There’s a chance Apple will unleash Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), its new operating system, on Saturday, March 24th, 2007. Exactly 6 years ago on March 24th, 2001, Apple released Mac OS X 10.0. Coincedence?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the opening keynote address at Macworld Expo San Francisco in which the new features of Leopard will be announced as well as the ‘Top Secret’ features. These include:
- Spotlight 2.0
- Dashboard 2.0
- Safari 3.0
- iChat 4.0
- Automator 2.0
- QuickTime 7.2
- Mail 3.0
- iCal 3.0
- Address Book 5.0
Leopard will be priced at $129.
Er… isn’t that exactly five years?
Thanks!
I’m always nervous when a new operating system comes out. It’s mainly because I’m always scared that my older computer will finally become obselete because they’ve made the newer system too powerful for it to handle.
Steve did not say a thing during Macworld Expo SF 2007 about Leopard. Having it launch the same day 10.0 was launched would not be something special. Why would they care?
Aside from being an anniversary of the initial launch of OSX, a March 24th Leopard release might coincide nicely with the release of Intel’s Santa Rosa chipset and Adobe’s CS3.
Maybe that’s not all we’ll see in March… Personally, I think that we’re about due for some new case designs. The newest is the G5 tower and that’s already pushing 4 years… I take that back, I guess the iMac G5 design is newer (2004). The new iPhone is much sleeker than anything else Apple has (save perhaps for the newest crop of iPods). In my opinion, it makes everything else look a little clunky and antiquated.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
All the new releases this year make me want to get in gear and start putting the right date on everything…
Well, I plan to wait and see what everyone else is thinking of Leopard before I go ahead and buy it. Frankly, I’m pretty happy with Tiger, but Leopard has many awesome features that I think I could use (that’s basically Apple’s point).
I sure hope OS X 10.5 (Leopard) has a much improved firewall to stop hackers. I have personally been victimized by hackers long enough.
Speedy…OSX runs on linux. Can’t you use IP Tables or other built-in linux firewall tools? I haven’t had any problems yet. I could have my stuff locked down better though.
OS X 10.0 was released 6 years ago, in 2001.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2001/mar/21osxstore.html
OS X does not run on linux.
I’ve always wished that Leopard would port openbsd’s excellent Packet Filter rather than using the old ipfw2. PF just makes so much more sense.
I hear you Mattias. pf is great! I like it more than any other firewall I have used, including iptables.
Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I have been dying to hear the release date! ur the best!
2001 + 6 = 2007
I have this hunch that the iPhone generates a boom it is going to knock Apple computer prices down like the iPod revolution did. By that time I think Vista will have crumbled in the shadow of OS X, and in some years from now Microsoft will move out of the OS industry for good and concentrate more on consumer electronics. Microsoft is HUGE, but they’re still struggling in the OS industry.
1+5 = 6, 1 + 6 = 7, who cares? A release date depends on a million different project variables, to make it coincide with a previous release date, is that so important? Let them focus on releasing it, we don’t have to compare with MSFT’s terrible record for releases, but it’s been a long time that we’ve been hearing but have yet to be seeing it. C’mon, let the leopard out of the cage!!!
Hamish, you are the reason mac users get labeled “mac fanboys”! You can be a mac user AND live in the real world you know. For example, I am a lifetime mac user, but I have no delusions that Microsoft will exit the OS scene at any time! They are not struggling in the OS industry – in fact they dominate it – despite the fact that I personally think that it is a clunkier and more awkward UI. Be a loyal mac user not a delusional fanatic!
Think I got to agree with Mike on this one. Might have picked a more polite way to say it but Hamish I think you’re wishful thinking a bit.
These are the most up to date stats I could find.
1. Windows XP 86.80%
2. Windows 2000 6.09%
3. Windows 98 2.68%
4. Macintosh 2.32%
5. Windows ME 1.09%
6. Linux 0.36%
7. Windows NT 0.24%
8. Macintosh Power PC 0.15%
We all know OS X is better but to think that the marketing machine that is Apple could change take on the business world is just not feasible.
Although I don’t know the exact stats, I did hear that MS did consider only making OS’s for Business as it’s a much more lucrative market, mainly because of the support profits to be had.
And alas I have to say, that although I love OS X, it’s a long way off being ready for big business desktops.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed though. I work in IT on MS servers and every time they go wrong (several times a day as we have a couple of thousand) my usual first response is…
BUY A MAC!!!
There’s a chance Apple will unleash Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), its new operating system, on Saturday, March 24th, 2007
There is also a chance monkeys will fly out my butt. What kind of reporting is this?
Scott – Why aren’t Macs good for business desktops? They network, they have office applications. Some businesses use open source and seem to be doing fine. Many design firms only use macs, the only problem is user training, since most staff will have a Windoze PC at home.
“There is also a chance monkeys will fly out my butt. What kind of reporting is this? ”
so funny… i agree. windows vista fan considering switching and kind find info on Leopard anywhere!
So would you buy a iMac right now or wait til they release Leopard?
I wouldn’t buy an iMac right now, but if I were to buy a new Apple, it’d be a macbook pro anyway. As powerful as an iMac, but more portable. Throw in a Cinema display for home use and I’d be happy, even if it were running 10.4.8
Thanks but have 2 laptops and want a system to be used mainly by the kids
Scott,
I own a small stained glass studio and I’ve been ready to switch the entire company from PC to MAC since 2002. The one problem I’ve had is my contact management software (ACT) is not written for mac. With the new Dual Core Apples and the two options for running PC software, I am seriously considering the change now. We’re buying a MacBook this Spring and if the performance is there, then we will happily dump our PC’s.
