Mac OS X Snow Leopard Discussion

[Timan Veteran]

I've never had any trouble resizing a window in Leopard.

On 2.4Ghz 4GB MBP, old core duo 2.0Ghz 2GB MBP, and even older 17" 1.86Ghz iMac its fine.

I've never had any lagging in Leopard.

That being said, hopefully if 10.6 really is 64bit only it will help push Adobe to make CS5 (or maybe 4) 64bit for mac.

We could only hope. AE neeeeeds 16TB of RAM :)

Ha, I do have the comment on the resizing issue.

I'm on a Mac Pro with an 8800GT. Resizing iTunes & Safari still lag a tiny bit. They never stick with the cursor. Now, if I go open camino or firefox, feels more fluid almost like a windows app (puke).

[giga Veteran]

This is impossible. On any Mac I've tried, the corner of the window really doesn't stay with the mouse. It's slower than the mouse, you have to look carefully and this happens when you resize at a fast speed. We don't see that in Windows, meaning that OS X's GUI is slower to refresh. I think it's better in Leopard (though I haven't tried Tiger in so long) but it still does it. 10.6 will be a welcomed update here, even if it comes at a price.

But if they added all this in 10.1 and it was free, then maybe we have chances.

Uh--I believe that's an actual effect, not a slower gui.

[PyX]

Only Cara has the answer :p

[Cara Veteran]

Ha, I do have the comment on the resizing issue.

I'm on a Mac Pro with an 8800GT. Resizing iTunes & Safari still lag a tiny bit. They never stick with the cursor. Now, if I go open camino or firefox, feels more fluid almost like a windows app (puke).

No lag at all here with an 8600GT..

GeForce 8600M GT:

Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT

Type: Display

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0407

Revision ID: 0x00a1

ROM Revision: 3212

Have you applied 10.5.3 and the accompanying Graphics Update? This corrected nearly all known issues with slowness on NVIDIA cards. :)

[joyntkid]

Even if yours lags, thats a reallllly picky thing to not like.

It wouldn't even really be noticeable in normal use unless you were just staring at the corner.

[giga Veteran]

http://www.logicielmac.com/news5041/Snow_L...u_les_PPC_.html

[Boz]

yep.. no more PPC

[joyntkid]

Very nice!

[+StevoFC MVC]

this sounds pretty promising.

[CPressland]

Yey, no more PPC binaries clogging up my Apps folder. XSlimmer removed 1.9GB of PPC crap after I installed leopard

[DrewJW]

To be honest it is about time Apple moved forwards, most PPC computers are approaching their end of warranties with Apple so this is an expected move.

[Rudy]

how often do you people resize your windows anyway? It's not like it's that noticable

[Xero]

I know a lot of users are going to be ****ed with the lack of PPC support but from a developers point of view its really good. With Mac OS X, iPhone OS, and AppleTV all using the same language, thus making it just as easy to develop for the Mac as it is for the iPhone. Dropping PPC will allow developers to focus on the future instead of the past.

But like with all things, people will bitch. It is a little harsh for G5 owners as their machines are still pretty powerful.

[giga Veteran]

I know a lot of users are going to be ****ed with the lack of PPC support but from a developers point of view its really good. With Mac OS X, iPhone OS, and AppleTV all using the same language, thus making it just as easy to develop for the Mac as it is for the iPhone. Dropping PPC will allow developers to focus on the future instead of the past.

But like with all things, people will bitch. It is a little harsh for G5 owners as their machines are still pretty powerful.

iPhone runs on ARM.

[Garry]

Are we sure that Snow Leopard will be Intel only? Perhaps the developer preview is simply an Intel-only compiled version. I've seen screenshots where the included apps where universal binaries (and had obviously been recompiled for 10.6, as the file sizes and even version numbers were slightly different to the most currently available versions). Why would they be compiled as UBs if the OS is planned to be Intel only?

[PL_ Veteran]

I know a lot of users are going to be ****ed with the lack of PPC support but from a developers point of view its really good. With Mac OS X, iPhone OS, and AppleTV all using the same language, thus making it just as easy to develop for the Mac as it is for the iPhone. Dropping PPC will allow developers to focus on the future instead of the past.

But like with all things, people will bitch. It is a little harsh for G5 owners as their machines are still pretty powerful.

At this stage in time though it appears only the OS is going Intel-only. We might not see developers ditch Universal for a while longer because, as you said, their machines are nowhere near obsolete.

