Product Description

Mac OS X v.10.5 Leopard is the newest release of Apple's innovative, stable and compatible operating system for Macintosh computers. This new release includes an elegant new interface and over 300 new innovations designed to help customers accomplish any task. Improvements have been included for all your favorite Mac programs like iChat and Mail, as well as all-new features such as Quick Look, which lets you peruse the contents of a multiple-page document or video without opening the whole file, and Time Machine, which can recover files in seconds. OS X 10.5 has all this, as well as the exceptional search technology, stunning graphics, rapid connectivity and solid stability you've come to expect from the OSX family of operating systems. iChat now lets you present movies, presentations and virtually any document during your chtas with iChat Theater. You can even save your audio and video chats for sharing or synching with an iPod to play on the go. Communicate with 30 professionally designed stationary template, keep important notes and track to-do items in Mail You can now group applications into Spaces and move between each Space with keyboard shortcuts to organize your windows and reduce clutter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178 in Software
• Color: 1-user
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MC094Z/A
• Published on: 2007-10-31
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Platforms: Mac, Mac OS X
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .33 pounds

Features

• Sold Individually

Amazon.com
Hello, tomorrow. The biggest Mac OS X upgrade ever, Leopard features 300+ innovations. Explore the Mac of the future today.

Desktop. A neat place to work.
From the menu bar to the stunning new Dock, the Leopard desktop isn't just about design. It's about enjoying the time you spend on your computer and getting more out of it.

An eye-opening experience.
Start from the top. The menu bar hovers transparently above your workspace, letting the desktop image--perhaps a favorite from your iPhoto library--take center stage. Dock icons rest on a reflective floor with a bright active application signal. And the look of Leopard extends to all applications: Every window has a consistent design theme, and active applications are even more distinct, casting deeper shadows.

Stacked in your favor.
Take a look at your desktop. Is it cluttered with files you downloaded or saved there (somewhat less than) temporarily? You're not alone. Everybody does it. Time to clean house with Stacks--a brand-new feature in Leopard. Create Stacks from anything you want to access quickly from one place: a handful of documents, a group of applications, an entire folder. Files you download in Safari or save from an email are automatically directed to a Stack in the Dock, and when the download is complete, the Stack signals that a new item has arrived. When you want to see the files in a Stack, all you have to do is click--Stacks spring open from the Dock in an elegant arc for a few items, or in an at-a-glance grid for more. Pretty neat.

Browse your files like you browse your music with Cover Flow.

Finder. Give your files the rock star treatment.
Imagine if browsing the files on your Mac was as easy as browsing music in iTunes. That's the idea behind the new Finder in Leopard. Now you can access everything on your system from an iTunes-style sidebar and flip through your files using Cover Flow.

Grouped sidebar items help you find what you need fast.

The sidebar steps up.
Leopard brings new power to your old friend, the sidebar. Now items are grouped into categories: places, devices, shared computers, and searches--just like the Source list in iTunes. So with a single click, you're on your way to finding what you need.

See what you seek.
Bring your files to life with Cover Flow in the Finder. Just as you use Cover Flow to flip through album art in iTunes, now you can use it to flip through your files. Cover Flow displays each file as a large preview of its first page. And you can page through multipage documents or play movies.

Search party.
Stop looking and start finding with Cover Flow and Spotlight. Click a prebuilt search like "yesterday" or "all images" in the sidebar and Cover Flow displays your search results in the perfect at-a-glance format. Leopard comes with a number of helpful prebuilt searches, but it's easy to create your own customized searches as well.

Closer connections.
With shared computers automatically displayed in the sidebar, it's far easier to find or access files on any computer in your house, whether Mac or PC. All it takes is a click. But here's where things get really interesting. By clicking on a connected Mac, you can see and control that computer (if authorized, of course) as if you were sitting in front of it. You can even search all the computers in the house to find what you're looking for.