I think you are mistaken about Apple’s appeal to businesses.
os x is great for business, built on unix…. unix is legendary in networking and stability…. not to mention that is been around much longer than windows. with a mac you can almost run a large scale of business and management is almost if not completely open software that can be installed with just a few clicks to a novice user. plus is many programs out and also on the way you no longer need to fret about how your going to run your ms based software on a apple machine. life is good in the apple world and it will only be a matter of time before people wake up and smell the M$ stink.
The problem with Macs for business is that M$ have most of the OS market and not many companies bother to write programs for other OS’s (I mean accounting software etc.). I think it is still possible and can be done with a little effort. I wanted to buy new iMac 24 next week but I think I’ll wait for Leopard to come out.
I too am waiting but will no wait too long. Hope they bring Leopard out very soon.
I agree with Alex in his statement that Microsoft have had the OS market in their fists, especially when it comes to businesses. At my previous workplace the IT department chose to use Windows a long time ago (in the era of moving away from command line and dumb terminals) because it was better at the time than Mac was. Most businesses would have done the same. And now, although Mac is likely better than Windows, the cost of switching OS once the entire coorporation is set up for Windows is too high. Not to mention that a lot of software (like Alex said – accounting software, Library database management software, some mapping software) is all written for the Windows market.
I predict a large section of the business marketplace will switch to Linux before they do to Mac, seeing as how quickly Linux distributions are growing, and the fact that hardware would not need to be replaced immediately.
By the way, thanks for the possible release date for Leopard. As a computer design student I have been thinking about buying a MacBook Pro. It’s more expensive than the equivalent Dell laptop over here in Australia but it’s what most creative studios use. Knowing I have to wait for a month though kind of sucks.
Macs in the work place? More and more software is becoming web-based. As this trend continues, it will become less important what the OS is.
When purchasing business applications, I only look at web based solutions. It is rare not to at least have a choice of a web based solution. There are exceptions, like graphic designers, architect tools etc… But accounting, CRM, Payroll,… – all available by a number of companies. In fact, many solutions are ASP (application Service Providers) so you pay a monthly/yearly fee and do not have the maintenance/upgrade/resource headaches.
To get back on track as to Leopard – I am hoping they release it on the 24th but I suspect they will announce the release date on the 24th. Just guessing there.
I just don’t see why people a grumping about the price of the new Apple iPhone. If you go to Palm’s website, the LifeDrive is abuot $400.00 WITHOUT a built in cell phone OR an iPod OR a good WebBrowser OR a… Well you get the point…. I think a $500-$600 for 4GB-8GB is a reasonable price.
I can’t wait for iPhone in June
;-D
Yeah i was going to buy a macbook pro and run bootcamp so I could plays windows games. I already have a iMac 20″ G5. But I think I will wait till leopard is released, because i Heard it will include a official version of bootcamp. Is this true?
I believe that Leopard does include a stable release of Bootcamp.
I just bought a new iMac in January, so i’ll be skipping Leopard for a while unfortunately. Oh well.
Can anyone verify that Macbook Pro’s and iMac’s run at about the same performance? I’m pretty much torn between the two but am leaning towards the macbook at this point. I do predominantly graphic/web/animation design work (some video) and want to make sure that I won’t be disappointed with the mobile mac selection.
Any insight would be much appreciated.
20% of my company of professional consultants use Macs in the workplace, for everything from accounting to word processing; even use them for developing software under Microsoft .NET!
PC Hardware makers are all struggling, and Microsoft just underwhelmed with 7 years of rewriting the same POS with only marginally perceptible differences, and worse user experience.
So… for all things there comes a season of change. We are in the Mac season now.
I honestly think that Microsoft is vulnerable. They won’t be going out of business anytime soon, but I think that online apps will begin to chip away at the office products.
I’ve been using a PC all my life but as soon as Leopard comes out I’m buying a Mac.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)– Apple Inc. (AAPL :
AAPL86.32, +0.91, +1.1% ) shares rose $1.82, or more than 2%, to $87.46 Monday after Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora raised his rating on the stock to overweight from neutral. Tortora said that channel checks suggest Apple will release Leopard, the next upgrade of its Mac operating system, by late March. Such a move would be one to two months ahead of previous expectations, and could lead to greater Mac sales in the coming months, Tortora said. Tortora also raised his target price on Apple’s stock to $105 a share from $100
Source: cbsmarketwatch.com
No it’s six.
2001 -> 2002 = 1
2002 -> 2003 = 2
2003 -> 2004 = 3
2004 -> 2005 = 4
2005 -> 2006 = 5
2006 -> 2007 = 6
I’m a lifelong anti-mac fan, and I’m about to become a hypocrite. I’m a network administrator for a fairly large corporation, and my only experiences with Mac’s were during some days where I would work with the local school disctrict and assist them in their projects. I was never impressed with Mac and had no intention of ever getting one. Now, in 2007, I’m looking to buy a new laptop and I’m afraid that I’m pretty hard-set on the Macbook. Black or White, I still don’t know?
What made me take the jump? Mainly, Intel had a lot to do with it. Support for Windows applications as well as the new Boot Camp feature. I’m very excited to get this laptop, however I’m waiting for the Leopard release. I don’t want to buy this darn thing, and then the new OS is realeased the weekend after. Well just thought I would share my story!
