Apple: Yeah, Snow Leopard Is Worth It

August 30th, 2009

Been working in Snow Leopard all of yesterday and today; thoughts follow.

The Good

• The Finder feels noticeably more responsive, in particular when clicking on nearly everything (menus, windows, drives). Particularly welcome is fast response when opening up folders containing lots of files.
• Stacks looks better with a white text on black design, and the list view benefits most.
• Clicking and holding on an open application in the dock gives you access to its currently open windows, as well as a small menu for more options. You can also right-click to access open windows via a menu.
• Pretty much all the programs I rely on are working fine (Adobe CS4, Office 2008, Quicken, TextEdit, iTunes, iPhoto, Mail).
• The screen recording in QuickTime X is pretty cool.
• Boot up on the MacBook seems a lot faster, in particular reconnecting to the Internet.

The Bad

• iStat Menus and Menu Meters aren’t working. Oddly enough, Menu Meters works on the old MacBook; probably something to do with the newer processor on the Mac Mini (Core 2 Duo).
• Don’t care for the new look of QuickTime X. Videos no longer look like they’re in a window anymore, and you can drag around the control bar (not sure why). The editing filmstrip will take some getting used to as well.
• Two random crashes to report: QuickTime X and Flash CS4.
• Plex doesn’t fully take control of the Apple Remote; it simultaneously controlled iTunes.

Conclusion

While this OS X update doesn’t introduce as many new features as Leopard, it was never advertised as such and is priced accordingly. $29 is a fair price. I feel the speed and future stability will allow me to earn that $29 in productivity and then some.