The OS isn't perfect, but it's pretty close. Snow Leopard also requires less disk space (more on this later), and offers more conveniences.
I couldn't run formal benchmarks in the short time I had my hands on the code, however, but we're running them in the lab right now and will update this story when we've got the numbers crunched. Snow Leopard was also noticeably faster in my testing. New features are tucked in unobtrusively on the old interface, so experienced users will find some pleasant surprises in better-organized pop-up menus, as well as some networking options such as built-in support for Cisco VPN. The new version looks almost identical to the previous one-there's no new interface to learn. Click to read an in-depth post about my experience installing Snow Leopard on a dirty machine. I also installed it on my own personal MacBook, a challenging, real-world test with dozens of arcane programs and advanced utilities installed. I tested Snow Leopard on two different machines: a new MacBook Pro that came with the OS preinstalled, and a Mac mini I upgraded from Leopard. With either the single Snow Leopard disc or the Mac Box Set, Tiger users should be careful to update their applications before upgrading, because Tiger-era applications are far more likely to need updating to be fully compatible with Snow Leopard.) In fact, the Snow Leopard DVD will upgrade Intel-based Tiger machines as well as Leopard machines. (A note about pricing: Apple's official line is that an update from Leopard costs $29, or $49 for a five-license family pack but that OS X 10.4 -aka Tiger- users will need to buy a $169 package called the Mac Box Set containing Snow Leopard, iLife '09, and iWork '09. You're out of luck if you still have a PowerPC-based Mac-Snow Leopard installs on Intel-based Macs only.
As its name suggests, this latest version builds on the strong foundation of its predecessor, OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and offers a smooth upgrade path for existing users-any Intel-based Mac will run it. This version of the Macintosh operating system, which goes on sale Friday, August 28, is the brainiest, brawniest, and most beautiful consumer-oriented OS available anywhere-and it ships with the best built-in applications and utilities you can find. Apple has another winner with Mac OS X 10.6, also known as Snow Leopard.
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