Thanks,
David
You make a good point David. There is no point in buying a Mac now, because Apple doesn’t even go to the bother of offering free upgrades to loyal customers who will buy OS X Tiger the day before Leopard is released. Microsoft may be just throwing out iterations of the same OS with a prettier front-end, but at least they have been offering free upgrades thorough partnerships with all the big companies, such as Dell, HP, Toshiba, Sony, etc. for people that got machines with XP on them as far back as October. (I’m basing this on my home market, Ireland, and what is standard practice in other EU countries. I have no idea if this happened in the US and Canada or anywhere else for that matter)
Another problem I would have with buying a Mac right now is the fact that as soon as Leopard comes out, you know it will be accompanied with fancy new casings and higher performance stats and so on. Take the 15″ MacBook Pro (that’s what I’m after). When Leopard comes out, the cheaper model will be dropped, the more expensive model will become the cheaper one, and there will be a new expensive model with fancier glowing blue bits and processors. (I have no factual basis for this of course, I just have a feeling it will happen!)
Personally I think Apple should get their collective fingers out and deliver the damn thing. I’m doing a postgraduate in university, and I have to use crappy university PCs to do my work on, as I’ve been waiting for Leopard to be released since November. I’ve always used both PCs and Mac’s. Lately, I’ve become very dissatisfied with the whole PC genre, and I want to move into Mac territory. Provided of course Leopard ever actually gets released. If it isn’t out by the end of this month, that’s it for me, folks, I’ll be doing a U-turn and heading back down PC Street. I’ve waited long enough for Leopard, and Vista is actually starting to look tempting to me technology deprived eyes.
I spoke to an apple rep yesterday and asked her point blank when the new OS would be released and she told me “April” but did not know the date. She said that even the employees are not being given any information at this point.
Well, that’s it. I’m getting into my car and driving back down to my old home on Vista Street. I shall now and forever be referring to Apple as “Ass-Pill” as nobody likes a suppository, and that’s basically how they make me feel! (Yes, I do tend to hold childish grudges for along time!) I’ve been trying and trying to move over to Mac’s for months now, but Apple, sorry… Ass-Pill is making it exceedingly difficult to do so. I’ve had the money sitting in my account since October. €3000, just sitting there waiting to be spent on a MacBook Pro, an iPod, maybe a nice case, perhaps a fancy mouse, or whatever else tickles my fancy. But! I’m afraid that’s €3000 Ass-Pill will never see.
I mean really, tell people the freaking release date!? Do they honestly think they’re going to have the whole OS stolen overnight if they tell us the date it will be on the shelves?
They can’t possibly not be finished writing the actual code. If they’re pushing it back because they haven’t finished it, then I certainly wouldn’t buy it if it came out tomorrow, as there would be no testing done. They have to have been finished and testing the damn thing for at least a few months at this stage. God forbid Ass-Pill ever dominates the OS market. They’d make Microsoft look like the nicest guys on the planet, with all their lack of information crap!
(You may have noticed my little play on words there. I’d like to thank all everybody that’s ever made an ass joke for giving me the courage to go ahead and put such a clever pun together.)
Wayne,
If what you say is true, and that you’ve been waiting to buy a Macbook Pro all this time, it implies that you’ve come to a realization that Apple is better than the PC. What so many people are not considering is a 3rd alternative.
I was in the same boat about a year ago when they announced the new intel based mac’s. I had the money sitting in my account, and I was waiting for the darn thing to come out. However, I realized that I needed a solution much more quickly. So…I fired up my old web browser, went to ebay and bought an old mac for $250.00 This allowed me to run the OS I knew was better, and get familiar with it at the same time. Sure, it was slower than I’d liked, but, there was no way I was giving another dime to the PC / MSFT market.
In a market where they’ve been ripped off time an time again, dating back to the original release of Windows, when Slick Willie stole most of the Mac OS and got to market faster, Apple needs to retain their privacy.
Take for example, Vista, I mean, Longhorn, I mean…whatever it was. They had a fully half-@$$ functioning beta out. Then, Apple releases Tiger and MSFT goes back into Dev mode. What do they release? Gadgets, MSFT Search, Aero. I mean, come on. If you’re a small company with 4.7% of the market share on the PC industry trying to break through, I think you’d keep allot of your cards close to the vest also. Besides, the lack of a release date is some of the best marketing and buzz I’ve seen in awhile. Look at how much talk there is about the product now vs. if the release date were known.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion. Wayne, I understand your frustration, but do you really want to go back to the darkside?
-JB
To be honest, Apple has been ripped off by Microsoft many times indeed, but then, Apple has done its fair share of stealing Microsoft’s ideas too. I mean ‘Mail’ for example. Apple is yammering on about how Microsoft has stolen ‘Mail’ for Vista. Eh… NO! Actually, you stole Microsoft’s Outlook idea and made it prettier Apple. Now Microsoft is trying to make its Outlook app (and other apps) prettier and more user friendly, so Apple are up in arms, as are all the fan boys, proclaiming Microsoft as the Great Satan of the OS world. They’re both full of crap, Microsoft are just worse at tricking people into believing their piles of manure. And come on, no release date? What? They say “it’ll be out on Friday”, and all of a sudden Microsoft will get full access to the source code? Bull-pooh!
As for buying an older used Mac… well, I live in Ireland, so you might as well be telling me to go out and purchase a Unicorn. Nobody uses Macs here, so the second-hand market isn’t exactly teeming with affordable little gems. Apple enjoys less than 1% market share over here. I only actually know one person that owns a Mac (and I know a shed-load of people). Which is odd, seeing as almost all Apple computers and electronics sold in Europe are produced in my home town of Cork City. In fact, in my university, University of Limerick, I don’t think there are any Macs even on campus? That’s around 15,000 students, 2,500 staff, and 0 Macs. You’d have to go to one of the art colleges to find a Mac lab, and even at that, only the graphic design students would ever use them.
