Apple's Snow Leopard: What you need to know

Tomorrow, Apple is releasing "Snow Leopard," a new version (10.6) of its OS X operating system. That the newcomer's name is merely a variant of the previous version, "Leopard," suggests that this is less of a major upgrade than Leopard was. Even the pricing indicates that: a single upgrade license costs only $29, compared with Apple's usual $129 for major upgrades.

The most significant improvement Apple has been claiming for Snow Leopard is that the speed of many of the operating system's components have been improved and that there is improved stability and security, plus better compatibility between the Safari browser and third-party plug-ins. Snow Leopard is supposed to require half as much hard drive space as Leopard, once the installation is complete.

In our brief testing of the recent version released to developers, using a late model MacBook Pro laptop in our labs, Snow Leopard's default installation took about 6 GB less hard-drive space than Leopard (after updating), a reduction of about 38 percent. Snow Leopard booted up 15 percent faster, and ran our speed benchmarks about 5 percent faster than its predecessor. Loading complex web pages (like ConsumerReports.org ) was noticeably faster in the new version of Safari. We also encountered an oddity: To get the full benefit of the 64-bit mode of the operating system, you must hold down the "6" and "4" keys on the keyboard while booting. We think Apple should make 64-bit boot-up a settable option.

Here are some other improvements in Snow Leopard that Apple has been crowing about:

• An improved developer interface that will make it easier for developers to take better advantage of multi-core processors and large memory size, and a new development environment that allows the graphics processor to perform multiple complex tasks.

• The QuickTime media player has been upped to "QuickTime X", with a cleaner interface and the ability to trim video and upload it to YouTube. Despite Mac OS's reputation for having a low attack profile, Apple has added a real-time malware scanner.

• For office workers, Apple has built support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 into the OS for email, address book, and calendar functions. (We suspect that most offices that use Exchange will eventually move Mac users to the new Microsoft Office 2010, which will have a fully-functional Outlook information manager replacing the creaky Entourage program users have put up with for years. )

If you want to upgrade to Snow Leopard, you can pre-order it online, or wait until tomorrow to get it at Apple's retail stores. Besides individual copies, pricing options include: a $49 "family pack" of five upgrade licenses for; a $169 box set for Mac OS X Tiger users with an Intel-processor-based Mac, that includes the latest iLife multimedia application suite and the iWork office suite; a $229 box-set family pack; and a $10 special upgrade for Macs purchased from June 8 through Dec 29, 2009.

The timing of Snow Leopard's release relative to that of Microsoft Windows 7 (due in October) is obvious, and the comparison inescapable. Both are enhancements to prior major versions of their respective OS and make similar claims: leaner code, faster performance, more security, applet enhancements, and better use of the graphics processor. Both have free upgrades for recent computer purchasers, though, for paid upgrades, Apple's $29 beats Microsoft's $119. (Microsoft argues that Snow Leopard is really a "service pack" update for Leopard, and that Microsoft provides those at no charge —there were three service packs for XP, and one thus far for Vista.) The debate about the relative merits of the two new releases will, undoubtedly, continue for some time.

We'll have more on Windows 7 in an upcoming blog, including our impressions based on taking the final version for a test drive.

Apple users: Does Snow Leopard sound like an upgrade worth $29? Do you plan to upgrade? Let us know in the space below. —Dean Gallea