And now, back to my Mac.
Ever need something on your Mac when you were thousands of miles from home? With Back to My Mac and a .Mac account, you can connect to any of your Macs at home from any Mac on the Internet. Your home computers will appear in the shared section of the sidebar just as they do when you're in the living room.

Improved spotlight searches.

Look deeper.
From the Finder or the menu bar, Spotlight in Leopard lets you search for more specific sets of things. Use Boolean logic to narrow search results by entering "AND," "OR," or "NOT" into a search request. You can also search for exact phrases (using quotation marks), dates, ranges (using greater than [>] and less than [<] symbols), absolute dates, and simple calculations.

View, play, and read files without even opening them.

Quick Look. Look before you launch. Using Quick Look in Leopard, you can view the contents of a file without even opening it. Flip through multiple-page documents. Watch full-screen video. See entire Keynote presentations. With a single click. Opening files is so 2006. So you're flipping through files in the Finder. But you're looking for something specific and you don't have time to open lots of files to find it. Enter Quick Look. It gives you a sneak peek of entire files--even multiple-page documents and video--without opening them. See everything. Quick Look works with nearly every file on your system, including images, text files, PDFs, movies, Keynote presentations, and Microsoft Word and Excel files. Click the Quick Look icon or tap the Space bar to see a file in Quick Look. Then click the arrow icon to see the same file full screen--even video as it plays.

Time Machine. A giant leap backward.
More than a mere backup, Time Machine makes an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac--digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, and documents--so you can go back in time to recover anything.

Set it, then forget it.
You can start using Time Machine in seconds. The first time you attach an external drive to your Mac, Time Machine asks if you'd like to use that drive as your backup. Say yes and Time Machine takes care of everything else. Automatically. In the background. You'll never have to worry about backing up again.

Back up everything.
Time Machine keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac. That includes system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day--so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.

Go back in time to restore any file on your system.

Go back in time.
Enter the Time Machine browser in search of your long-lost files and you see exactly how your computer looked on the dates you're browsing. Select a specific date, let Time Machine find your most recent changes, or do a Spotlight search to find exactly what you're looking for. Once you do, click Restore and Time Machine brings it back to the present. Time Machine restores individual files, complete folders, or your entire computer--putting everything back the way it was and where it should be.

Preferential treatment.
Customize Time Machine by modifying the following behaviors in System Preferences:

• Backup disk. Change the drive or volume you're backing up to. Or back up to a Mac OS X Server computer.
• Do not back up. By default, Time Machine backs up your entire system. But you can also select items you'd rather not back up.
• Encrypt backup data. Turn on encryption to store your backup securely.
• Backup storage time limits. Manage older backups so your backup drive doesn't fill up.

Drag windows to different workspaces and unclutter your Mac.

Spaces. Room for everything. You do a lot on your Mac. So what happens when projects pile up? Easy. Use Spaces to group your windows and banish clutter completely. Leopard gives you a Space for everything and puts everything in its Space. Rearrange the rooms. Create a Space for work. Create a Space for play. Organize each Space the way you want it just by dragging in windows. Keep all your work projects in one Space and that fun flick you made in iMovie in another. Create a communication Space for iChat and Mail. You can even rearrange your Spaces with drag-and-drop ease--shift a Space and every window in it comes along for the ride. Make yourself at home. Moving from Space to Space is easy. Get a bird's-eye view and select the Space you want or toggle between Spaces using the arrow keys. Even the Dock is down with Spaces: When you click a Dock icon, Leopard whisks you to the Space (or Spaces) where you have that application open. Pick your patterns. Configure your Spaces by visiting the Expose Spaces pane in System Preferences. Add rows and columns until you have all the real estate you need. Arrange your Spaces as you see fit, then choose the function keys you want to control them. You can also assign applications to specific Spaces, so you'll always know where, say, Safari or Keynote is.

Email personalized stationery, write to-dos, and take notes.

