Snow Leopard

This page is based on a presentation made on 20 January 2010. Here are a number of features for Mac OS-X 10.6 known as Snow Leopard.

Your computer can take advantage of 64 bit computing if it uses an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, versus Intel Core Duo. The "About this computer" shows chip info. Access to 16Gbytes, up from 4GB - also has access to hardware assisted technologies (good at defeating malware) - Most Apple applications have been upgraded and recompiled to take advantage.

Grand Central Dispatch GCD - takes fuller advantage of Dual Cores without need of special programming.

Microsoft Exchange Support - useful in certain corporate environments.

OpenCL (Open Computer Language) - allows programmers to use the Graphic card for processing - some algorithms will be much faster.

JavaScript - upgraded - better performance from Safari especially noticeable for hardware accelerated 3-D

Snow Leopard has a smaller Footprint but will not work on PowerPC equipped Macs (such as G4 and G5) - it will only run on Intel. It can be loaded onto any Intel computer that currently runs Tiger (OS-X 10.4) or Leopard (OS-X 10.5).

Finder:

Bigger better icons
Better sidebar in Finder Windows
Put back trash in the right place (right click)
corrected Dock handling of folders
Dock identification of application Windows

Applications

iChat
- bigger window
- better routing
- less bandwidth
- separated accounts
- Quick Look enabled for transferred files
Preview
- Better text selection
- Improved scaling
- Annotations (PDF)
- Image correction with RGB histogram
- Import from scanner
QuickTime X
- New player
- Capture Media - Movie, Audio, or screen
- Media Trim (only in Pro version before)
- Chapters with Images
Mail
- Mailboxes in the sidebar can be repositioned better.

System

Much faster boot up time, shutdown time, wireless network logon
Split pane Terminal
Gamma correction set to 2.2

Should I spend a measly $24?
The answer will depend on you. For my part I see enough justification and have installed it on my home computer.