Snow Leopard Pounces..With Unparalleled Performance!

(I wrote this on October 29, 2009).

The newest Apple Macintosh operating system (OS 10.6) has just rejuvenated my Mac in new and exciting ways. And since my brother just ordered his own copy, soon we'll both be streaking across the internet with ample help from this mysterious big cat.

Installation took a half-hour -- roughly twice as long as my old Panther (OS 10.3.9) did (on my old iMac). Somewhat bizarrely, this iMac actually restarted twice during the process -- first about 10-15 minutes in, then after the full install. (Actually I chose the Customize mode so this didn't include the printer drivers or some extra language files).

My favorite part (so far) of the new system is Quick Time X. While many features here are still "whited out" (only available in the pay or Pro version), the recording capability is a real godsend. That means you can tape anything on your screen, or music or video. On my old iMac I had WireTap -- a nifty little floating app that let you record any sound playing on your computer. So I suspect that the creators of "QT X" were also enamored by WireTap, but really took this QT edition to a phenomenal level.

When you're playing any sound on your computer (like a webcast), a mini graph or visual pulsates -- reminding me of the opening sequence on the old 'Dr. Who' show! Plus there's a dandy little drop-down menu on the right side, which can instantly switch sound inputs. Five stars for this groovy kitten -- but whatever happened to Quick Time 8 & 9? I guess they just wanted to sync it with the OS X number!

After installing Snow Leopard, my remaining hard drive disk space suddenly jumped from 266 to 292 GB!  Admittedly, I took the "Customize" approach, so some of the disc's features (which I won't be using in the immediate future) aren't there. "Customize" also allows you to install the old Quick Time 7, if that's your preference.

The day after installing, it was already able to automatically connect to the internet using my Zoom USB Modem. That's something the old Leopard was never able to do -- I always had to do it manually, sometimes having to enter my password. But there was also a trick to getting this automatic feature engaged!

When Snow Leopard was installed, at first it didn't recognize that USB Modem (maybe since it's not actually an Apple product?). And connecting / disconnecting didn't help. So I had to create a new setting for USB Modem. The only problem then, was that the box for "Connect Automatically When Needed" was whited-out or unavailable. So I couldn't even put a check mark in it!

After using the built-in Mac Help feature, I simply deleted the existing USB Modem tab (the previous one I made under Leopard) and then created a new one. This time I was able to check the box off, and it connected fine!

This is one of the bizarre aspects of Snow Leopard -- those curiously-located "whited-out" feature boxes. I've even noticed one on my Camino browser (for the Java setting) -- which Mac shouldn't be messing with at all! (Today I wasn't able to post photos on Gather with this browser, so I had to switch over to Safari to do that!). I think it may have something to do with the administrative mode -- like maybe it thinks you're a Guest User?!

When you do take the plunge to install Snow Leopard, make sure you "uncheck" your Guest account (in Accounts) so it doesn't get confused. I guess some people have actually had their files trashed or deleted -- as the Snow Leopard mauls into forbidden territory!

It's also nice to have a visual readout for how much battery life you have in your mouse and keyboard. You can access that particular info on the top right of the screen, at the rather bizarre-looking Bluetooth tab or icon. (It looks like the old symbol for radiation, with three small dots through it). It would also be nice if Apple came out with a cordless mouse with a built-in charger, or one that connected to the USB port. Ditto for the keyboard!). I guess they're too busy innovating other freewheeling features on their Magic Mouse at the moment!

iTunes 9 also has a sharper look now -- with tunes appearing as little black boxes. I suspect that the next step here would be to display them as tiny album covers, so we'll see what future upgrades bring. And gratefully, the overall volume level is FINALLY getting up to what it should be. This has been a major source of frustration for both my Macs -- sometimes you really have to juice up the volume with a particular song or webcast. And hopefully they'll get some kind of Magnavox-esque "Smart Sound" to tone down those loud annoying ads.

Keep right on innovating, Mac -- you're clearly on the right track!