Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Mac)

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 13.5 x 1.3 cm
• Delivery Destinations: Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered.
• ASIN: B001AMHWP8
• Release Date: 28 Aug 2009
  

By : Apple
Price : £36.99

Product Description

Product Features

• Mac OS X Snow Leopard is built on a rock-solid, time-tested UNIX foundation that provides unparalleled stability as well as industry-leading support for Internet standards
• Improvements include a more responsive Finder, new look and features for Exposé and Stacks, quicker Time Machine backup, faster common tasks and installation, a smaller install footprint and more
• New core technologies unleash the power of today's advanced hardware technology and prepare Mac OS X for future innovation: 64-bit computing, multicore-optimisation, OpenCL, QuickTime X and more
• With virtually no effort on your part, Mac OS X protects itself--and you--from viruses, malicious applications and other threats
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes built-in support for the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server, so you can use Mail, iCal and Address Book at home and at work

Manufacturer's Description
Mac OS X is the world's most advanced operating system. Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation and designed to be simple and intuitive, it's what makes the Mac innovative, highly secure, compatible, and easy to use. Quite simply there is nothing else like it.Mac OS X is both easy to use and incredibly powerful. Everything - from the desktop you see when you start up your Mac to the applications you use every day - is designed with simplicity and elegance in mind. So whether you're browsing the web, checking your email, or video chatting with a friend on another continent, getting things done is at once easy to learn, simple to perform, and fun to do. Of course, making amazing things simple takes seriously advanced technology. Which is why Mac OS X is built on a rock-solid, time-tested UNIX foundation that provides unparalleled stability as well as industry-leading support for Internet standards.The most striking feature of a Mac is its elegant user interface, made possible by a graphics engine that's built to leverage the advanced graphics processor in every Mac. This engine provides the power for things like high-definition video, stunning graphic effects, and high-quality animations. Fonts on the screen look beautiful and extremely readable. A soft drop shadow makes it clear at a glance which window is active and which ones are in the background. Document previews using Quick Look are high resolution so you can actually read the text. And built-in support for the PDF format means you can view and create PDFs from almost any application in the system.Since the software on every Mac is created by the same company that makes the Mac itself, you get a completely integrated system. When you have a Mac notebook, for example, it automatically detects and connects to available Wi-Fi networks. It wakes from sleep as soon as you open the display and automatically reconnects to networks so you can get back to work fast. And it gets the most out of your battery by spinning down the hard drive when it's inactive, by intelligently deciding whether the CPU or GPU is best suited to perform a task, and by dimming the screen in low-light conditions.With virtually no effort on your part, Mac OS X protects itself - and you - from viruses, malicious applications, and other threats. It was built for the Internet in the Internet age, offering a variety of defenses from online threats. Because every Mac ships with a secure configuration, you don't have to worry about understanding complex settings. Even better, it won't slow you down with constant security alerts and sweeps. And Apple responds quickly to online threats and automatically delivers security updates directly to your Mac.The versatility and power of Mac OS X make it compatible in almost any environment, including Windows networks. It works with virtually all of today's digital cameras, printers, and other peripherals without the need to download separate drivers. It opens popular file types such as JPG, MP3, and Microsoft Office documents. In addition, Mac OS X includes built-in support for the industry-standard PDF format, so you can read and create PDFs from almost any application in the system - perfect for sharing work with colleagues whether they use a Mac or a PC. And if you want to run Windows on your Mac, you can do that, too.The industrial-strength foundation of Mac OS X ensures that your computing experience remains free from system crashes and compromised performance. Occasionally an application might quit, but it won't affect the rest of your system. And Apple keeps everything running smoothly by releasing software updates that download automatically to your Mac. Many of these updates provide important security enhancements for the operating system. But they also update other Apple software installed on your Mac, including iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. So with just a click, you can make sure that all your applications continue to run smoothly and safely.

