Mac OS X Leopard came out about a week ago, so I've had plenty of time to mess around with it. I did have some problems updating it, but nothing too big.
On my dad's MacBook he had to erase the HD (we still don't know why that happened). On my G5, I just decided to go with the clean install (which erases your HD and installs it. Some people were preferring it over the upgrade, which just updates the operating system). So I had to clone my HD (which took 7 hours :shakehead ), then install it. After a couple days, and many toying hours of pain with the Migration Assistant, I finally got everything back over.
I'm still angry that Migration Assistant is pretty much broken, but at least I didn't lose any important data.
The Pros:
One of the first things I noticed was the amazing speed of Leopard. Almost everything seems to be running faster. Spotlight runs much better than before and is finally integrated within the Finder. This surprises me even more, since this is just the initial release of it. After a couple of updates, I can't imagine how much faster it will be.
There's one thing that Mac users adore more than any other computer user. The eye candy. All I need to say is 2 things: the 3D dock and Cover Flow in the Finder. Who doesn't LOVE reflections?! I really like the new 512 x 512 icons, which look amazingly sharp. There are also a bunch of other little things, like the semitransparent menu bar, the way windows look now (with the new shadows), etc.
Spaces helps a lot for multi-taskers. A good example would be having Maya in one Space, then a tutorial in another.
Quick look is as fast as they say it is. I used it on an 80 MB pdf and it opened immediently.
Mail is extremely speedy and has plenty of new features. I use several RSS feeds, which makes it easier to view stuff, instead of going to websites and looking at it there. I also use the Notes and To Dos a lot, which are really handy, with options like priority and due dates.
Having never backed up my HD, Time Machine is neat, and the day after it finished backing up my HD, I got a chance to use it.
The Cons:
Not every developer has made new 512 x 512 icons for their apps *coughAdobeandAutodeskcough*, so they look ugly in Cover Flow. Time machine runs laggy in Cover Flow, but it's probably just my computer.
I don't know what it is with the Finder, but it doesn't want to remember how I set it up. If you Google "Spacial Finder" you'll see what I mean.
Stacks are a pretty cool feature, but when using the grid mode, it goes slow. Sometimes, they can pop off the screen (you can just use your keyboard to get around this, but it's still annoying)
There are still plenty of bugs (being the initial release), but you get used to them/find ways to get around them.
What about Maya?
Maya seems to run faster, and I haven't found any problems with it so far (except for it not having any 512 x 512 icons…).
For the most part, I'm pretty happy. After they release a couple of updates, it should be running perfectly.
I'll probably come up with more stuff to say about it, but for now my fingers are getting tired. Does anyone have any questions about it?
Does anyone else here have Leopard?
-Jr.Who
