It’s a documented fact that (and excuse the lack of references, you’ll have to take my word for it) Apple has been on the rise as of late. There are more Macs than there have ever been, and with exciting new announcements about Apple’s iPad, and other looming upgrades to other devices (iPhone, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro), it’s a good time to be an Apple groupie.
Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard is/was Apple’s most recent release of their Mac OS X operating system (10.6) that was available to the public as of August 28th, 2009. For those of you who are less familiar with Apple and Macintosh computers, think of Snow Leopard in congruence with Microsoft‘s latest release of Windows, 7.
A new operating system’s (OS) release usually commands a lot of attention; it’s a new and exciting time to marvel at the cool new features, fancy aesthetic renovations, and hopefully added functionality.
Normally, with a new OS comes the need for faster, stronger and better hardware. The new operating system takes up more room, needs more memory, and a faster processor or it doesn’t run properly. This is sometimes a cause for concern. “You’re telling me I need to pay a couple hundred dollars for this new version of Windows that is going to make me want to buy a new computer because my two year old machine all of a sudden doesn’t match up?”
A new OS is supposed to be an upgrade right? Normally an upgrade doesn’t turn into a burden, it’s supposed to make things easier. For some of us, upgrading ram or clearing hard-drive space is an arduous and costly task. If only someone out there would try to break the trend…
Apple did.
To name a few:
- Snow Leopard was the first-ever operating system that actually cleared up hard-drive space after you installed it – users reported anywhere from 5GB to 15GB of additional free space on their drives after installing.
- A lot of the essential applications and processes that run have been recoded from 32bit to 64bit. What this means is that applications make better use of the hardware (mainly memory) in your computer to function MUCH faster. This means that the computer you bought 2 years ago, runs faster after you install Snow Leopard, than it did when it was brand new out of the box. No need for new hardware, just a $29 upgrade gets you a face lifted computer.
- Safari 4 (Apple’s internet browser), officially released with Snow Leopard, sets a new industry standard in performance; six months later, it’s still leading in load times and benchmark performances vs. other popular browsers. Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Internet Explorer all pale in comparison.
- With Snow Leopard, users could experience faster start-up, shutdown, and wake from sleep times than ever before no more wasting pesky seconds, we’ve got stuff to do!
If you want to learn more about Snow Leopard, visit Apple’s current Mac OS X page on their website. note: this link will be valid until the day Apple releases (presumably) the next version of Mac OS X.
For those of you who have not yet upgraded and are trying to decide if it’s worth it – take it from me, it is. For those of you who are actively opposing the upgrade because “10.5.8 works just fine for me”, you’re not getting the full value out of your computer. For $29, you could turn your computer into a faster, more efficient device, and keep up with an industry that demands you be up to date to function with the newest and best this world has to offer.
One objection that may have held you back from upgrading immediately, would be third party support: printers, cameras, old software that might not operate properly… right away. Now, 6 months later (even 2 weeks after I upgraded) you can rest assured that anyone who’s anyone, has caught up.
note: Apple released the latest version of Snow Leopard, 10.6.3, yesterday which was accompanied by many improvements and bug fixes. Read more here.