Mail. Think outside the inbox.
Leopard transforms email into personalized stationery. Notes you can access anywhere. To-dos that change as your errands do. For everything you do with email--and some things you haven't thought of yet--there's Mail.

Sincerely yours.
Mail for Leopard features more than 30 professionally designed stationery templates that make a virtual keepsake out of every email you send. Mail Stationary From invitations to birthday greetings, stationery templates feature coordinated layouts, fonts, colors, and drag-and-drop photo placement--everything to help you get your point across. You can even create personalized templates. And messages created using stationery in Mail use standard HTML that can be read by every popular email program on the market--for both Mac and PC.

Notes and tasks help you stay organized.

Noteworthy indeed.
Ever email yourself a reminder that gets lost in your inbox? Mail lets you write handy notes you can access from anywhere. Brainstorm ideas, jot down meeting notes, scribble a phone number--notes can include graphics, colored text, and attachments. Group notes into folders or create Smart Mailboxes that group them for you. Since your notes folder acts like an email mailbox, you can retrieve notes from any Mac or PC.

Much ado about to-dos.
Forget manually entering a new item to your to-do list every time an email hits your inbox. Mail Tasks Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To-do icon to create a to-do from a message. Include a due date, set an alarm, or assign priorities. Every to-do you create includes a link to the original email or note, and to-dos automatically appear in iCal, complete with any edits or additions you make. And since to-dos are stored with your email, you can access them from Mail on any Mac.

Spotlight on Mail.
With smarter relevance ranking in Spotlight, you'll find the right email at the top of the search results list. And everything you create in Leopard Mail--to-dos, notes, and, of course, email messages--appears in a Spotlight search of your system.

Stop the presses.
Subscribe to an RSS feed in Mail and you'll know the moment an article or blog post hits the wire. Even better, you can choose to have new articles emailed to you. Sorting your news is easy, too. Use Smart Mailboxes to organize incoming news articles according to search terms that pique your interest. Mail shares its unread RSS feed count with Safari, so your reading list always stays in sync.

Data, detected.
Say you get an email invitation to dinner. What if Mail recognized the address of the restaurant and let you map directions on the web? Or let you click once to add the date to your iCal calendar? With Leopard, it does. Mail even recognizes combinations of data in phrases like "lunch tomorrow at 12 p.m. at 701 Baltic Ave, San Francisco, CA," making it easy to make plans.

Setup made simple.
Now you can set up a new Mail account in one easy step. Just enter your current email address and password and let Mail do the rest. Mail works with the most popular email providers to automatically configure all those cryptic server settings for you.

Add effects to video chats and make remote presentations.

iChat. Not being there is half the fun.
Filled with fun new features, iChat turns any video chat into an event. Video backdrops, Photo Booth effects, photo slideshows, Keynote presentations, even movies on your Mac--you can share it all using iChat.

Transform your video chats using Photo booth effects.

Share your files with friends using iChat Theater.

Chat for effect.
Transform your video chats using new Photo Booth effects. Choose an effect and your image changes instantly--iChat detects your background and adds the effect only to your image. And the reverse is true for iChat backdrops: Drag an Apple-designed backdrop or your own photo or video into the video preview window to create an effect that will fool your buddies into thinking you're chatting from your living room, the beach, or the moon.

Show off (without showing up).
Why wait for a darkened room and a projector to present vacation photos or Keynote slides? Now you can do it all remotely, right in iChat. Put on an entire photo slideshow, click through a Keynote presentation, or play a movie--in full screen, accompanied by a video feed of you hosting--while your buddy looks on. In fact, you can show any file on your system that works with Quick Look.

Chatting for the record.
Now you can save your audio and video chats for posterity with iChat recording. Before recording starts, iChat notifies your buddies and asks for their permission to record. When you're done chatting, iChat stores your audio chats as AAC files and video chats as MPEG-4 files so you can play them in iTunes or QuickTime. Share them with colleagues, friends, and family or sync them to your iPod and play on the go.

