PC Magazine reviews Apple’s Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard: ‘By far the best consumer OS available’

Thursday, February 21, 2008 9:42 am29 Comments

“After three months with Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard Version 10.5, I have three main things to say about it. First: Despite minor problems, it’s by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new features that have real practical value—like truly automated backups, document and spreadsheet preview images in folders, and notes and to-do lists integrated into the mail program,” Edward Mendelson reports for PC Magazine.

“For the average user, Leopard is the most polished and easiest to use OS I’ve tested. Second: Leopard started out with a generous share of first-version glitches, but almost all of them have now been resolved by the second of two automated updates, which brings Leopard up to version 10.5.2,” Mendelson reports.

“Finally, Leopard is extravagantly overdressed for the jobs that it’s designed to do, and its pervasive eye-candy starts out looking dazzling but soon becomes distracting. Fortunately, from the beginning, the OS started out with options that let you put it on a low-eye-sugar diet, and the latest update has even more,” Mendelson reports.

“Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done in long, complicated documents. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video,” Mendelson reports.

MacDailyNews Take: Macs are perfectly capable of getting “serious work done in long, complicated documents.” Mendelson is writing for PC Magazine and is merely throwing his readers – the Windows sufferers – a bone. After this review, they need something, however meager it may be, to assuage the brutal assault their OS of “non-choice” has just taken. As we all know, most Mac users have slummed it with Windows; often by force in school and/or at work. Mac users have made a conscious technology choice and are therefore better informed than most Windows sufferers. Mac users execute “serious work done in long, complicated documents” daily.

“Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it’s better than any alternative, and it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else,” Mendelson reports.

Full review, 4.5 out of 5 stars, here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Island Girl” for the heads up.]

Paramount dumps obsolete HD DVD, now backs Blu-ray

Linkin Park rocks Apple Soho store with secret show

29 Comments

January 24, 1984

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:48 am

I have written four novels using Pages on a Mac. Longest was over 500 pages. Numerous margin notes, and embedded graphics.

Word crapped out at 300 pages, became very unstable (even on a maxed-out MacPro.

“PCs are for serious work,” is a myth. More to the point, “PCs are serious work.”

Reply
iLuvMyMacs

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:52 am

Serious work??? Oh, Like updating virus signatures and maintaining spyware updates and responding to Vista’s “security” popup windows… “Cancel or Allow”

Reply
Chip

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:55 am

Mike Erganian: What is the subject of your book? Non fiction?
Miles Raymond: Uh, no. It’s… it’s a novel. Fiction. Yes. Although there is quite a bit from my own life… so I suppose that, technically some of it is nonfiction.
Mike Erganian: Good I like non fiction. There is so much to know about this world. I think you read something somebody just invented, waste of time.
Miles Raymond: That’s an interesting perspective.

Reply
Macnutt

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:04 am

One fun feature of Leopard is the ability to use one mouse to control two computers by sharing screens.

For example I have two iMacs side by side, but having two keyboards + trackballs to match, I discovered with screen sharing I can control the second iMac just fine, except that it takes space on my monitor to do that. So I’m going to add another monitor to iMac one which will free up space so that I can use one keyboard and one trackball….

Of course, for serious work I use Parallels & XP, as in where the OS X software isn’t ready yet. But for really serious work, where the XP software isn’t ready yet, well, that just leaves me the bug free, virus free (seriously, however unbelievable it may be) OS X 10.5.2 alternative. But of course, they can both work coherently, using Parallels. The Pee Cee people reading this may not be clued in yet, which is why I’m righting(!) this bit.

Reply
ron

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:07 am

Here’s the email I sent Mr. Mendelson.

MacDailyNews Take: Macs are perfectly capable of getting “serious work done in long, complicated documents.” Mendelson is writing for PC Magazine and simply throwing the Windows sufferers a bone. After this review, they need something, however meager it may be, to assuage the brutal assault their OS of “non-choice” has just taken.

