MacMundi

As everybody knows by now, Apple has launched its new operating system, Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) last October 26st. For those who don't know exactly what that means, Leopard is an update to Mac OS X Tiger, the operating system currently used by virtually all Mac owners. Think of Leopard as "Apple's new Windows" - all others considerations aside, of course.

Now that Leopard is around, a few questions arise: should I upgrade? What are Leopard's advantages over Mac OS X Tiger?

First of all, you should know that not everybody will be able to install the new Mac OS. Apple says the minimum system requirements are 512Mb of RAM and a 867Mhz or better G4 processor, but in my opinion know one should use it with less than 1Gb of RAM and an 1ghz G4.  

As for the advantages over Tiger, I may speak for myself, as I've been using Leopard for a few days now. In my opinion, Leopard IS a worthy upgrade for the following reasons:

- on my iMac (Intel) everything is significantly faster - the applications, for example, loads much faster than before
- Gmail (and 23 other popular e-mail providers, like Yahoo) now configures itself automatically on Apple Mail
- there's no easier or faster way to access all your applications than a stack pointing to the Application's folder in the Dock
- FrontRow was completely redesigned, and now works faster and even without the remote controler
- Dashboard is much faster also
- the new Safari opens almost instantly, and now you can create widgets automatically by selecting a "piece" of any website.
- Leopard's firewall is now much easier to configure
- I know the new reflective Dock is polemic, but I loved it
- and many other innovations, most of them seem to focus on EASY OF USE