Crystal-clear audio.
iChat uses the AAC-LD audio codec to deliver the clearest possible sound during audio chats. A wideband codec that samples a full range of vocal frequencies, AAC-LD sounds great with any voice.

Still the best for text.
Sure, iChat has a lot to offer for video and audio chats, but text messaging also gets a boost in Leopard, thanks to these additions:

• Tabbed chats
• Multiple logins
• Invisibility
• Animated buddy icons
• SMS forwarding
• Custom buddy list order
• File transfer manager
• Space-efficient views

AIM to please.
iChat works with AIM, the largest instant messaging community in the U.S. You and your buddies can be either AIM or .Mac users. Text, audio, and video chat whether your buddies use a Mac or PC. Sign in with your AIM account and all your buddies appear in your iChat buddy list.

	iCal. Your schedule is clear. Leopard introduces a new look to iCal, along with an easier-to-use interface that makes scheduling and rescheduling a breeze. Add new group calendaring features, and iCal works better for business or pleasure.
	Photo Booth. Say cheese. Come on. You know you want to. Your built-in iSight or USB camera just begs to take your snapshot. Open Photo Booth--now built into Leopard--and have a little fun.
	Dashboard. Where there's a will, there's a widget. Leopard lets you create your very own Dashboard widget from any website. And new .Mac syncing keeps all of your widgets on all of your Macs.
	Front Row. Put on a show. Looking for a great way to enjoy all the cool stuff on your Mac? Front Row in Leopard works like Apple TV to play digital music, movies, TV shows, and photos on your Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.
	Safari. Still the world's best web browser. Now your favorite web browser is also the fastest on the planet. With page load speeds to rival every other major browser, Safari for Leopard also introduces a few new features to the mix.
	DVD Player. Very entertaining. DVD Player in Leopard probably boasts more features than the DVD player in your home entertainment system. And you don't have to leave your Mac to enjoy it.
	Parental Controls Give your kids a safer, happier Mac experience.
	Accessibility. More user friendly. Leopard offers new features destined to make it the most accessible Mac OS yet. New voice technology in VoiceOver, along with Braille support, Breakthrough Browsing, and extended keyboard capability, give users with visual disabilities more control over the Mac than ever.
	Boot Camp. Run Windows on your Mac. Leopard is the world's most advanced operating system. So advanced, it even lets you run Windows if there's a PC application you need to use. Just get a copy of Windows and start up Boot Camp, now included with Leopard. Setup is simple and straightforward--just as you'd expect with a Mac.
	Automator. Your personal automation assistant. Automator brings remarkable speed to any task that's often repeated on your computer. Leopard adds even more muscle to Automator, making it easy to automate more kinds of tasks.

A host of new features that make life easier for every developer.

Rock-solid foundations.
Explore the core technologies that power Leaopard.

64-Bit. Advanced precision in one OS.
Leopard delivers 64-bit power in one, universal OS. Now the Cocoa application frameworks, as well as graphics, scripting, and the UNIX foundations of the Mac, are all 64-bit. And since you get full performance and compatibility for your 32-bit applications and drivers, you don't need to update everything on your system just to run a single 64-bit application.

Multicore. Fire on all cylinders.
Today's Mac computers offer astounding performance with up to eight cores of processing power. So how do you take full advantage? Simple. With Leopard. A rearchitected system, finely tuned key applications, and powerful new tools for developers make Leopard the perfect OS for your multicore Mac.

Security. Safer by design.
Every Mac is secure--right out of the box--thanks to the proven foundation of Mac OS X. Apple engineers have designed Leopard with more security to protect your personal data and make your online life safer.

Core Animation. Drag-and-drop-dead gorgeous.
Welcome to the next level in computer animation. No, it's not a feature film--it's your desktop. Core Animation is an API that makes it simple for Mac developers to add visually stunning graphics and animations to applications. Without any esoteric graphics and math techniques, you can create fluid, stutter-free effects and experiences as groundbreaking as Spaces and Time Machine.

