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| Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard [5-User Family Pack] | ![Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard [5-User Family Pack]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JcgilFn0L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | From: Apple Computer
Category: Software
List Price: $199.00
Buy New: $135.00
You Save: $64.00 (32%)
New (25) Used (1)
Avg. Customer Rating:  105 reviews
Sales Rank: 60
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Mac Os X Intel, Mac Os X
Color: 5-user
Media: DVD-ROM
Edition: 5-User Family Pack
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 19.7 x 19.7 x 19.7
MPN: MB577Z/A
Model: MB577Z/A
UPC: 885909216635
EAN: 0885909168040
ASIN: B000BR0NPO
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 101-105 of 105 | | « PREV 1 ... | | |
 The first Mac OS release to disappoint since 8.5 October 29, 2007
26 out of 46 found this review helpful
I pre-ordered 10.5 Leopard. The disc was here before the general availability. The disc was damaged. It would read on my old PowerMac, but as it's so big and dual layer, the intel portion would not work. I had to call apple, wait 55 minutes on the phone and then drive to the nearest apple store to get a new DVD. Upon arriving, I was hassled by the employees about not having a receipt. I couldn't print it since my Mac wouldn't boot. The printer was not connected to the other system. 10.5 disabled booting my Mac. I could only get into single user mode which is a shell prompt (unix command line). After getting a new disc, I could do a fresh install. I spent several hours reinstalling and/or copying files around to get everything back together.
Time Machine is nice. It does require several hours of syncing and when doing a lot of things, it will cause slowdowns using your Mac. You have good backups though.
Spotlight has to re-index everything which takes some time.
Mail.app now now has check box for INCOMING SSL/TLS certificate acceptance. This has been an issue for a long time. IF the certificate is self signed on your mail server, you had to go through a lot of hoops before. Those hoops are still required for OUTGOING mail. I had to set this up again.
Safari 3 has some rendering issues on some sites compared to the old version. It is much better than the betas though.
The transparency and new dock are ugly and harder to read. I have trouble telling if a program is open sometimes. (I use my dock on the left side) Transparency is disabled on old G4 PowerMacs, but enabled on newer Macs with beefy video cards.
My wacom tablet randomly stops working in Leopard. No driver yet (other than beta). Everything else works fine. Adobe has not updated many of their applications yet and won't until January 2008.
Test drive this before you buy it.
Whiz-Bang? Kind of. Refined? Definitely. October 27, 2007
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
Each new major release of an operating system (OS) has to make a splash. We all expect to be wowed. We expect and demand that we are shown new whiz-bang features and enhancements. For example, Microsoft's Vista has lots of whiz-bang features when compared to the steady and stalwart Windows XP. But since Vista's debut, the afterglow has faded. ANd now, the 'whiz' is the sound of people flocking back to XP and the 'bang' is the sound of people's heads hitting their keyboards from the frustration of wrestling with their computer's operating system.
Enter Mac OS 10.X:
10.1 - not a great debut. 10.2 was admittedly undercooked. 10.3 was getting there. And 10.4 finally delivered on the promise of the Mac OS in the modern age.
So with OS 10.5 - where's the whiz-bang? Ah, as they say the devil is in the details. 10.5 won't jump up and clamor for your attention out of the box. It's new features are to be lauded, but the real benefits here are in the easy way that 10.5 builds on the solid foundation of 10.4 and delivers as the best Mac OS to date.
I won't go into massive detail about each new feature, you can just check out the product info or peruse [...] for the sales pitch. Suffice to say that the additions and enhancements are indeed very cool. And perhaps more importantly worth the cost of the upgrade.
Instead of belaboring the fine points of each nook and cranny and application, I am going to touch on how impressed I am with the way that Apple has worked to ensure the continuance of a good thing.
10.5 is certainly evolutionary. The departure from Tiger is not drastic. But this is a good thing. Unlike the jolt of moving from XP to Vista - the transition from Tiger to Leopard can be best defined as "refined". At each turn there are subtle enhancements and features that may not trumpet for attention but work to take the "interference" out of using a computer. You can expect Leopard to work as advertised. Simple in its promise, but steadfast in its mission: 'it just works'.
During the past couple of years, more and more people have moved to Apple systems for the first time. With more people hopping on board, I'm glad to see that OS 10.5 is a mature refinement to an already fine OS. More than anything, I'm encouraged that this new version allows me and my family to actually use our computers with minimal interference from the OS.
So where's the whiz-bang? It's in getting an easy to learn, easy to use, and as-powerful-as-you-need-it operating system perfect for use in your home.
