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| Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard | 
 enlarge | From: Apple
Category: Software
List Price: $129.99
Buy New: $90.00
You Save: $39.99 (31%)
New (37) Used (10)
Avg. Customer Rating:  387 reviews
Sales Rank: 7
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Mac Os X, Macintosh
Color: 1-user
Media: DVD-ROM
Edition: Standard
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 19.7 x 19.7 x 19.7
MPN: MB576Z/A
Model: MB576Z/A
UPC: 885909167876
EAN: 5050053026040
ASIN: B000FK88JK
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not as advertised October 27, 2007
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
As a recent MAC convert, I can certainly say that I've been thrilled with the MAC products. I love the workflow and professional look of iwork and ilife. So I was quite excited to upgrade to Leopard. However, Leopard, while having many slick features (time machine, cover flow for search, etc.) lacks some of the things that you may have seen in an advertisements. For example, (and I know this is corny), but I was quite excited about playing with the holographic effect in ichat. Well, turns out that it wasn't included in the final version. YO APPLE, please be more up front with product changes and omissions. You can't show it off at a major unveiling and then drop the ball...makes folks think of the term "false advertisement".
Anyhow, Leopard is still a great piece of work, but as an early adopter, realize there will be glitches. All it takes is a quick look at the support boards to see that there are numerous bug fixes likely on the way. Thus far, I've run into issues with the mail app not being able to send mail via a non .mac imap server... Hopefully apple will get this cleared up soon.
Overall, lots of eye candy...but likely not the major upgrade over Tiger you were expecting....
 Just Brilliant new OS October 27, 2007
50 out of 55 found this review helpful
THis is a brilliant update to Apple's operating system. Installed with no problems, runs beautifully, and the new features are wonderful.
This OS will not run on older Macs, but will run on any of the newer (last three years or so) Macs -- and it makes everything look clean, new, and runs faster (indeed!) than TIger.
Safari is particularly lightning fast in Leopard. Mail has some wonderful new features (most notably the To Do and Notes features) and everything just looks better.
Note that you might need to reinstall some printer drivers after updating - especially if you have Epson printers; but those are available at epson.com (or similar sites for other printers). Many of the "beta" drivers inside Leopard will not work.
One note: if you watch the Apple video about Leopard and follow their instructions ("You can start the install, and go out for coffee and it will all be ready for you when you return") it is simply NOT TRUE. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER while it is updating. You will frequently be asked to approve the next step as you install and if you don't answer them it will just sit there.
Note that they "say" it will take 30 minutes to an hour to install -- that is true only if you skip the disc verification that Leopard automatically performs at the beginning of the install -- otherwise, it actually takes 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to install.
One big warning: make sure you check your printer's compatability with Leopard before upgrading -- many printers (especially Lexmark and HP) do not currently have any printer drivers and the old drivers will not work. Make sure there is a driver for your printer for OS 10.5 or you will be out of luck. Same with scanners and all-in-one machines.
Works fine, Buy Firewire 800 or eSATA external drive for time machine October 27, 2007
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
I have it installed and its running fine on my 2.16 Macbook pro. May be an issue with Parallels and video RAM allocation; but I'm still investigating that. One thing I absolutely wish I had done differently is I wish I'd bought a Firewire 800 external drive( or better yet eSATA and Express card controller). Got a USB 2.0 Seagate Free Agent and the initial backup in Time Machine is going to take a long time. Spend a few extra bucks and get an external drive with a higher transfer rate.
I've heard some grumbling about Leopard not being able to use an external drive attached to Airport Extreme base for backup. I've got to think that wireless backup at even 802.11n is a pipe dream for now. My initial backup is 69 Gig, and I know a lot of folks will have much larger initial backups. Maybe you could do incrementals wirelessly; but the initial is just too big for that.
No speed problems here October 27, 2007
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
Will keep this short. Great upgrade, love the new look. Time Machine will be a big hit - works best if you have a Firewire drive. One of the reviewers here states he has speed problems, No speed problems whatsoever here, even our old iMac G5 is running like a champ. The way my Macs are now running I have to say Leopard is faster than Tiger.
- fm -
 Serious drawbacks October 27, 2007
162 out of 263 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 and 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. (Update: It is being reported that Apple acknowledges this bug and is working on a fix.)
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.
(The installation discussed is on a MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz.)
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