacBooks with Multi-Touch trackpads now support three- and four-finger gestures.

8. A new technology called Grand Central Dispatch takes full advantage of multicore systems by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central Dispatch also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that utilize all the power of multicore systems.

9. Activate Exposé from the Dock - You can now click and hold an application icon in the Dock, and all open windows in the application you selected will unshuffle so you can quickly change to another window. You can press the tab key while in Exposé to move to the next application in the Dock and show the windows for that application.

10. Snow Leopard includes native support for Cisco IPsec VPN connections, so it would be easy to connect to your office. Snow Leopard also includes the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus second edition, which would make it even more friendly.

FAQs:

1. Can I upgrade my intel mac to Snow Leopard and Windows 7.0 both?

Yes. Microsoft confirmed Windows 7 will be licensed to work within a virtual machine on a Mac just like XP and Vista. Apple also plans to offer Windows 7 drivers for its hardware soon after new Microsoft system comes out on Oct. 22. You can choose to keep running older versions of Windows on Macs equipped with Snow Leopard, or run Windows 7 on Macs that still run Leopard.

2. Can I use 29$ disk to update from Tiger to Snow Leopard?

Yes, you can. Not sure if its legal. Also, this was your iLife (iPhoto etc) will still be old.