Apple to release Mac OS X Snow Leopard on August 28

[AppleInsider]

Apple announced Monday that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple's retail stores and Apple authorized resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders.

Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard users for $29.

"Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we're happy to get it to users earlier than expected," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world's most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support."

Monday's announcement confirms weeks of rumors that Apple would release the operating system before its previously announced September launch window.

To create Snow Leopard, Apple engineers refined 90 percent of the more than 1,000 projects that make up Mac OS X. Users will notice refinements including a more responsive Finder; Mail that loads messages up to twice as fast; Time Machine with an up to 80 percent faster initial backup; a Dock with Expose integration; QuickTime X with a redesigned player that allows users to easily view, record, trim and share video; and a 64-bit version of Safari 4 that is up to 50 percent faster and resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins. Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous version and frees up to 7GB of drive space once installed.



For the first time, system applications including Finder, Mail, iCal, iChat and Safari are 64-bit and Snow Leopard's support for 64-bit processors makes use of large amounts of RAM, increases performance and improves security while remaining compatible with 32-bit applications. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) provides a revolutionary new way for software developers to write applications that take advantage of multicore processors. OpenCL, a C-based open standard, allows developers to tap the incredible power of the graphics processing unit for tasks that go beyond graphics.



Snow Leopard is the only desktop operating system with built in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and it allows you to use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal to send and receive email, create and respond to meeting invitations, and search and manage contacts with global address lists. Exchange information works seamlessly within Snow Leopard so users can also take advantage of OS X only features such as fast Spotlight searches and Quick Look previews.



Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard, the next major release of the world's easiest to use server operating system, will also go on sale Friday, August 28. Snow Leopard Server includes innovative new features such as Podcast Producer 2 and Mobile Access Server and is priced more affordably than ever at $499 with unlimited client licenses. More information and full system requirements for Snow Leopard Server can be found at www.apple.com/server/macosx/.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard on August 28 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store starting Monday. The new operating system will be available only for Mac users on Intel-based computers.



Snow Leopard will cost $29 for the single user license and $49 for the five-license family pack. Also available are Mac OS X Server 10.6 Snow Leopard ($499) and two upgrade box sets: OS, iWork and iLife ($169) and the five-license family pack, iWork and iLife ($229).



The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, whichever comes first. For more information please visit www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate. Snow Leopard requires a minimum of 1GB of RAM and is designed to run on any Mac computer with an Intel processor. Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[nevrozel]

Yay! Good news!

[Quadra 610]

That was fast.

[Chintan100]

Yes Yes Yes!!!!!

*fainted*

[DanaCameron]

Sweetness!!!

[vassillios]

woo hoo

[nevrozel]

Lots of happy mates I see.

[Ireland]

Well what do you know, they date they "accidentally" published on their site turns out to be the right one.

[Oh-es-Ten]

Hot diggity... I was going to wait it out until 10.6.1, but strange urge to upgrade on Day 1.... Hmmm....

[d3bruts1d]

The last link is broken... and not showing at all in the forum post.

[Lorre]

Great news! Now I only hope this will install to a blank hard drive. I'm treating my MacBook on a bigger harddrive to accompany the Snow Leopard update... Having to Install Leopard just to be able to install SL would be quite cumbersome.

Now for the great dillemma... 320GB 7200RPM vs 500GB 5400RPM...

[Roos24]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, whichever comes first. For more information please visit

Not for me. I bought a new MBP just a month ago, but then I have two more Macs in my household, so... I still have to purchase the family pack.

[Rokken]

Sweet that they release it this early and I'll be ordering a family pack soon, but oh boy, it's almost twice as expensive as it is in the U.S (sorry couldn't help to bring this topic up).

[amac4me]

It's finally here with an official release date from Apple. I'm looking forward to Friday.

[Royboy]

I bought a 4th HD just for SL. I'm going to clone my startup drive HD 1 to HD 4, then I'll start up from HD 4 and install SL. Then I'll spend some time checking out SL via HD 4 and see if there are any bugs or problems running programs I current run on Leopard.