The think here is that most of the big PC firms produce all their computers here in Ireland. All Dell machines sold in the EU are built from the ground up in Limerick. And they are a damn sight cheaper than Macs. If you go to the Apple.com store, the entry level MacBook Pro will cost you guys $1,999.00. The same on the Irish online store will cost you €2,019.00 (that’s $2,655.00). Why exactly should we have to pay $655.00 more than Americans? Same goes for iPods. The 30GB iPod will cost ye $249.00, but oh no, not here, it’s €289.00 (that’s $379.00!). And to top that off, the most convenient Apple store for me to get to, is in London! There’s no Apple store in Ireland. Ireland is the second biggest buyer (per capita) of electronic goods in the world. We come second only to Japan! So why the hell do we get ripped off?
But back to the point, Apple is seriously annoying me. They talk a big game, but they are really letting me down. Microsoft is delighted to throw out release dates so people have some general idea when to expect one of their products. Apple’s approach seems to be, “Get ready for Leopard! It will be available in stores sometime between October 2006 and January 2008!” Wow! Gee thanks Apple, now I can plan my whole life around a definite 16 month launch window! Not only am I being ripped off financially (probably going to be the only Irish person buying a Mac this year!), but I’m being jerked around by bureaucratic posturing and marketing nonsense! It’s only a matter of time before we see an Apple VP running around on stage acting like a ‘monkey man’ shouting “I LOVE THIS COMPANY!” like at a Microsoft AGM.
I think I almost soiled myself laughing at the mental picture of someone like Phil Schiller from Apple running around on stage acting like an idiot. Cheers.
I’ve been through frustration on both sides of both companies. I didn’t realize it was that much different in Ireland than in the US. Agreed Apple is missing a big market, unless their research has shown otherwise? Also agreed that you have many more barriers affecting your decision making process.
It’s obvious that until those barriers are broken down, there will be problems expanding into markets such as yours. In my experience Apple has always had a good reason for doing what it is that they do. As for keeping the release date secret, it’s just one of those things I’ve grown accustomed to. They usually make up for it somehow. In the end, you’ll have to decide what’s best for you, and vote with your dollars.
On a lighter note, I though you might find this interesting:
Odd, the link didn’t go through…try this
http://cgi.ebay.com/Ostheimer-wooden-UNICORN-waldorf-toy_W0QQitemZ260092770331QQihZ016QQcategoryZ1197QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Went to the Irish version of ebay. Tons of stuff out there for you. Including this:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/APPLE-G3-IBOOK-500MHZ-384MB-15GB-CD-12-WIFI-OSX_W0QQitemZ330093587397QQihZ014QQcategoryZ4602QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
i was a long time Mac hater but once i got a new job that forced me to use a Mac for 8 hours a day, i began to love the machine. the operating system is a nice breath of fresh air, i plan on picking up a 24 inch iMac once leopard and the iLife software is updated. has anyone heard about rumors of possibly releasing a black iMac and possibly a product (RED) edition. what about a special 30th anniversary edition computer or ipod or something, much like apple released for their 20th year in business, it looked like the modern iMac, all-in-one system, cost a fortune though as it was 10 years ago and flat screen monitors were anything but common. what type of system do you think they could possibly release for the 30th? how futuristic would it be? anyway, i cant wait until leopard is released that way i can dump all of this cash that is taking up space in my bank account.
“probably going to be the only Irish person buying a Mac this year!”
Interesting that you are still speaking as if you are going to buy one. If it is so scarce and you hate the company so much why would you do such a thing? Not trying to be mean. I just don’t understand why you would spend so much money on a product you don’t like.
I am also sort of tired of people saying that MS ripped off Apple or Apple ripped off MS. Really, most of these things that both OS’s use are things that SHOULD be common in an OS.
For example: Mail? Mail is not ripped off of Outlook. I actually bought Office for Entourage (MS’s mac version of Outlook) because I really don’t like Mail that much and I feel I can do so much more with Entourage. But the funny thing is… they are mail programs. There are certain functions that they HAVE to have in them to exist as that. I remember long ago when Eudora was a popular mail program for the PC. I hadn’t even heard of Outlook at that point. So did Outlook copy off of that?
As for the release date. I don’t care. I would like it to come out sooner than later – but why push it and get a crappy OS? I would rather them have all the kinks worked out. It is like getting pissed off because a video game got pushed back a couple of months from it’s release date. Why on earth would you want to play a video game that wasn’t finished or that still had bugs? then you would just complain about the bugs! Same with an OS. If they push a release and it has problems, then people will get pissed that they got this new OS with tons of problems. I have seen sites talking about different builds and testing, so they are definitely in the testing stages and getting kinks worked out – so let them do that, and be glad they aren’t releasing a shoddy system!
I am excited. Can’t wait to get an imac to replace my powermac and a mac mini for the hubby.
Just my story: I just bought MBP 15, knowing that Leopard is around the corner, but it’s my first mac in about 15 years, so I have a lot of transitioning to do from Windows. I’ve tried parallels and it’s pretty slow with Vista. I’m anxious to upgrade to Leopard so that I can get Bootcamp. The HUGEst irritation for me has been that I can’t make the mac my only machine because I rely on the internet.
Without wmv or activex support, I can’t access a number of sites on the internet. MANY sites (especially subscription search engine sites – I’m a commercial realtor) won’t run unless you use Internet Explorer. Mac won’t run it, fully, and emulation with Parallels or Crossover seems to be too large a compromise. I need bootcamp so that I only need to carry one machine around with me to meetings, and at home. Who (other than a developer) really wants more than one machine, anyway? Love the mac. Need the internet. Couldn’t wait any longer to get rid of all the bugs and crud that keep messing with my Windows machine, so I went ahead and got the MBP and will happily spend $129 when Leopard comes out, whenever that is. I’ll wait on the release (not beta) version so that I can (presumably) run Vista. Best of both worlds is just around the corner!