On a final note - this review is for the 5-user family pack. It is hard to beat the idea of getting the best OS on the block for $40 a computer. In my case, to upgrade each system averaged out to $67. And there is no strange upgrade path to follow. Each version of leopard is the same. No Leopard home, or business, or ultimate or penultimate. Just leopard. Everything you need, when you need it. No strange add-ons or deluxe editions needed.
For those interested - I have Leopard running on a 12" Powerbook G4 (1.25Ghz - And it will run - trust me), a MacBook and a Core2Duo iMac. Leopard is running well on all of these systems. It took about 45mins-1hr per system to upgrade.
Here's the upgrade path: Put in the DVD, walk through the the setup menu and wait for your "new" computer to restart.
Post-upgrade, all of my existing programs work. All of my files are in tact and I'm off and running with 10.5.
How's that for Whiz-bang?
It has some noteworthy deficiencies October 27, 2007
41 out of 67 found this review helpful
It's premature to judge the value of many of 10.5's new features. I'm pleased with the improvements to Mail, iCal, and iChat. There are, however, some serious problems that should give a buyer pause. Apple has changed the Finder menus so that they are translucent. The lettering is no longer black-on-white unless you choose white as your wallpaper, which is hardly pleasing. I've compromised by choosing a solid light blue, but for the sake of efficiency and clarity nice designs and pictures are out. There is no corrective for the translucent pull-down menu: you always see a hazy semblance of whatever is behind it. This has introduced a lot of visual noise and may be a serious problem for individuals with vision impairment. In this case Apple has sacrificed clarity and performance for a dubious new aesthetic.
There are instances when icons and buttons which are themselves grey are placed against a gray background. This is true with the Trash on the new Dock background (if you place the Dock on the right). This makes them more difficult to see at a glance.
In changing many aesthetic features of OS X Apple seems to be addressing problems that don't exist. There is a reason why most books are not printed on translucent or colored paper, and that same reason is why the Finder should be black-on-white. Apple has added milliseconds to basic functions, thereby reducing productivity. Apple's habit of offering take-it-or-leave-it features which cannot be modified or turned off is frustrating.
One of the few regular maintenance requirements of OS X is repairing permissions. In 10.4 this took less than a minute to accomplish, but after installing 10.5 I found that it took about 7 minutes, and then a cryptic message appeared. Each time I repeated the procedure the same thing happened, though it does report also that permissions have been repaired.
When I click on the Applications folder in 10.4 the contents appear almost instantly. In 10.5 it takes more than 4 seconds for the contents to appear. It remains to be seen how many other basic functions of OS X have been harmed.
In summary, Apple seems to have made substantial changes merely for the sake of change, rather than to improve productivity, and some of these changes have degraded both productivity and comfort.
I installed Leopard on one of my three Macs, but I will not "upgrade" the other two until Apple eliminates the aesthetic drawbacks and brings speed back to parity with Tiger. It's nice to have eye candy, but productivity is my first concern. Some of the new visual features remind me of the clutter which is now standard on the screens of cable news channels.
As for the family pack, in my opinion it should contain 5 discs, not merely the same lone disc that is in the single-user package with some different text in the user agreement.
The installation discussed is on a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz.
 Worth it for Time Machine alone... but there's lots more reasons to buy October 26, 2007
62 out of 67 found this review helpful
The OS comes in a very small package with a little manual. Install took 45 minutes to confirm that the CD was in good condition, 45 more to install. This review is not going to be full of technical jargon... instead a brief first impression from a long time Mac user (circa 1984 Mac 512Ke vintage). For the technicals, go to Apple, read geeky blogs. For the rest of us, I'll try to keep it more straight-forward. They claim 300 changes... here are what I think are some of the more interesting ones... apologies for the length of the review, relative to the number of changes claimed, a moderate length to this review. Updated December 09, 2007 to reflect new experiences.
Pro:
-Time machine! OK, back up programs are available, but how many of them are sold versus the number of macs out there? This program is native, created by Apple for Apple. All I did was plug in a hard drive and Leopard asked if I wanted to make this my back-up drive for Leopard. I clicked yes, and that was it, all set up. It begins back up once the computer is left on and idle. The first takes a very long time, hours, subsequent back ups are hourly, however only files that have changed are saved, preserving storage space and computing power. Time machine looks like any open folder window when it gets down to it... like you went back in time and browsed around (hence the name). Similar to "snapshot" for those Windows XP users out there.