[polar315]

Wonder if they will have copies at the Apple stores on the 28th ?

[ghostface147]

I know what I will be doing this weekend.

[kpetree10]

I think I might be *sick* on Friday so I can be one of the first to get it at the store.

[saj]

well, its a gr8 news!!!!

[macxpress]

Originally Posted by Roos24

Not for me. I bought a new MBP just a month ago, but then I have two more Macs in my household, so... I still have to purchase the family pack.

You don't necessarily have to.....

[amac4me]

Originally Posted by polar315

Wonder if they will have copies at the Apple stores on the 28th ?

Yes, the Apple stores should have it on Friday.

[Bruce Robbie]

Before you update to SL
just have a quick look at this site to check comparability with your existing software.

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Great news to finally have SL on the way.

[webpoet73]

One of the worst kept secrets.... even the box was leaked...

I'd almost prefer not to see the leaks, but it is so hard these days unless you turn off the internet. I will be getting mine on Friday. I had zero issues with Leopard from Day one... I might be the exception to the rule, but can't wait of SL to be unleashed!

[nikiski]

Originally Posted by Roos24

Not for me. I bought a new MBP just a month ago, but then I have two more Macs in my household, so... I still have to purchase the family pack.

If you bought them (or some of them) on the same invoice, you could just get one copy and request the right to copy.

Multiple Qualifying Computers on a Single Invoice

If you purchased multiple qualifying systems on a single invoice, you can either (1) purchase a Single-User Upgrade Kit for each qualifying product, at a cost of US$9.95*; or (2) purchase fewer Single-User Upgrade Kits and request the Right to Copy for the remaining qualifying products.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by Bruce Robbie

Before you update to SL
just have a quick look at this site to check comparability with your existing software.

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Great news to finally have SL on the way.

Thanks for the link.

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by webpoet73

One of the worst kept secrets.... even the box was leaked...

I'd almost prefer not to see the leaks, but it is so hard these days unless you turn off the internet.

One day you'll give up caring about that crap.

[Tauron]

Good bye Windows 7!

[Rokken]

I'm glad that, ironically, they haven't updated their macosx page in any country other than the U.S so I could find out what has been changed. Other than more welcome improvements, albert small, they also refined a little bit of the interface of quicktime. Is there anyone using 10A432 can tell if that tweak is already there?

[gordy]

FYI, the online Apple Store says "Delivers on August 28th", not "Ships on August 28th".

[cendrillon]

Anyone know if 10A432 is the final version? If so, I already have Snow Leopard

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by Rokken

I'm glad that, ironically, they haven't updated their macosx page in any country other than the U.S so I could find out what has been changed. Other than more welcome improvements, albert small, they also refined a little bit of the interface of quicktime. Is there anyone using 10A432 can tell if that tweak is already there?

I see you edited your post, a minute ago it is 10A431. I was confused.

[ad4m.phillips]

Originally Posted by cendrillon

Anyone know if it is 10A432 is the final version? If so, I already have Snow Leopard

Same here and it's pretty meh to be honest. Can't even tell it's new.

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by Bruce Robbie

Before you update to SL
just have a quick look at this site to check comparability with your existing software.

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Great news to finally have SL on the way.

Thanks for that....did I read that SL will have an automatic compatibility check as part of the install?

I remember upgrading to Leopard from Tiger and my "Transparent Dock" app crashed it to a blue screen.

I was thinking of just taking all my 'secondary' apps like aquisition, handbrake, PDF Pen, PDF Shrink, Fetch, SnapNDrag, EasyBatch Photo, SMARTReporter, etc., and temporarily taking them out of the Applications folder and upgrading to SL and then put them back in the Application Folder.

Any Thoughts!

[cendrillon]

Originally Posted by ad4m.phillips

Same here and it's pretty meh to be honest. Can't even tell it's new.

Yeah, I pretty much agree. Although my girlfriend loves the chinese character entry, and I do like Quicktime X.