Well I’m a PC developer – so I’m pretty engrained with MS. However, I’m also a photographer so I’m exposed to OSX hype too.
I decided to go out and buy a 24″ iMac last month. Not a bad machine but there are some myths I need to debunk…
The GUI for MS is more intuative and powerful, although I admit that my OSX experience is very limited at this point. Hell – even the keyboard HOME and END keys works WAY better in Windows – it’s bloody frustrating with the OSX. If I hit END I want to go to the end of the line damnit.
The OSX does seem more reliable. Windows does need rebooting often and does slow down to a crawl. OSX on the other hand does require the odd reboot – but it’s only once a week or so as opposed to several times a week with MS. I am hoping that OSX does not have it’s own vulerabilities to slow downs over periods of time like Windows (dll hell, malware, inflated registry etc.).
The mighty mouse is pretty cool. That’s the best damn track wheel I’ve ever used. And it does support right button click when activated in preferences. It’s not without it’s shortcomings – don’t have anything on the desk close to the mouse that the mouse cord has to pass over, and you have to make sure you are pressing down on the correct side of the mouse.
Right button mouse popup menus in OSX are not nearly as good as Windows.
There is SOOO much software out there on Windows – that it really has caused me some pain in converting over to OSX – but nothing that was insurmountable so far (although there are some sony video camera software issues that would have caused me a huge expense and grief if I didn’t research the hell out of it before hand).
Parrallels is horribly slow – I use it only when I ABSOLUTELY have too.
Bootcamp does actually run pretty damn good – so I can’t complain about that. Vista does run in both bootcamp and Parallels. However – dragging files back and forth between bootcamp and OSX is limited. You either have to format the Windows partition to be quite small, or settle for only being able to read from the partition when in OSX (drag from but not to) – it’s because of NTFS.
Remote Control sucks. From OSX to XP Pro works great thank’s to MS’s remote desktop – the other way – ug – can be done but without file transfer.
MS has also come out with Messenger for OSX – works great – but NO webcam support! Damn it.
Ok – I gatta get back to work.
In closing, I admit that my knowledge in OSX is limited so I’m committed to sticking with it. The fact that I spent $3000 on the iMac is terrific incentive for me to stick to it. If I were going to by a laptop tomorrow…. to save face with co-workers and my wife (and myself) I’d seriously look at Apple – even though they are over priced.
Do I regret getting an Apple? Hmmm.. no.. I wanted to experience it. There’s a significant learning curve for me, especially with the software I need (I loved Sony Vegas and all the Adobe stuff on the PC – but now I have to learn DVD Studio and Final Cut Pro).
I better get back to work here.
I am in the same boat as many are and the wait for Leopard is taking it’s toll. So much so I almost bought a new Windows PC last night. I am tired of waiting and since I have never owned a Mac before it’s just easier to buy another Dell or other. The longer it takes the more I hear about Macs not being able to open and visit certain websites unless it’s using IE which kind of defeats the purpose.
Getting really old and I am looking at 3 Windows machines today, NOT IN APRIL.
Go to http://www.mactactic.com/ it has a lot of good info on when to buy Mac products. They also say that Apple is planning a big event on April 15…possibly
when Leopard and many other awaited Mac products are coming out. I don’t know, but just go there.
any word about a black iMac?
David Brewster: when you say that parallels is slow I must know what conditions this is under. I have been led to believe that parallels is a wonderful option for someone like me who is switching over.
First, I was wondering if you are running xp or vista
Second, I was wondering how much memory you had in the system while running parallels.
If anybody else has input that would be great. I’m waiting until Leopard comes out and I want to know what to buy with it to ease the switch.
Not sure what happened to my arithmetic. Was I really wrong? I must have been a bit tired.
As to parallels, I too found it to be pretty slow. I’ve got a brand new 24″ imac with 2gb of RAM and the 2.16gHz processor. I found parallels to usable for applications like Internet Explorer but useless for anything much more advanced.
Bootcamp, however much it may feel a bit like a cop-out, is a FAR better solution, and has allowed me to set up a 50gb Windows partition. It’s the best windows environment I’ve ever worked with and you can boot into Windows from OSX in about 30 seconds.
OSX is clearly a far more pleasant working experience, but for those times when I *need* to use XP (like playing San Andreas!!), Bootcamp is an excellent solution.
Is there really going to be a MacWorld Expo on march 24th? I can’t find anything that talks about this supposed event. Anyone have links to such an event?
I am a Mac fan and have a client that needs something done in Windows. I’ve been holding out for the next gen of powermacs and Leopard but I don’t know how much longer I can wait. If it really is in March I can wait…
People are saying it will be released on April 1st maybe, since its when Apple was founded, late March, or June at WWDC June 11-15, 2007
So when apple finally releases leopard, are they going to release a new line of macbook pros? I ask because I’m going to purchase a macbook pro and was wondering if it will be worth the wait. I mean, I really like the new features in leopard, but my main concern is performance, as I’ll mostly use the mac for video editing and 3d compositing. If I bought a macbook pro now, would leopard run well on it? Does anyone know the system requirements?
Chris – you may as well wait those few extra weeks, just in case. If you bought a MacBook pro now, Leopard would defnitely run on it. But you may find that the top-end model gets an upgrade of some sort around the same time.
