So the awesome Snow Leopard
- Automator workflows within the Finder are now run as Services.
- Spotlight search Finder windows now remember the state you left them in, so thumbnail size of icon etc
- Preview.app now displays the width and height in pixels when making a crop selection in an image
- Preview.app cropping an image now auto-zooms it to the window size after adjustment:
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- Preview.app annotations have more flexibility and options:
- When dragging a file/folder to a Finder window that is slightly off-screen, it will animate back onto the screen.
- 4 finger trackpad gestures are now available to some macbook/pro/air models:
- Airport status bar menu now displays signal strength in the menu:
- Upgrading Leopard to Snow Leopard will overwrite any wallpaper you had in place with the default “Space” one.
- When taking screenshots with CMD+SHIFT 3 or 4 the filename is saved as “Screen shot YYYY-MM-DD at HH.MM.SS”
- The Finder icon resize slider is available in ALL Finder windows, including Spotlight and Trash:
- When revealing the desktop via a hot corner for example, any tooltips currently active also animate away to the edges of the screen in the same way application windows do – but separately.
- Software Update now checks for updates with a minimal window, rather than the full on application:
- Spaces – when moving between spaces, the screen animation has slightly changed, and no longer displays a white arrow as to which direction you came from to get to that space:
- Spaces and Exposé are both now available in the Applications -> Utilities folder:
- Exposé and Spaces can now be called directly from Spotlight.
- Quicktime 7 is still available in the Utilities folder in addition to Quicktime X which is available in Applications:
- Exposé shortcut – Click and hold over an app icon to expose just that apps windows, plus options:
- Dock: Click, hold and drag quickly to move app icons in the dock, otherwise the aforementioned Exposé shortcut will occur.
- Single user login window has been simplified. Incorrect username/password feedback has also slightly altered.
- Airport System Preferences have been updated to give more flexibility and control to administrators:
- Software firewall settings have been simplified. The system also asks for permission to allow an application if it tries to accept incoming connections, rather than you setting it yourself beforehand:
- 64-bit isn’t enabled by default at the kernel level. Holding down 6 and 4 on startup will enable the 64-bit kernel if your processor supports it.
Feel free to leave your tips in the comments – I’ll append them to this list.
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Tags: Apple, OS X, Snow Leopard
Thanks for this, I just purchased snow Leopard the other day (it’s released today in UK), and it’s good to know some of the changes! You don’t lose any files or system preferences when installing, do you?
One note, you mention how quicktime 7 is in utilities… it’s only there automatically if you have quicktime 7 PRO on your existing machine. If you don’t then it deletes it all together, but you can re-install it off the installer disk after you install the OS.
I didnt have Quicktime Pro in Leopard and it is still in there…
> Dashboard: Click, hold and drag quickly to move app icons in the dashboard, otherwise the aforementioned Exposé shortcut will occur.
You mean the dock, I assume.
Snow Leopard left me with the same wallpaper I had in Leopard after install.
# When dragging a file/folder to a Finder window that is slightly off-screen, it will animate back onto the screen.
For the sake of exactness, I’d like to point out that this isn’t new. Cool feature though, for sure.
You have to hold down 6 and 4 to have it boot in 64bit mode? Isn’t that kind of the big difference between 10.5 and 10.6?? Shouldn’t it just boot into 64 and those who have 32 bit CPUs have to hit 3 and 2? Seems like a better idea to me, but oh well.
Yeah, not sure why Apple haven’t enabled the 64-bit kernel by default on Macs that can handle it? Odd one that! I am assuming its because of lack of drivers out at the moment – Hopefully they will enable it by default as a point release.
Are there any real advantages to the 64bit kernel? My iMac only has 2GB of ram so I don’t know if it’ll really make a difference.
I havent actually tried it yet – maybe I should – I’ve got a 4,1 MacBook Pro – might be good!