-Install was very easy. Boot machine, insert CD, restart with CD. The computer verified that the CD is in good condition (a lengthy process of about 45 minutes that you can skip but which is recommended). The rest of the install takes about 45 more minutes, but it is basically all automated. It's a Mac, it's so clever that it's easy. Apple does what computers promised to do... automate smartly.
-Price is very reasonable relative to other operating systems (e.g. Vista)
-This OS includes the release version of Boot Camp. I've not used it yet as I have Parallels, but I like how Apple has included this feature... sometimes it's just best to get along as even programs offered on both platforms are just different enough to be annoying. So if you are using PowerPoint at work on a PC, you can use it at home on your Mac acting like a PC... thank you Apple.
-The new "you can see the content of folders in the dock bar" feature is handy, especially if you have many projects going and you dump a lot of picture files into them. They call this new feature "stacks" and it works really well.
-I find that movies too now give you a preview icon which is great.
-New OS did not trash my preferences, such as my Son's photo on the desktop... very plug and play
-Safari web browser is appears somewhat faster, perhaps 1x faster to load a page but I didn't really notice that much difference as I was using another browser up to this point
-The widget-maker is really interesting... I made my first widget of a stock I follow, in about 30 seconds. This was really great. I expect future versions of the feature to add more punch (e.g. the ability to add a title bar to your new widget, improved ability to make very small widgets, ability to use arrow keys to get the widget just right, ability to resize the widget once made instead of deleting and starting all over, etc.), but is still great as is.
-When I have multiple windows open I notice a slight shadow to help me identify which one is active, or on top. Apple continues to impress with their ability to tune into subtle usability features that are so obvious that they have been overlooked. Wonderful (although I would love a darker shadow, and perhaps a bold frame around the window too).
-The Apple web site offers a very nice 9-10 minute introduction. Check it out, it's worth it (trust me).
-Cover Flow is AWESOME! If you are familiar with flipping through album art on the new iPhone or iPods, you'll recognize the power of this feature right away. For those who've been on the sidelines, let me catch you up. There's icon view. There's list view. There's also a column view that's less popular. And there's now cover flow. Much like iTunes, you can flip through files like albums in a juke box, or turning pages in a picture book. The Mac lets you see the first page, so you don't get just a dumb icon, or even a tiny picture, you get a nice big image. It's nothing short of amazing. Cover flow does more (like you can play a video in cover flow without exiting the program or launching a player, fast and convenient), but again, this is a simpler version for the rest of us.
-A further extension of file management is Quick Look. You can sort of open files without launching a program. It's designed to be a time-saver for the person with a lot of files.
-Spaces. OK, this might be a little hard to describe. Essentially, are you someone who like to have 10 programs running at one time? If so, Spaces is ideal for you. You can open say a few photos in one space, a publishing program and Photoshop in another. You can toggle back and forth between the spaces and the effect is a less cluttered environment. It's neat.
-Mail. THere's many new things here, most small. However, for those setting up a mail account for the first time, say on Yahoo or "another popular website", you enter your email address, password, and click OK. Leopard finds it and sets it up. This blows me away. Forever are gone are the days of entering POP and SMTP data, which I guess wasn't terribly bad, but again, this is 2007. Computers are supposed to be more intuitve, not less right? Mac delivers yet again.
-I didn't mention the Notes and To Do features in Mail, which are excellent adds. Example of what these are: I often send myself an email so that I have a note: Well, instead of sending a mail to myself, which can, if hung up take a minute or an hour to return to me, I can write myself a note which sits in my inbox. I can add attachments like an email. I can also turn a note into a "To do", assigning a due date and getting a check box to check when it has been completed. Anywhere I can access my email, I can also get my notes. Weird and wonderful! To do events sync to iCal (which also syncs to my iPhone)... excellent.
-Email contacts, addresses, phone numbers can be added to existing contacts, or a new contact with a couple clicks. This is very handy for the busy professional.
-The teleconferencing features of iChat makes presentations really personal and also allows you to share desktops. I won't use this at home, and I can only dream of this at work when working remotely with our team/my boss in the UK. Words don't do this feature justice.
-My existing programs seem to work ok. I did get a minor error with Parallels (see Cons section for more), but all other programs tried functioned fine.
Con:
-Boot Camp requires reboot to run Windows
-Changed the icons some, which is not a big deal, but which was unnecessary
-With all this advanced file-sharing capability in iChat, I am concerned that a guest could inadvertently open sensitive files or emails. I get confidential materials sometimes, and I have little means of limiting access. It's too open and I'd love some locking features, both in iChat and in case I walk away from my Mac and someone decides to have some fun.