[CelticWhisper]

Obsolete MY ASS. I hope that's a misprint or they change that requirement real soon. My G5 Quad is anything but $3500 worth of "obsolete" and there are a lot of people (not to mention institutions - libraries, schools, other organizations with limited budgets for IT resources) that are still running PPC-based systems for purposes that DO NOT NECESSITATE upgrading hardware.

This G5 may well be the last Mac I ever buy if they seriously are going to remove PPC support altogether. Leopard runs on goddamn G4s, and one year later they want to remove the entire architecture?

F**k you, Jobs. You and your "forward thinking goals" can blow me. At least I know Linux will always be an option.

[NeoXY]

Yeah, latest document from the SL build state that it will be Intel only. Sorry PPC boys.

Heres a link: http://gizmodo.com/5015495/snow-leopard-wi...usive-after-all

[Blaine]

Obsolete MY ASS. I hope that's a misprint or they change that requirement real soon. My G5 Quad is anything but $3500 worth of "obsolete" and there are a lot of people (not to mention institutions - libraries, schools, other organizations with limited budgets for IT resources) that are still running PPC-based systems for purposes that DO NOT NECESSITATE upgrading hardware.

This G5 may well be the last Mac I ever buy if they seriously are going to remove PPC support altogether. Leopard runs on goddamn G4s, and one year later they want to remove the entire architecture?

F**k you, Jobs. You and your "forward thinking goals" can blow me. At least I know Linux will always be an option.

Apple moves very swift. IMO it's how they stay on the edge. We don't want them to be like Microsoft and support legacy stuff for forever.

[reactionary007]

Cara - so you work for Apple? When did you get a job there? I can remember you from way back in the early days of Neowin.

[CelticWhisper]

Apple moves very swift. IMO it's how they stay on the edge. We don't want them to be like Microsoft and support legacy stuff for forever.

Me neither, but this hardly constitutes "forever." They were still selling G5s 2 years ago. This would be like Vista dropping support for the P4.

[reactionary007]

Remember that Snow Leopard isn't even out yet... it will drop support when it comes out... which if it were a year from now - would make the PPC based models yet another year older....

or something...

[giga Veteran]

It'd be Windows 7 dropping P4 support to be more "technical". But anyhow..

Ars at WWDC: Overall, devs are positive on Snow Leopard

While technical details are hard to come by (darn those pesky NDAs), the overall impression from developers at WWDC is positive. Many developers are excited about the possibilities that Grand Central and OpenCL?two major architectural features slated for Snow Leopard intended to improve raw processing performance?can offer. Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software told Ars, "It almost makes me wish I had something to compute!" He added, "Maybe I should write something."

Macworld is reporting that developers they've talked to are similarly approving. "Apple put so many great APIs out there with Leopard that developers haven?t had a chance to fully take advantage of them yet," MacSpeech's Jeff Gaynard told Macworld. Likewise, Parliant's Kevin Ford said, "I don't feel wanting for anything in the existing OS. I'm happy to have no new features if it means better stability." Amen to that, brother!

But, some developers were a little nonplussed at Apple's decision to not include any major new user features. Given the expectations Apple has set with previous Mac OS X versions, it may be harder to convince users to upgrade. On the other hand, since Snow Leopard isn't going to get major new features, it shouldn't be too difficult for developers to target both 10.5 and 10.6 for their development efforts. Such wasn't the case when Leopard was released; many developers required Leopard for their latest versions. Many folks still using Tiger were left in the proverbial dust.

Still, with the pace of Apple's OS update cadence, all the work currently going into OS X iPhone, and Windows Vista offering no threat whatsoever, it makes sense for Apple to pull-in the reins a bit. As Bertand Serlet said, "Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more [new features]." Even with the little details we've gotten so far, Snow Leopard looks to be a pretty impressive foundation indeed.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/...on-snow-leopard

[CelticWhisper]

Remember that Snow Leopard isn't even out yet... it will drop support when it comes out... which if it were a year from now - would make the PPC based models yet another year older....

or something...

This is true, but still, I was able to install and run 10.5 on a 7-year-old G4. Obviously they can ultimately do what they want, but this still reeks of BS.

[Hurmoth]

Me neither, but this hardly constitutes "forever." They were still selling G5s 2 years ago. This would be like Vista dropping support for the P4.

I wouldn't compare it to dropping support of a P4. I would compare it to dropping support for 32-bit processors in general. P4 is a processor, not a platform :p

But I see your point though. I think we should wait and see what Apple is planning. Nothing official has been announced regarding PPC support.