Guys, I hope Microsoft stays in business forever! They just make Mac look that much better. I love hearing stories about crashing computers and viruses. My Mac Mini has been up and running for 2 years without a crash or virus or spyware. It is simple to use and does so much of the work behind the scenes. I had been (and still am) incredibly proficient at Windows, yet, I am delighted I don’t have to be in McGyver mode to operate my OS X system. I like having an Apple. I feel like I am in a club for smart people. It’s not like the rest of the world is forced to buy PCs. They chose to. We chose Mac. Our world is just a little brighter; and Leapard will just be icing on the cake.
Dang! I misspelled Leopard! Curse you spell-check! By the way, I am on a Windows machine. A Mac would have caught the error, checked my cholesterol and made me a cup of coffee while mowing my lawn!
hi, Great comments from many people. Thanks to everybody for sharing a lot of valuable information. Since apple has released the Mac OSX (intel) update 10.4.9. I think the leopard’d going to it the market very soon. I think 15th April is the date for Apple to un veil the leopard. I heard that Mac book pro is also getting some major updates. let’s see whats going to happen. Mac rulezz…
its 6 mate, use your fingers! looks really cool, i’ve been waiting for around 6 months for the leopard operating system since i turned 18. bring it on stevie, or you’ll be out of a job.
Ok. So I am thinking of getting a Mac when Leopard comes out. Great a powerbook. But why oh why oh why does Apple think that one mouse button is better than two… The track pads on apples are appauling… does anyone have any thoughts on future improvements from Apple?
I bought a 20″ iMac 2 weeks ago or so. It’s pretty nice looking, I guess. I bought it mainly because it doesnt have 18,000 wires running out of the back like my PC. I’m using it for music recording, which involves plenty of wires in itself, so the minimalist case design with the Apple is a nice feature.
I was waiting for a while for the Leopard release, but I couldnt hold out. The feature to which I was looking foward, “Spaces” (virtual desktops), is the coolest innovation- Vista’s attempt at such seems like a shoddy and useless imitation. Ironically, I don’t even need that feature, because I only use the Mac for recording anyway. “Time Machine” seems useful, but if I understand it correctly, one can’t delete files permanently, which is silly.
From what I understand, and this is coming form a newbie, “Boot Camp”, as the name implies, only allows the unit to boot up in either Windows or OSX, not simultaneously. That seems like a significant inconvenience for someone who is looking for an all-in-one solution, as someone had mentioned.
As far as holding out for a new case design, I figured the mac is pretty minimalist already. What else could they do? Make it levitate and serve compact beverages? an iSoda, perhaps? Doubtful.
OK, you got me. I’m rationalizing. They are going to release a cheaper, faster, cooler computer in 2 weeks, because that’s what Apple does.
Da#%it!
In college I had a Centris 610. I loved it.
Afterwards, I switched to PCs because I got into tweaking/designing/building my own systems from the hardware up, and got caught up in the Windows hype.
Now that I no longer have the time/ability/patience to build my own systems, and after I realized that often for a few hundred $$$ more you can get as good if not a better system.
Then I began to realize how cumbersome/annoying/crippled XP is. Vista is the natural progression of that crap.
I was about to pull the trigger yesterday on a 15.4 MBP C2D but then ran across this site and mactactic.com. I really want this laptop, but realize that waiting a few more weeks is best. It’s not so much for Leopard, but I’m worried about missing out on any significant hardware upgrades for the MBP that I’d be missing out on for the money. Based on past Apple actions and the experience of people posting to this site, any idea/guesses as to what kind of hardware upgrades might be made to the MBP that would be worth waiting for.
is there any official date on the leopard release peaople? all these rumors are annoying id rather hear no there is no release date rather than some wild goose chase. hurry back if ya know
sorry but i dont get this. Is this guy an idiot or what. total speculation
Release, or release not: there is no speculate.
You know, if Apple was going to release Leopard in 3 more days, they would have announced it by now. I highly doubt that it will come out soon. You know you can put anything on a website and no one really checks it. Apple probably doesn’t even know about this website, and if they did it would be blocked or something. But the rest of you can believe this guy, i dont give a…
Sorry about that, 4 days, not 3. the countdown widget really sucks.
I have seen a quote from Steve jobs that states it will be released in the second quarter of 2007. That was his goal date mid to early 2006. I have also seen material quoting “reliable sources “stating that it may be later than planned, due to some imperfections needing resolved. My prediction= Released sometime between the first week of April and as late as June or July.
Re. Hardware upgrade. One of the techs at the Apple store told me that they always have some hardware upgrades when a new OS is released.
~Mike
Steve Jobs is a state of mind.
Why cant someone just tell the truth about the release date. I don’t beleive any of u. I’ll just wait. For a very, very, very, very, very, very long time.
A Friday conundrum….
How is it that the Apple Design Awards can have an award for Leopard apps if Leopard is released a couple of days earlier???
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/ada/
i’m for before this… April anyone?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT DIDNT RELEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does anyone know the next possible release date?…..or perhaps a REAL ONE!
-Ethan
I told you so. I knew this guy was just a fraud. lol.
Did no one think it was weird that it was going to be released on a weekend? It also needs to be anounced, usually a month before release like the Apple TV thing. I’m waiting for it too, seems like it’s taking forever to come out and wondering what is going wrong with it to be taking so long.
First of all, I’m no fraud. I made a prediction and it was wrong. No big deal.
And also, when did I make this prediction? Middle of December. So much has happened between now and then to change that.
I’m not Steve Jobs so I don’t have an accurate date for when Leopard will be released, but I don’t expect it to be any time soon.
Oh well, so much for hoping.
lets not look bad. appearances are everything.