UNIX. The UNIX you know. The Mac you love.
What can the fully UNIX-compliant Leopard do? It can run any POSIX-compliant source code. Help you make the most of multicore systems. Put a new, tabbed-interface Terminal at your fingertips. Introduce a whole host of new features that make life easier for every developer. So, really, what can't it do?

Create stunning Mac applications more quickly.

Ready. Set. Code.
Discover developer tools you can build on.

Xcode. Build fast. Work smart.
Xcode 3.0 delivers better performance, as well as innovations that let you create stunning Mac applications more quickly. Enjoy a graphical IDE in which form focuses your functions. Delight in a debugger so groundbreaking, you'll make mistakes just to see it in action.

Xray. Apps, the developer will see you now.
When you need help debugging, Xcode 3.0 offers an extraordinary new program: Xray. Taking interface cues from timeline editors such as GarageBand, Xray lets you visualize application performance like never before.

Dashcode. Widgets without the wait.
Ever wish you could make your very own Dashboard widget? A handy RSS feed of your favorite blog, maybe. Or a miniature photocast of your iPhoto library. Something uniquely useful, uniquely you. Say hello to Dashcode. Now you can get a widget up and running in minutes, even if you've never written a line of code in your life.

Customer Reviews

Worth it for Time Machine alone... but there's lots more reasons to buy
The OS comes in a very small package with a little manual. Install took 45 minutes to confirm that the CD was in good condition, 45 more to install. This review is not going to be full of technical jargon... instead a brief first impression from a long time Mac user (circa 1984 Mac 512Ke vintage). For the technicals, go to Apple, read geeky blogs. For the rest of us, I'll try to keep it more straight-forward. They claim 300 changes... here are what I think are some of the more interesting ones... apologies for the length of the review, relative to the number of changes claimed, a moderate length to this review. Updated December 09, 2007 to reflect new experiences.