- Parallels has become unstable and won't launch. A free patch fomr the Parallels website (build "5582") fixed the crash on launch issue, however an IP conflict gotten originally still persists. This IP error does not seem to cause any issues as far as I can tell, it is just a nuisance.
Bottom line: Highly recommended. Sleek, smart, and straight-forward. The review title says it all, however there are obviously many reasons to buy, including staying current with the OS so that you have access to future releases and features.
MAC OS X Leopard 10.5 - The New Wave in technology October 26, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Installing Leopard (What to expect for first time Leopard users): You pop the CD in your CDROM Tray as a window pops up telling you to restart your system, as your computer restarts, an installation window will confirm your drive for consistency, this will take roughly about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the system. Once the CD Drive consistency check finishes, it'll ask you to choose your features that you want to install by selecting custom install, once you've selected your features, it'll ask for you to agree to the service agreement, after you agree the installation will begin, at this point just sit back and wait as for this also takes 45 minutes to an hour to finish (90 minutes to 120 minutes for complete install to finish). Once installation is done, all your existing files will still be intact and you'll be on your way to seeing what's under the hood of the new leopard. Speaking of features, I would like to tell you about a few of them.
Time Machine: Enables you to backup your system to an external hard drive in case of system crashes, accidental deletion of a file, etc. This tool will enable you to back track through a time line of windows that you can browse through, complete with realtime visual preview of the files you wish to restore.
Dock: Dock has been completely revamped in style, the bar is translucent along with reflective icons that sit on the dock.
Stacks: Stacks enables you to view the contents of a folder without actually opening it, You single click the folder and it flutters out giving you a preview of files, documents or sub folders that the folder contains. This feature can help minimize space on your dock.
Coverflow: Coverflow enables you to easily flip from content to content in a matter of seconds using a visual icandy interface. This tool will also help assist locating your file/files more efficiently. This feature works in iPhoto, Finder, and more.
Finder: Finder has been re designed to let you access what you need a lot faster and more effectively.
Safari: You can tell that Safari has been tweaked a little, because the internet browser operates a lot faster than before.
Expose: If you have multiple windows open at once, you can use expose to visually see every window on your screen as it auto fits and shrinks everything for you, once you can see all your windows that are open, just click on the one you wish to view and it will bring your window back to normal size.
Menubar: The Menubar has been changed to a translucent face, some users may not like this feature due to it being that way, but for users that like the iCandy then I think they definitely will. Note: Users who don't have a newer mac will more than likely not see the translucent face on the Menubar due to not having a powerful graphics card, this would more than likely apply to PowerPC G4 users. I have been to many forums and read a lot of reviews stating that users are not too happy with the translucent Menubar, if you would like to actually disable this feature through Leopard, answer is you really can't do it at this time, but through a third party application called LeoColorBar made by MD Software, it enables you to disable the translucent Menubar. If you would like to download LeoColorBar, visit the following link http://homepage.mac.com/mdsw/md%20softworks.html
NOTE:
LeoColorBar is freeware
Software Compatibility: I say anywhere from 85% to 95% of Mac Software works, but of course since Leopard has just been released, there's a lot of software companies that just haven't made their software compatible with it yet. in due time the percentages will rise as updates, patches will start to come out. Some users might receive error messages saying that this software is not compatible with your OS, I myself only had one software that did that, but the rest of them worked, this will differ from each mac user for they are using different software than others.
Since there is over 300+ features in this new Operating System, I can't tell you all of them. If you want to get an idea of what Leopard is all about, visit the following site to watch a 45 minute video guided tour at apples website. Here is the link if you want to check it out: http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/
Apple MAC OS X Leopard 10.5 is a solid operating system with new and improved features that have been implemented to stimulate the user experience. This Operating System is good for productivity use, entertainment, etc., I recommend this for everyone: Families, Children, Individuals, Developers, Musicians, artists etc. For those who need or want an upgrade, then I highly recommend that you do.
If you're skeptical or don't know much about computers, I hope my review helped, if not ask a Genius at an apple store and have them show you what this thing can do, ask a friend, a co-worker or people who have already installed the upgrade, its always good to research before you buy, especially if you're a skeptic or a newbie.
For the Newbie, here are the System Requirements for you to consider before you upgrade:
Processor must be any Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (at 867 MHz or faster)
DVD drive (for installation of the operating system)
Built-in FireWire
At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM is recommended for development purposes)
A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card
At least 9 GB of disk space available
End note:
This is absolutely the best operating system that is available today, do yourself a
favor and upgrade to the new wave in technology - MAC OS X Leopard 10.5 is a 5
star winner and 100% fully Recommended for everyone.
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