[illinisouth]

Guys, I have a question: I'm running Leopard with iLife '08. Does SL upgrade to '09 or will I have to buy the current iLife suite separately?

Thanks

[ad4m.phillips]

Originally Posted by cendrillon

Yeah, I pretty much agree. Although my girlfriend loves the chinese character entry, and I do like Quicktime X.

Might do a clean install and see if by clearing out all the crap I've accumulated it'll speed it up

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by illinisouth

Guys, I have a question: I'm running Leopard with iLife '08. Does SL upgrade to '09 or will I have to buy the current iLife suite separately?

Thanks

Pretty sure iLife '09 is not included with SL. You can buy the 'Mac Box Set,' SL, iLife '09 and iWork '09 for $169.

[MacTripper]

Words of wisdom


If your not technically inclined or up to speed on OS X, wait for the "early adopters" to work out the bugs first and can report first hand if this or that works correctly. Printer drivers and third party video cards additions (non factory for MacPro's) all need to be updated, as well as plug-ins and other third party products like Firefox, Adobe and M$ software and so on. This takes time or they may wait for a product update and you'll have to pay to upgrade.

A OS upgrade disk plus a previous OS install disk is a pain in the arse later on if you need to boot from the install cd and repair the newer installed operating system. The previous OS most likely won't be able to repair a newer OS install. So if your going to buy a Mac because of the newer OS, wait for the Snow Leopard install disks to arrive in the box. You'll know because when you buy a Mac in a Apple Store, they tape on a Snow Leopard upgrade disk to the outside of the box, because inside, sealed up, is a previous Leopard install disk.

Clone your previous Leopard OS X to a external powered firewire hard drive and hold option boot from it to verify it's fine BEFORE updating to Snow Leopard. Carbon Copy Cloner is my preferred cloning software of choice as it's the original and in my opinion still the best. (see my cloning tips in Genius sticky thread)


I for one will most likely be buying a new 15" matte screen MacBook Pro, with the Snow Leopard install disks (not upgrade) as soon as they are available and slowly migrate over as the bugs and third party software gets worked out.

I'm not liking what I'm hearing about the the problems with the MacBook's stock hard drives, I guess the hard drive makers are seeing their demise with Apple introducing SSD options now, so they are dropping quality to make as much money before closing shop. This isn't a good thing for our data and system reliability.

[MacTripper]

Originally Posted by christopher126

Pretty sure iLife '09 is not included with SL. You can buy the combo pack, SL, iLife '09 and iWork '09 for $169 (I think that's the right price)

Oh yes, the newer iLife certainly won't be included in SL upgrade disks.

Another good reason to wait for Snow Leopard INSTALL disks if buying a new Mac.


Of course if money is no object, then by all means get it.

[christopher126]

Originally Posted by MacTripper

Words of wisdom


If your not technically inclined or up to speed on OS X, wait for the "early adopters" to work out the bugs first and can report first hand if this or that works correctly. Printer drivers and third party video cards additions (non factory for MacPro's) all need to be updated, as well as plug-ins and other third party products like Firefox, Adobe and M$ software and so on. This takes time or they may wait for a product update and you'll have to pay to upgrade.

A OS upgrade disk plus a previous OS install disk is a pain in the arse later on if you need to boot from the install cd and repair the newer installed operating system. The previous OS most likely won't be able to repair a newer OS install. So if your going to buy a Mac because of the newer OS, wait for the Snow Leopard install disks to arrive in the box. You'll know because when you buy a Mac in a Apple Store, they tape on a Snow Leopard upgrade disk to the outside of the box, because inside, sealed up, is a previous Leopard install disk.

Clone your previous Leopard OS X to a external powered firewire hard drive and hold option boot from it to verify it's fine BEFORE updating to Snow Leopard. Carbon Copy Cloner is my preferred cloning software of choice as it's the original and in my opinion still the best. (see my cloning tips in Genius sticky thread)

.

This is very good advice....hard to follow though with all the excitement to do a quick upgrade! I think I will at least wait a week to see the forums as far as problems.