True to the “under-promise and over-deliver” mantra, Apple has announced that it will start shipping Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard August 28. The original release date was announced to fall somewhere in September, so Apple is delivering ahead of schedule.
Snow Leopard, as the name implies, builds directly on the solid base of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and focusses on reducing the operating system’s footprint. On top of that, a number of new features and low-level frameworks are implemented as well, such as Grand Central and OpenCL. This is also the first release of Mac OS X which no longer works on PowerPC-based Macintosh machines, and has the option of running in full 64bit goodness, including applications like the Finder and iTunes.
Alongside the client variant, the server version of Snow Leopard will also start shipping on August 28. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard owners can buy the upgrade version of Snow Leopard for a mere 29 USD, while Tiger users will have to buy the box set (which includes iWork and iLife) for 169 USD. If you bought your Mac after June 8 2009 you are eligible for the Up to Date program, which means you’ll get an upgrade copy of Snow Leopard for 9.95 USD.
You can place your pre-order in the Apple Store.
Can’t wait, especially pleased with the £25 cost.
Looking forward to what the developers are going to do with Grandcentral and OpenCL.
I don’t expect to see much on the UI, it will be nice to have leopard but snappier. It’s the under the hood stuff which im really excited to see.
Ive seen some pretty impressive stuff with the Core series of API’s in Leopard, so im expecting some pretty snappy stuff.
Ordered it today. It’s funny how $29 can be translated to 319 SEK (swedish currency). According to Google, “29 U.S. dollars = 204.598528 Swedish kronor” … But I still think 319 SEK is cheap enough so I’m happy.
Doesn’t help that the Swedish government rapes the customer to the tune of 25% VAT.
Edited 2009-08-24 15:57 UTC
Wow, and I thought Canada’s tax of 13% (Ontario, 8%, federal 5%) was high…
In New Zealand it is 12.5% – when number crunching, NZ’ders only pay US$6 more than American consumers, which isn’t too bad given that Apple is now including support for Maori within the operating system.
Then again, they do get free health care and other government benefits for that.
Yup, I’m happy that Canada provides health care for everyone. But that’s another discussion…
Socialism has its price
29 EUR in continental Europe (Euro zone). I’ll grab it Saturday.Gives me perfect excuse to avoid doing groceries,
Edited 2009-08-24 18:53 UTC
Windows 7 for £50, and now Snow Leopard for £25. I’m doing pretty well this year for OS upgrades. Can’t wait to get this installed.
I think this is really going to sound the death knell for PPC, once developers start writing Snow Leopard-only apps (Grand Central, &c.) PPC support is going to drop like a ton of concrete. Any Snow Leopard developer knows that PPC is completely ruled out from the beginning.
It’s a shame, my iMac G4 is doing so well and it would pain me to buy any other desktop Mac that isn’t a G4, I think the lamp design is still gorgeous and much nicer than the current “Jay Leno†design.
It’s a shame, my iMac G4 is doing so well and it would pain me to buy any other desktop Mac that isn’t a G4, I think the lamp design is still gorgeous and much nicer than the current “Jay Leno†design. [/q]
I always thought the lamp design was awesome because it gave you an adjustable screen height. If I could find a similar design with more current hardware, I would jump at it.
I’m new to the whole MAC OS X scene, I’ve been a Linux/Solaris/*BSD user for 10 years and needed a new laptop so I went with a new 15″ macbook pro. I’m just wondering if the $9.99 I spent is just an upgrade dvd, pop in and it upgrades the bits. Or do I have the ability if I want to re-install, to use it?
I’ll check when I get home, but I’m pretty sure it is running in 64-bit mode, if not I would rather be. I want to upgrade to 8GB of RAM and use it.
Thanks,
I guess it will be an upgrade disk (as they provided during the Tiger -> Leopard transition). But converting the update CD to a normal install CD is a matter of removing one script (or at least in Leopard), that can even be performed at install time (launch a terminal, make a memory disk, copy over the contents of that particular directory, remove the script from the memory disk, mount the memory disk at the directory containing the script, go one step back in the installation, then forward again, and it works).
You HAVE to pay $169 for the Boxed set. There doesn’t seem to be any OS-only option for $129 anymore. But, of course, without the boxed set, you probably have nothing to do in MacOS X 10.6, because the OS comes without any apps at all (hence, the much smaller disk footprint).
Yeah… remember how Jobs was promising all kinds of PPC support for a looong time to come? Well, as far as OS versions, that lasted 1.5 versions. The Intel switch occurred during Tiger and Leopard is the last PPC-capable OS. If I was still an Apple enthusiast (I dropped off, the instant Apple started the switch to Intel), I’d be kinda upset at that. But now… I just laugh.
Macs have ALWAYS been about being different. Software AND hardware. Standing out from the crowd. Making a statement, etc. Now the only thing different about a Mac and a PC, is the OS. The hardware is 100% identical. I’m not gonna pay Apple’s inflated prices to use their OS on their PC hardware. I’d sooner (and will) run Windows 7 on a much cheaper and powerful PC, come what may for viruses and spyware and all that junk. At least Windows has always BEEN a PC OS, since the very beginning. And that’s something I can respect.