I am going to purchase my first Apple imac 20″. Should I upgrade the graphics to 256mb and the ram to 2 GB for video editing? Would the 3 year warranty be advised at the extra cost?
i have an imac 20” core duo with the 2gb ram and 256mb vid card. i like it, and the core2 duo would only be an improvement. even with the specs i have, Final Cut renders video slowly and choppily. mac pro’s are far beeter solutions for video editting. i use pro tools for audio/video, and the 20” works fine for that.
Yeah you should probably buy the 3 year warranty, you never know if something bad happens. I’ve had the MacBookPro scratched a little bit and I just called them up for a replacement, all free.
And if you’re gonna do a lot of video editing, probably wanna boost up the ram and the gfx.
Also, Im thinking Leopard will be released probably at the WWDC in June guys.. so hold on ur bucks if u want the leopard.. I’m gonna be waiting.. its worth it.
Thanks Guys for the advice. I am a little annoyed to hear that the imac struggles to handle the video editing as this would be my first purchase of an Apple Computer. I am currently using a two year old pc for editing which seems to handle it quite well. I understand the Mac Pro will handle it better but the price is getting much higher. Dudelol you say your imac renders video slowly and chopily, what is the final result of the video like, does it play smoothly? I notice you use final cut, How do you find the imovie programme which I understand is more basic? My type of video editing is just for digital 8 camcorder recordings of my kids etc over the years and future.
Shazam, I noticed you saying that your mac book was replaced because of a scratch. Do you mean the 3 year apple warranty will cover your apple for cosmetic damage?
the final result is high quality video. i was just trying to say that it takes time to get it to that final stage. funny you should mention the Hi-8 tapes of your kids, because i have a cheap sony handycam that i use for family stuff, and i ues iMovie and iDVD for that. if that is all you want to do, the iMac does that remarkably well. one button click can make a dvd of your 8mm tape, impressive. i would defintely recommend a new iMac for that, but also splurge for the 256mb vid card upgrade, and if you know how to buy ram (tech specs and such) you can get a gig of new ram off tigerdirect for 100 bucks, which is way lower than the gig upgrade. apple care is a must, in my opinion.
Thanks Dudelol.
I want to be able to do more than just a straight copy from tape to dvd. I would like to be able to cut scenes out, add titles, add music, add voiceover. Is imovie and the imac quite capable of all this with a good choice of different styles of tittles etc? I have been waiting for this leapord release and have seen rumors on the web of a new range of slimmer, sleeker imacs being released soon. Dudelol would you recomend to keep waiting for the new products? I know they probally won’t do much for the video editing but I fancy the new features of leopard. Maybye I should just buy a high spec PC and use windows which is all I ever used before.
Also can imovie and imac create chapters for the video editing?
yes it can do all that. i would wait for the new imacs if you can, i bought the 20” core duo RIGHT before they released the core2 duo’s and the 24” core2 imac was about the same price! i felt ripped, but i still love the one i have. actually, iLife has excellent movie making capabilities. iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand are great for making quick movies, since they all kinda work together. i didnt see anything in your question that they cannot do together. leopard wont be out for a while, so i guess if you need one now, the upgrade will only be like 130 dollars. i dont plan on getting leopard until Pro Tools is compatible. i have tried the leopard beta, and it looks nice even with the limited functionality on it. Time Machine and Spaces are going to be awesome. Your call, but I would wait.
Thanks Dudelol. I will probablly hold out for the new hardware and leapord. I see you keep mentioning pro tools. I noticed they provide a free download version. Do you think this would be a better option for my basic video editing. I say mine is basic as I gather from your writing you are a proffesional video editor. Does pro tools accept a recording from my digital 8 camcorder via firewire and give me all my editing without any additional external boxes? What type of editing do you do? I can get a copy of final cut from a friend, would this be usefull or should I stick to one editing option like pro tools? If you are fed up with all the questions just say.
Pro Tools is mainly an audio editting hardware/software setup. You absolutely MUST have the Digidesign hardware to run Pro Tools software. It can do video, but I have always used iMovie to import tape recordings first then bring that data into Pro Tools. Dunno why, I just have. I am actually an IT guy, but I tinker enough with audio/video that I have these softwares and hardware lying around. Final Cut is mainly for production level product (or just really fun and creative home movies). I love both macs and pc’s, but for basic video editting like what you want to do…hands down a mac is right for you straight out of the box. dont rush out and buy Pro Tools hardware (my setup was 1,500 dollars) or Final Cut (unless you can get it free somehow).
It might be helpful to note that Final Cut has a pretty hefty learning curve. At least for me, anyway. I worked at a recording studio for a while, and that is where I discovered Pro Tools. Pro tools requires at least an MBox (external box) to run. i think that thing is around 500 dollars, not sure. I use a DIGI 002 Rack (you can look that up at http://www.digidesign.com). Final Cut doesn’t require external devices but does eat up a lot of processing power. There is a Final Cut Express version for home users, and i have both the Express and the Pro versions. As for what I do with it all: I have a home studio because I play music, I make home movies of my three beautiful daughters, and I simply enjoy spending time with it all. If you are not familiar with OS X Tiger, lemme tell you that iLife is fantastic and will do what you want: editting, chapters, themes, firewire, no external boxes, etc…
For those complaining about why a release date isn’t published, you obviously aren’t software developers. There is so much that can go wrong in a release to push the date back. It’s better for Apple to not publish a release date than publish one and keep pushing it back. Then they can work on getting it right without people getting annoyed about the date changing all the time.
Dudelol have you ever used power director for video editing on the pc which is what I used.? If so how would you compare it with ilife?
i have never used power director. do you have access to a retailer like Fry’s or an Apple store that you can go try a mac out and see iLife in action? i think that would answer all your questions because the software is extremely intuitive and easy to use, in my opinion.
