Tim Beyers reports for The Motley Fool, “The iEmpire launched its latest rebellion with the release of Snow Leopard on Friday, the newest edition of Mac OS X, which: At $29, costs about what you’d pay for a fast-food dinner for a family of four; Frees up to 7 gigabytes space on your Mac by eliminating digital clutter; Offers built-in support for Microsoft’s Exchange network services, making Macs a whole lot more business-friendly.”
MacDailyNews Take: Anyone with even a cursory understanding of Apple, Microsoft, and Star Wars would never use the term “iEmpire” to describe Apple or their “latest rebellion.” For the sake of the value of continuing on, let’s pretend that Beyers has never seen Star Wars.
Beyers continues, “Technology buyers may finally be coming back. To get them to come back to the Mac, Apple needs an OS that does better business. Snow Leopard is that OS… The Mac is back, growling and hungry for market share.”
Full article here.
All I can say is that my MacBook feels like it got a processor, RAM and GPU upgrade. I am still to instal it on my mission critical Mac Pro. I am waiting to see, what got broken.
Snow Leopard comes with the latest versions of iLife, correct?
Nope. There is a box set for Tiger users with SL, iLife and iWork.
=:~)
@iLife
No, just Snow Leopard.
There is a Mac Box Set that includes iLife ’09 and iWork ’09. Good value. I bought the family pack.
No, it doesn’t. iLife 09 is a separate product, and you can buy it separately for $80.
You can also get it in a “Mac Box” set, together with iWork and Snow Leopard, for $170.
So:
Snow Leopard (alone): $30
iLife 09 (alone): $80
iWork 09 (alone): $80
All the above together in a box: $170.
The boxed version is the only option if you don’t have Leopard installed already (i.e. if you’re running Tiger). You need an Intel Mac, of course.
And, by the way, the retail disc of Snow Leopard ($30) will install on a blank hard drive, a drive with Tiger or Leopard, and won’t complain about anything at all. There are absolutely no restrictions on that disk regarding what you need to have on your Mac before installing it. No serial number either. Apple continues to have faith in their faithful and trust that everyone will buy the proper package and install it in the proper number of Macs.
I have upgraded a MBP over the weekend and performance is simply spectacular — significantly faster in EVERYTHING (except where the network connection speed is the bottleneck) across the board! This is like upgrading a 4-year old computer with a new one! Nothing short of spectacular! For $30, it is by far the cheapest upgrade any Intel Mac could possibly get (cheaper and better than even memory upgrade).
@MDN Take
Maybe he was referring to the more recent star wars movies… where the Sith started trouble by stirring up a rebellion, then took the winning side.
Is SJ looking for an apprentice… or maybe lightning?
Difference between Apple and Microsoft: if Microsoft had a version of iLife, and was selling a bundle with Win7, you can be damned sure that Win7 would break your older version of iLife.
Apple: you can buy a bundle that includes iLife ’09, but you can still use last year’s just fine.
Amazon.
List Price: $29.00
Price: $25.00 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: $4.00 (14%)
No tax either.
@iLife
No.
$29 for a service pack that Apple <strike>used to</strike> should provide gratis? No thanks, Apple. I will purchase my next Mac when 10.6.1 is available.
I took the plunge, and installed Snow Leopard on my Production MacBook Pro on Friday. It’s been the Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, so I had 3 days to see what was broken…
As far as I can see, NOTHING has broken in my essential software setup, and that includes InDesign CS2. I was worried that it would not run, but in fact it runs faster than under Leopard! Also, the progress window when PDFing large documents (~600 A3 pages with full page illustrations) does not get ‘stuck’ on the screen. Brilliant.
The only other problem I encountered was my DocuColor 3535 Printer Drivers were incompatible, a quick call to my Xerox buddy and I had the latest version.
This is one serious OS, and the most amazing, incredible feature is Exchange integration. Now, I really can dump Microsoft Office for good.
@Snow Job
Let me be the first in what will undoubtedly a long line of people to tell you that you should take your FUD someplace else. For $30, SL is an incredible value – my two year old iMac feels like it just got a makeover, and I was very happy with it in the first place. Your perspective on this is objectively, factually wrong.
I love it as well and the only thing I found is Photoshop CS4 will freeze in a dialog box when saving for web – oh well that is not so bad.. Way way way faster.
“Apple needs an OS that does better business.”
Rather, tell MS to stop blocking the goal post!
As I posted to “I’m a PC” in another topic here, I suggest you read some are all of the articles in the “Related Articles” section above. You are simply, flat wrong.
@ Snow Job
Nice! I’m sure Apple will appreciate your delayed upgrade on its hardware, which has *much* higher margins that its boxed software upgrades. If you want to deny yourself the immediate speed benefits of the SL upgrade on your current hardware, then knock yourself out with that petulant attitude!
Aaah, still waiting for delivery, but promoting even though I haven’t got it. Indeed, I made it look as if I could’ve got my friends a deal (when I didn’t and most likely couldn’t) so naturally they will look for the best deal themselves and buy it. Then all will run Snow Leopard and rejoice, for Steve is king!
So far my experience with it has been great. Although I’ve never thought of Apple as some kind of empire. Perhaps an alternative to another empire maybe…
5 Reasons Why I Love Mac OS X Snow Leopard!
http://jimlynch.com/index.php/2009/08/28/5-reasons-why-i-love-mac-os-x-snow-leopard/
Thanks Ralph M — I was about ready to post the same sentiment. I’m amazed that that people are complaining about this. Open CL and Grand Central Dispatch alone are worth the price of admission. Not to mention full 64-bit operation.
Anyone who thinks Snow Leopard is a service pack is an f**king tool. Clearly you’d be better off with a PeeCee.
Apple has provided you with an operating system with amazing underlying technology that you will reap the benefits of for years to come. All for $29 £25.
The problem is Apple have given away this substantial update and the myopic equate low price with minor upgrade. They couldn’t be more wrong.
I wiped my hd clean and installed from $29 snow leopard DVD, works just fine.
One interesting side aspect is that many PC sufferers are pondering the switch from XP to Windows 7, dreading the expected loss of performance on the way, while they’re watching their Mac-using buddies getting a substantial speed boost with Snow Leopard.
Might make some think twice…!
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Grammar Nazis
Is it okay to use a capital after a colon or a semi-colon like in the article? Just wondering.
@silverhawk
no that is incorrect capitalization. they shouldn’t be capitalized.
Thanks Nate.