This “Apple defection” has made me an Apple basher, when, not so long ago, I stood staunch and proud as an Apple loyalist. I was proud to be an Apple user. I was proud to own a Mac and “think different”.
Now, those days are so past gone… it’s not even funny.
Yeah… Snow Leopard is the greatest version of MacOS X to come out, yet… tight and efficient and 64-bit and all Intel and whatever… but it’s something that will just have to go on without me.
Wish I could appreciate all that Snow Leopard promises for Apple’s faithful lemmings, but I’m just gonna go with Windows 7 instead.
Well, as a Windows user you’ll at least get OpenCL support for free through NVIDIA/AMD’s drivers.
Eight years wasn’t enough time to support the old hardware? Really?
Oh, so it’s been *8 years* since the middle of Tiger and the end of Leopard? Steve Jobs was talking about continuing support for PowerPC *after* they switched to Intel. Intel Macs haven’t existed for 8 years.
Man, where do people come up with this stuff!
Leopard still supports the Power PC hardware you talk about. I hope you enjoy your Windows.
And to kaiwai, VERY well said. I was going to post a long post but yours says everything I was going to say.
Edited 2009-08-25 06:15 UTC
They leaped 5 years ahead using TimeMachine!
+1 to you (if I could add it). That was funny! Good move!
Umm 8 years?? Intel Macs have only been around for 3-4 years. Where do you get 8 from?
Well, you go ahead and do just that.
I’ve been waiting a decade for Microsoft to fix up their operating system; their atrocious GUI, their lack of using any new features when introduced in the operating system, the horrible file system lay out, their crap way of handling file conflicts, their layer upon layer upon layer of bloat and backwards compatibility to keep a few whiners running 20 year old DOS applications happy. Maybe when Microsoft invest some of their billions into fixing their operating system – then I’ll start using with the same gusto that you seem to dredge up when spamming Mac related threads with your Windows zealotry or in fact throwing idiotic statements into any topic.
You make an inflammatory comment then run for the hills – explains your low post count considering you’ve been registered for 4 years. I’ve looked through your posts and not once have you ever entered into any dialogue; quite frankly I’m surprised that you haven’t been suspended yet.
Edited 2009-08-25 03:46 UTC
YOU sir are a troll plain and simple. Power PC. About time all that code goes bye bye. OSX will be so much better with out it all.
I think yes and no. Writing multiplatform code forces some discipline which in my experience decreases the number of subtle hard-to-find bugs. I would not be surprised if 32->64bit transition will bee smoother because of this extra discipline, but that something we’ll never know I suppose.
The OS does come with all kinds of apps for the OS and main functionality. Mail, Safari, all the utilities, DVD Player, etc. What the OS disks you buy separate from the Mac never have come with is iLife or iWork, which are included in the Box Set. Logic says that most who can run SL who do not already have Leopard, probably do not have iLife 09, but are a version or two back.
The smaller footprint is no doubt from both removing the PPC code and possibly a smarter install that reduces the number of language files and printer drivers to what you need right then.
Well, the switch to Intel was announced June 6, 2005, more than 4 years ago. That is pretty good in computer years, I would say it is longer than Apple supported the transition from Motorola 680xx to PPC in 1994.
I just got rid of my PPC PowerBook yesterday myself, which was just over 4 years old as well, and it was having an awful hard time running modern software. Time to move on. I do feel sorry for the people with high-end G5s, but people using those [mainly video/audio/some compositors-photo retouchers] don’t move too fast in upgrade land anyway. I know I don’t on critical production machines.
I for one love the transition to Intel, as PPC for the desktop, and especially portables, was over. Relegated to embedded, console and servers is fine. Macs I buy and use every day are vastly superior to the ones of the late PPC. Now, early PPC [94-99] that was heady times, as then PPC was way faster for Photoshop et al than Intel [remember the burning Intel bunnies?]
Funny, mine has always been about getting my work done efficiently and easily, and my fun done more fun.
Good luck! I know I’ll appreciate it for you!
Edited 2009-08-25 23:49 UTC
Wow you Luposian sound like an uber troll you “defected” because Apple switched from the dead end PPC chips to Intel?
Frankly as an Apple user I’m glad you’re no longer one. You sound like a douchebag who only used Macs so you could hold your “uniqueness” over other peoples heads.
Oh and by the way OS X has always run on x86 chips, it was a skunkworks project since the beginning just incase IBM and the other PPC houses couldn’t get their crap together (which they couldn’t in the end).
OpenCL
requires one of the following graphics cards or graphics processors:
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX5600
* ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870
That means my fall 2008 iMac is not supported. It has a ATI Radeon HD 2400. Apple, I am disappoint.
that is your fault, not theirs. that video card was always cheap, and you bought it
Where did you get that information from?