I live in Ireland and there is no store here except for PC World who has 1 Imac in stock and when you go into their store no one has a clue what this white machine is for in the corner. All they are interested in selling you is one of their hundreds of pc’s and stay away from the white machine in the corner.
Has not happened, and tis days due.
Why do you wait for so long to get Leopard? Just pay $800 a cheap Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista Home Edition. LoL
Im thinkin of changin to the mac os system, however if leopard is not released soon they will lose my buisness, I believe although vista has copied much of tiger it has improved on it and made it seperior. However leopard should prove to be better again. either way if they do not release before june i will be forced to buy a pc.
changing, what exactly are you referring to when you say “[vista] has improved on [tiger] and made it superior”? Vista is much more hardware-intensive than Tiger, and only has several notable improvements over XP. If I too am forced to get a pc, I will definitely get xp, not vista. Microsoft should focus more on making a more efficient OS, instead of making a hardware-intensive one that has new graphic capabilities (I’m referring to direct x 10) that aren’t even supported by the vast majority of graphic-intensive software (and won’t be for a while), such as games or 3d compositors. Sorry for the rant. Just giving my two cents.
Oh, and for the record, the date on this board is ahead by a day. Today is the 11th, not the 12th.
leopard arrives october 2007
check the website
thats it!! im just gana get get a laptop and settle for tiger, cuz my patience has ranout!!! lol ill upgrade when october comes around… but still dissapointed :-
Yea, what a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT! and here I was waiting to get my hands on a macbook with leopard for my summer school. June was already testing my patience already and not they want to push it back to Oct just because they want to focus all their men on the iPhone instead. I can’t believe they would choose a cell phone over the OS. It should’ve been the other way around.
Wow. I am soo disappointed. I was planning on getting a mac book pro by the summer so I could edit a movie on it that I’m filming. Would anyone just recommend getting the MBP now? Are the hardware upgrades going to be THAT significant?
If you just wanted to use the MBP for video editing, then there’s no point in waiting for leopard because there’s not gonna be any major upgrades for iMovie or anything like that. I would recommend getting the MBP immediately.
Well, I wasn’t going to use iMovie. I was either going to use Adobe Premiere of Final Cut Pro. I was referring to hardware upgrades. But I think you’re right. I probably get one soon.
i was just thinking since the version numbver of leopard is 10.5 maybe the realease date is october 5th… what do you think? or maybe may 10th i don’t know…
oh and if i can add something at the botom of the apple site page for leopard it says that its coming out in OCTOBER 2007 im guessing my first date would be correct…
haha; it’s funny how people think the release date is part of some elaborate code. But oct 5th is a possibility
From Apple Australia’s own Leopard website:
—————————————-
Get ready, get set, get Leopard
All these features and more are delivered to you in one universal, fully accessible, 64-bit operating system. Coming mid-2007.
—————————————-
We may get it earlier – let’s hope so!
i just switched to mac and am looking for a solid photo editing software package. mainly one that will allow me to add a dash of color to black and white photos. ie, sin city or schindler’s list. any suggestions?
I quit reading this thread halfway through.
Frankly speaking, I’m sick and tired of people waiting to switch to a mac, but waiting for a new release. First off, your hardware will be compatible. Look at Apple’s history with respect to upgrades…you can typically go back 2 generations of product and still upgrade. A few limitations mind you, but still installs.
I believe Leopard will not run on PowerPC machines, just the new intel chips. Get off you your wallets switchers…get your Mac…enjoy the experience, then if you feel the need, shell out the dough to upgrade..at least you will have discovered how great Tiger is, before taking on the next generation of the WORLDS GREATEST OS!
I was a die hard PC fan. I never really liked M$, had linux and Unix boxes all over the place…but finally got sick and tired of tinkering with the computers to make them work…Now I am am more productive, and enjoy USING a computer for my work and home life.
Windows XP is the most secure platform M$ has made, and Vista is just a bit of window dressing…they still don’t act like tru multitasking systems and if you need to install a big program such as office.. you might as well head down to Starbucks while it installs. Good luck doing anything else at the same time.
I thought these things were meant to make life easier…LONG LIVE NO MORE REINSTALLS,MALWARE, VIRUSES(* for now)…and no blue screen of death.
PS. The windows registry is the worst POS in the history of computers.
Sorry bout the rant, that’s my $.02
Correction.. Leopard is supported with up to the G4 chipset.
Does anyone know why this blog has stopped posting?
Your site looks great!!!!!!!!!! Please, look at my
OK hold up, let me break it down for all of the struggling mathematicians. Here we go….
2+2=4
2007-2001=6
Let me know if anyone needs me to draw them a picture.
Take a week to think about this phenomenon and remember to look both ways before crossing the street.
Your instructor.
I have source inside apple. For sure its comming out October 5th 2007. Hence 10.5.07. I know my stuff on this one!
I second Jeff’s declaration. I was on the phone ordering my new macbook pro and they too said october. OMG, i cannot wait… its gonna be so great!!!
2003
October 3: 10.2.8 released
October 8: release date for 10.3 (“Panther”) announced
October 23: 10.3 (“Panther”) in the shops
last update was 10.3.8
2005
April 12: release date for 10.4 (“Tiger”) announced
April 15: 10.3.9 released
April 29: 10.4 in stores
2007
March 13: 10.4.9 released
late June: 10.4.10 released
June 29: iPhone IN STORES
Judging by these release dates, one might say that 10.5 could come out in July. The release date of 10/05/07 – to match the operating system 10.5 in 2007 – sounds a little cheesey, but it is Apple.
No you dumb fuck its 6 years, learn to count.
It’s coming out this october actually
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