Reader Feedback: ( = registered)

Feb 21, 08 – 09:48 amComment from: January 24, 1984
I have written four novels using Pages on a Mac. Longest was over 500 pages. Numerous margin notes, and embedded graphics.

Word crapped out at 300 pages, became very unstable (even on a maxed-out MacPro).

“PCs are for serious work,” is a myth. More to the point, “PCs are serious work.”

Feb 21, 08 – 09:52 am. Comment from: iLuvMyMacs

Serious work??? Oh, Like updating virus signatures and maintaining spyware updates and responding to Vista’s “security” popup windows… “Cancel or Allow”

Reply
neil

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:11 am

bye bye office mac – thank god (jobs) for iwork – nice hedge really predicting that microsoft would cripple office when osx started getting traction (a la – DOS ain’t done ’til lotus wont run). and this shite elements gallery (anyway stolen from iwork) and no option to hide it.

Reply
M.X.N.T.4.1

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:21 am

Vista looks worse as you use it whereas OS X just gets better. OS X has little things to constantly discover and integrate into your work.

Reply
jonahan

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:26 am

nell: Which elements gallery? Mine closes when I click on any one of the tabs.

Reply
Jay-Z

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:37 am

Of course it’s difficult to do long documents in Office Mac. Like all Microsoft programs, they’re absolutely terrible and barely usable. Unfortunately, I’m tethered to Entourage because my office email is on Exchange (and they won’t open IMAP even within the network), and my company is a financial communications company, so all these lemmings think Excel and Word are the be all end all.

The only programs that crash regularly on my Mac Pro are Office programs. The only programs that don’t properly bind to Spaces are Office programs. The only programs that don’t load typefaces correctly are Office programs. In short, the only programs that don’t work as they should are Office programs. Our IT department was noticeably taken aback when they saw the folder on my dock labeled “Mediocrity That’s Forced Upon Me” contained Office.

Reply
Spark

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:39 am

Mr. Mendelson has written a very objective review that is 98% positive while noting a few minor glitches. Overall it is one of the strongest calls for Windows users to move to Macs to date. This nitpicking and snarky retorts to Mendelson’s one or two legitimate observations is counterproductive and small.

MDN, you fail to note the context in which Mendelson makes his “serious work” comment. Earlier in the article he stated that he lives in MS Word. Not surprising for someone who has long made their living from writing. He went on to say how Word on the Mac is nowhere near as good as the Windows version; an assertion that anyone who has used both would support as totally true. He doesn’t blame the Mac for Word’s failure. It is only because of the Mac version of Word (MS’ failure) that he reverts to Windows Word for what he considers ‘serious work’. For ALL else he prefers OS X and says so. Give the guy some kudos instead of criticism.

Reply
ChrissyOne

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:43 am

“Finally, Leopard is extravagantly overdressed for the jobs that it’s designed to do, and its pervasive eye-candy starts out looking dazzling but soon becomes distracting.”

Uh, maybe it’s just me, but hasn’t OS X looked pretty much the same for the last, oh, 8 years or so? Aside from the ridiculously overblown interface of Time Machine… are you saying that the switch from brushed metal just blew your mind?

Reply
harryeddy

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:46 am

For his “long, complicated documents”, I have one word: Mellel
(http://www.redlers.com/mellel.html)

Reply
84 Mac Guy

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:49 am

@ Jay-Z

I love your comment about having a folder on your Windows desktop called: “Mediocrity That’s Forced Upon Me”. I’m going to do that at work. I already make my office mates wonder why my MS Recycle Bin is in the lower right hand corner of my screen.

By the way, sitting in an IT meeting at my office the other day (a totally Windows organization), I asked how many people had put Vista on their home machines and how was it going. I then sat through 30 minutes of listening to pain and agony and excuses from the Windows sufferers. I ended the conversation and meeting by saying: I wish I could say I feel your pain, but I don’t. My family uses only Macs. Silence ensured.

Reply
ChrissyOne

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:53 am

“I already make my office mates wonder why my MS Recycle Bin is in the lower right hand corner of my screen.”