 

Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Mac)

 

Customer Reviews

I installed Snow Leopard (aka Mac OS X 10.6.0) on Sunday 30th August 2009 just 2 days after it was released, on my 3-year-old iMac. My iMac isn't particuarly powerful; it only has a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. Snow Leopard was extremely easy to install, with few options or technical decisions to make, and took just 45 minutes to complete. I upgraded straight from Leopard and didn't have to re-format my hard drive or start over from scratch. I encountered no problems or bugs during the process and, when I got back to my Desktop, all my files and settings were completely intact.
In short, my iMac is now much faster. That's the main difference. Snow Leopard may look the same as Leopard on the surface, but "under the hood" it has been completely re-engineered and refined. From my experience, it seems like I'm running the same operating system (Leopard) but on newer, more powerful hardware. My iMac now starts up in 35 seconds and shuts down in 6 seconds. And it goes to sleep so quickly you'd think the computer had crashed! The Finder feels lighter and more fluid, with smoother scrolling and faster loading of icons. The Dashboard loads and updates more quickly, with less time spent waiting for Widgets to refresh their content from the Internet. Mail also feels lighter and more responsive, totally at ease with browsing through thousands of rich text e-mails.
Snow Leopard appears to be identical to Leopard, but it isn't. There are lots of new features and improvements to be found if you look closely enough. For example, Preview now allows you to import from a scanner, over Wi-Fi. This "just works" totally automatically, and requires no installation of third-party bloatware or complex configuration. Expose has been re-designed, presumably in response to Windows 7 copying Apple's dock (introduced in 2000), with left-click dock activation, a more organised grid layout, and the ability to minimise windows down into their parent application's icon. QuickTime Player is totally different and now allows you to record your own screen in high definition, and upload it directly to YouTube. Date ; Time in System Preferences now sets your time zone automatically, by triangulating nearby Wi-Fi hotspots to determine your closest city. And one of the most useful features, automatic spelling correction is now system-wide, meaning your mistakes are corrected no matter where you type!
So is Snow Leopard worth £23.99? Absolutely, it's fantastic value at just a third of the cost of Windows 7. It makes your Mac run much faster and it fixes most of Leopard's little quirks and imperfections. I'm genuinely impressed. However, if you're not a geek, I'd advise you to wait a month or two before upgrading. Upgrading to a brand new operating system, just days after its release, is risky business and potentially counterproductive. Many third-party apps aren't yet ready for Snow Leopard, because developers weren't expecting it to come out until the end of September! So check the websites of your favourite apps for updates first, and perhaps wait for Apple to release 10.6.1 or even 10.6.2, before taking the plunge.

OSX 10.5 was the biggest step forward in operating system development since Windows 95. In fact, I was so impressed with it that I converted my entire business over to the Apple platform in 2008. Using OSX has slashed our IT infrastructure and training costs. We haven't called out for IT support for 10 months, because stuff no longer goes wrong or crashes.
For these reasons upgrading to 10.6 was a 'no-brainer'. The price should also make it a no-brainer. The install process was simple and easy. We encountered no problems whatsoever. Overall, everything runs much more quickly and slickly. Stacks now works much better. Xchange support is great and simple. We too have regained around 6-7 gigabytes of hard disk space per machine. I find all this hard to believe: Snow Leopard only came out last Friday.
Of course, my experience hasn't been shared by all. If you are running exotic software that hasn't yet been fully tested, you may be better of waiting until the first update arrives. (Within 4-6 weeks) But if you're buying a new Apple Mac, don't hesitate.
Despite my praise, however, it must be said that Snow Leopard appears as if it is more of an 'upgrade' rather than an entirely new operating system; but it wasn't broken so didn't need fixing. What Apple has actually done is remove legacy support for much older pre-Intel Mac software, because very few people used it. This has eliminated innumerable and annoying software conflicts. As a result, we now have a simpler, more robust platform. What makes it new is what you don't see: the engine under the hood. This is the increased bandwidth provided by its 64 bit computing architecture. It means greater speed and stability. To make the most of Snow Leopard think about getting more RAM. Machines with 4 gbs of RAM or more will really hum with this big cat on board.
When Apple releases the next generation of Intel chips - Nehalem in around January 2010 - Snow Leopard will again leap forward. I certainly wouldn't consider Windows 7 until it has been around for at least 6 months.

 

Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Mac)