Pro:
-Time machine! OK, back up programs are available, but how many of them are sold versus the number of macs out there? This program is native, created by Apple for Apple. All I did was plug in a hard drive and Leopard asked if I wanted to make this my back-up drive for Leopard. I clicked yes, and that was it, all set up. It begins back up once the computer is left on and idle. The first takes a very long time, hours, subsequent back ups are hourly, however only files that have changed are saved, preserving storage space and computing power. Time machine looks like any open folder window when it gets down to it... like you went back in time and browsed around (hence the name). Similar to "snapshot" for those Windows XP users out there.
-Install was very easy. Boot machine, insert CD, restart with CD. The computer verified that the CD is in good condition (a lengthy process of about 45 minutes that you can skip but which is recommended). The rest of the install takes about 45 more minutes, but it is basically all automated. It's a Mac, it's so clever that it's easy. Apple does what computers promised to do... automate smartly.
-Price is very reasonable relative to other operating systems (e.g. Vista)
-This OS includes the release version of Boot Camp. I've not used it yet as I have Parallels, but I like how Apple has included this feature... sometimes it's just best to get along as even programs offered on both platforms are just different enough to be annoying. So if you are using PowerPoint at work on a PC, you can use it at home on your Mac acting like a PC... thank you Apple.
-The new "you can see the content of folders in the dock bar" feature is handy, especially if you have many projects going and you dump a lot of picture files into them. They call this new feature "stacks" and it works really well.
-I find that movies too now give you a preview icon which is great.
-New OS did not trash my preferences, such as my Son's photo on the desktop... very plug and play
-Safari web browser is appears somewhat faster, perhaps 1x faster to load a page but I didn't really notice that much difference as I was using another browser up to this point
-The widget-maker is really interesting... I made my first widget of a stock I follow, in about 30 seconds. This was really great. I expect future versions of the feature to add more punch (e.g. the ability to add a title bar to your new widget, improved ability to make very small widgets, ability to use arrow keys to get the widget just right, ability to resize the widget once made instead of deleting and starting all over, etc.), but is still great as is.
-When I have multiple windows open I notice a slight shadow to help me identify which one is active, or on top. Apple continues to impress with their ability to tune into subtle usability features that are so obvious that they have been overlooked. Wonderful (although I would love a darker shadow, and perhaps a bold frame around the window too).
-The Apple web site offers a very nice 9-10 minute introduction. Check it out, it's worth it (trust me).
-Cover Flow is AWESOME! If you are familiar with flipping through album art on the new iPhone or iPods, you'll recognize the power of this feature right away. For those who've been on the sidelines, let me catch you up. There's icon view. There's list view. There's also a column view that's less popular. And there's now cover flow. Much like iTunes, you can flip through files like albums in a juke box, or turning pages in a picture book. The Mac lets you see the first page, so you don't get just a dumb icon, or even a tiny picture, you get a nice big image. It's nothing short of amazing. Cover flow does more (like you can play a video in cover flow without exiting the program or launching a player, fast and convenient), but again, this is a simpler version for the rest of us.
-A further extension of file management is Quick Look. You can sort of open files without launching a program. It's designed to be a time-saver for the person with a lot of files.
-Spaces. OK, this might be a little hard to describe. Essentially, are you someone who like to have 10 programs running at one time? If so, Spaces is ideal for you. You can open say a few photos in one space, a publishing program and Photoshop in another. You can toggle back and forth between the spaces and the effect is a less cluttered environment. It's neat.
-Mail. THere's many new things here, most small. However, for those setting up a mail account for the first time, say on Yahoo or "another popular website", you enter your email address, password, and click OK. Leopard finds it and sets it up. This blows me away. Forever are gone are the days of entering POP and SMTP data, which I guess wasn't terribly bad, but again, this is 2007. Computers are supposed to be more intuitve, not less right? Mac delivers yet again.
-I didn't mention the Notes and To Do features in Mail, which are excellent adds. Example of what these are: I often send myself an email so that I have a note: Well, instead of sending a mail to myself, which can, if hung up take a minute or an hour to return to me, I can write myself a note which sits in my inbox. I can add attachments like an email. I can also turn a note into a "To do", assigning a due date and getting a check box to check when it has been completed. Anywhere I can access my email, I can also get my notes. Weird and wonderful! To do events sync to iCal (which also syncs to my iPhone)... excellent.
-Email contacts, addresses, phone numbers can be added to existing contacts, or a new contact with a couple clicks. This is very handy for the busy professional.
-The teleconferencing features of iChat makes presentations really personal and also allows you to share desktops. I won't use this at home, and I can only dream of this at work when working remotely with our team/my boss in the UK. Words don't do this feature justice.
-My existing programs seem to work ok. I did get a minor error with Parallels (see Cons section for more), but all other programs tried functioned fine.

Con:
-Boot Camp requires reboot to run Windows
-Changed the icons some, which is not a big deal, but which was unnecessary
-With all this advanced file-sharing capability in iChat, I am concerned that a guest could inadvertently open sensitive files or emails. I get confidential materials sometimes, and I have little means of limiting access. It's too open and I'd love some locking features, both in iChat and in case I walk away from my Mac and someone decides to have some fun.
- Parallels has become unstable and won't launch. A free patch fomr the Parallels website (build "5582") fixed the crash on launch issue, however an IP conflict gotten originally still persists. This IP error does not seem to cause any issues as far as I can tell, it is just a nuisance.

Bottom line: Highly recommended. Sleek, smart, and straight-forward. The review title says it all, however there are obviously many reasons to buy, including staying current with the OS so that you have access to future releases and features.

Wait for the First Update **UPDATED** 11-19
There is a ton of potential here with Leopard, including some very nice new features that makes the Mac even better. The only problem is that the bugs in this first release are so annoying and problematic that I've wasted more time trying to work out the kinks than being productive. Going from the stability of Tiger to this has been a huge dissapointment.