They must throw some raging office parties.

Reply
MizuInOz

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 11:58 am

@ChrissyOne –
Maybe – just maybe – Mendelson (doesn’t he do some sort of classical music thing too?) ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> is so used to granite, hammer and chisel that going from the stone age to the brushed metal age threw him for a for a loop!

@harryeddy!!! Mellel is the BEST!!! I have used it since – well the stone age… ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

Cheers!

BTW, Mendelson’s article is quite good. Very positive about OS X.V ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

Reply
Ken

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:04 pm

About the alleged eye candy.

I remember when Japanese cars first came on the market in the US. The dashboards were hilarious. There was one of each type of switch: here a rocker switch, there a toggle switch, over there a push-pull switch, and somewhere else one that you had to twist. It wasn’t that the car was designed by a committee, it looked like they didn’t even have a committee!

Well, that is what Vista’s user interface looks like.It looks like they hired a geek to be an interior designer, and the interface is inconsistent. They don’t even have one type of icon!

Coming from Windows XP with its Playskool interface, or Vista with its geek-with-interior-decorator-aspirations interface, Leopard does indeed look like it has a lot of eye candy. It takes a while for one’s eyes to adjust, particularly if you are still using Windows along with OS X. The illusion of eye candy is caused by the fact that Leopard has a well-designed, self-consistent design that involved actual artists and designers.

After one’s eyes adjust, Leopard looks normal and Windows looks like a rip-off of an old version of KDE.

So give Mr. Mendelson some slack. It takes a while for the eyes to adjust when you walk into the light from the darkness. He’s describing the same phenomenon that his readers will experience when they switch.

Reply
neil

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:17 pm

jonahan: i guess i’m refering to what you call tabs – the bar for example in excel with the text Sheets… Charts… Word Art…

for me that’s a bunch of vertical screen space i want back – it should toggle on/off with the gallery button in the tool bar

so they have to show off the new feature (something i’ll use once a year probably)

Reply
peach picker

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:28 pm

can’t… stop… giggling… mac… just… too… much… fun…

Reply
qka

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:44 pm

I guess my grad school thesis was not a “long, complicated document”. However, it sure felt like one to me!

Reply
YeahBut

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:56 pm

One thing that I did not find any equivalent on the Mac is the Visual Basic capability of Excel on the Pee Cee.

I do a lot, and I mean a lot of custom macros and automation in Excel and I just don’t have the same flexibility on any Mac app.

Can someone tell me if there’s an alternative? (the new Office 2008 is now without VB).

Reply
iamdj

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 1:03 pm

I don’t get it…

How is XP better suited for “long, complicated” documents?

Does Leopard CUT YOU OFF after say, 30 pages?

Reply
Observer

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 1:27 pm

I’d love to use Mail, but I am stuck on Entourage, because Mail cannot save an email as an email…#$@!!@

…that is Mail cannot save an email as an email…

can someone here explain to me why?

Reply
Ampar

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 1:33 pm

“Give the guy some kudos instead of criticism.”

Now Spark, I KNOW you are not new here!

” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

Reply
Spark

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 1:34 pm

@labdj
The author was referring to how bad the Mac version of MS Office is compared to the Windows version; there are simply things that can be done in the Windows version that cannot be done in the Mac version. This is true. MS refuses to provide parity to the Mac version; can you imagine how many switchers there’d be if the most critical Windows app performed the same on the Mac?

The author was, IMO, criticizing MS for its piss poor Mac Office Suite then he was dissing Leopard.

Reply
Shogun

Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 3:13 pm

I’ve done some serious writing in WORD for Mac and after several hours of editing a 200-300 page document the program would unexpectedly crash saying that it had run out of memory. Got 2 GB RAM in there. Anyhow, I had to chop up the book into five different sections. Annoying. I just can’t justify spending more money for a different program, though. Maybe when I sell this PB G4, though she’s still going strong.

Reply