My advice is to hold off a bit until they get some of these issues worked out. Here are a list of the problems I am experiencing on both my Mac Pro and Macbook (other Mac owners are reporting similar problems on their machines):

1. Desktop freezing - both machines frequently have their desktops freeze up, making them inaccessible. The solution is to change the screen resolution to a lower setting and back. **Since the 10.5.1 update I have not experienced additional desktop freezing issues**

2. Installation woes - Leopard's upgrade disc did not recognize my Mac Pro's system drive initially, I had to run one of the programs on the installation disc in order to get it to pop up for the install.

3. Font problems - If you do a lot of graphic design work and are continually receiving fonts along with a Quark or Adobe inDesign document, definitely hold off on upgrading. A few current projects that opened up fine in Tiger simply don't recognize the fonts under Leopard.

4. Back to My Mac - This for me was I upgraded.. Sadly it just doesn't work and likely won't for most of us. Checking through online discussion boards many other folks are equally frustrated in trying to get this thing to work. Apple has recently posted a message indicating that expanded support for third party routers is "coming soon." Huge oversight to be hyping a feature that will only work for those with a $180 Apple router. Similar PC products like Hamachi work flawlessly, there's simply no excuse for this. *** Since the 10.5.1 update Back to My Mac is working MUCH better, including a recent stay at a hotel. I'd say a bulk of the problems described above have been fixed.**

5. Spaces - this great virtual desktop application is plagued by sucking applications into 'limbo' and occasionally cycles through the available desktops randomly when some apps display warnings.

6. Video glitches - The display on my Mac Pro (running an ATI x1900XT) often gets lines of gibberish streaking through the display. Others are reporting similar issues. **UPDATE: Leopard taxes video hardware significantly more than prior releases of OS X. X1900XT cards on the Mac Pro are experiencing an issue with dust building up on the heat sink which is blocking airflow and overheating the card. Vacuuming out the heat sink has improved the problem for me.

7. The new "Dock" is horrid.. The 3D "glass" effect makes it difficult to see which applications are currently loaded. Thankfully a simple terminal command can remove the fancy effects and make it a bit more manageable.

8. Time Machine works as advertised with an external drive attached to a USB or firewire port. Getting it to work over a network with a Macbook is another story.. It will recognize internal drives on a networked machine, but external drives attached to that same networked computer are hit or miss.

Are any of these show stoppers? With the exception of the font issue, probably not. But if your system is running reliably with Tiger, I'd hold off a bit until Apple gets some of these issues worked out and releases their first round of updates.

Clearly the development team struggled getting this out the door, and it shows. Definitely the most disappointing Apple product I've purchased in quite some time.

Just Brilliant new OS
THis is a brilliant update to Apple's operating system. Installed with no problems, runs beautifully, and the new features are wonderful.

This OS will not run on older Macs, but will run on any of the newer (last three years or so) Macs -- and it makes everything look clean, new, and runs faster (indeed!) than TIger.

Safari is particularly lightning fast in Leopard. Mail has some wonderful new features (most notably the To Do and Notes features) and everything just looks better.

Note that you might need to reinstall some printer drivers after updating - especially if you have Epson printers; but those are available at epson.com (or similar sites for other printers). Many of the "beta" drivers inside Leopard will not work.

One note: if you watch the Apple video about Leopard and follow their instructions ("You can start the install, and go out for coffee and it will all be ready for you when you return") it is simply NOT TRUE. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER while it is updating. You will frequently be asked to approve the next step as you install and if you don't answer them it will just sit there.

Note that they "say" it will take 30 minutes to an hour to install -- that is true only if you skip the disc verification that Leopard automatically performs at the beginning of the install -- otherwise, it actually takes 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to install.

One big warning: make sure you check your printer's compatability with Leopard before upgrading -- many printers (especially Lexmark and HP) do not currently have any printer drivers and the old drivers will not work. Make sure there is a driver for your printer for OS 10.5 or you will be out of luck. Same with scanners and all-in-one machines.