Upgrading Leopard, at least on my machine, did not replace my wallpaper, just so you know. Everything stayed as it was…
Hmmm how odd. Mine was definitely wazzed – that is a technical term
Regarding holding down 6 and 4 during bootup, that boots up the 64 bit kernel, but there aren’t a lot of performance benefits for most people between the 32 and 64 bit kernel at this time. Even when you boot into the default 32 bit kernel however, you can still run 64 bit apps etc. and they can access the full 64 bit memory space, and have the other benefits of being 64 bit. Thats why the default boot up is fine for the majority, it gives you almost the same performance, but reduces driver / kernel extension issues.
Greetings to all. From a very reliable source, the 6 4 key combo is NOT needed at all. Just install your upgrade and it will sort out which one you need. When you run an app that’s not 64bit it will install Rosetta to make sure that things work for you. I did this with PhotoshopCS today. Booted it, it came up said it was 32bit and needed Rosetta. Once I did the app launched and all is humming along nicely.
The media people have been putting out the 6 4 key combo as a way of saying that Leopard ships with the 32 kernel enabled as default. They’re lying. I installed this on a 2009 mac mini bought in june and it installed the 64bit kernel by default out of the box.
There are a number of apps out there that will not reap the benefits of the 64bit tune up if you will, but those that do are very noticeable and enjoyable to see them run, run, run.
Michael Murdock, CEO
DocMurdock.com
ceo@docmurdock.com
@docmurdock on twitter
http://www.facebook.com/docmurdock
I believe that Spaces and Exposé have been revealed to the user as applications in the Utilities folder since Leopard.
Actually, you’re kind of right after checking in 10.5 – They are in the Applications folder in 10.5, Utilities in 10.6
The desktop background stayed the same for me too.
Great post, I didn’t know about a few of these.
I did a fresh install, working very well. I also re-installed my apps – arduous task but worth it, the machine is flying and I only have the apps I REALLY use installed now, rather than a bunch of one-off apps.
When I run some preference pane apps they state that preference pane has to restart to open them – that’s the 32bit part kicking in. That suggests my machine is running in 64bit mode without any key pressing at boot time. Perhaps that’s a fresh install that’s done it?
Thanks for this article!
Darren
Here’s some information on the 64bit – and I’m NOT running 64bit, my system profiler says I’m not using the 64bit kernel.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=4716
Darren
Can anyone report on how the upgrade affects Time Machine history?
Does it recognise your previous backups, and do a (large) incremental backup?
I’d assume that Apple would have accounted for that, but it would be good to hear from real users.
Thanks!
@ Stu.
I had an 8.4gb time machine back up after I upgraded to SL. All my existing backups (all 3 days of them on Time Capsule) are still there.
My background stayed the same too. I’ve been using the random pictures in a folder setting, though. Maybe just the generic Apple ones switched?
I’m impressed with how Time Machine stayed completely on task. It didn’t lose my old stuff, kept my schedule and has been working fine since the install. Pretty impressive for a architectural OS change.
Nice post!
The reason that Apple made OS 10.6 boot the kernel in 32 bit mode is due to non-32 bit Intel Core Duo chips in the early Intel Macs sold. Plus incompatibilities of 32 bit extensions and plug-ins.
Note that the kernel booting in 32 bit does not mean that 64 bit applications will not run in 64 bit mode.
Also 64 bit architecture is not only for the benefit of larger memory space, it also provides a larger address space for resources and more efficient memory handling.
So, I have a 2.2 GHz Macbook Pro 15″. My trackpad does multitouch but I was hoping it would now do the 3 and 4 finger multitouch. The trackpad control panel doesn’t show the options, any ideas?
1) The default wallpaper is called “Aurora”
2) Some of the things here were the same in Leopard
- For example, Leopard’s firewall also asked for permission if you did not explicitly set permission before hand
3) Others were quite obvious, or listed on Apple’s website
- For example, the new Expose is demonstrated on Apple’s website
Learned a few things though, I guess. Thanks.
FYI
When I installed Snow Leopard my MySql stopped working.
Turned out it removed the a symbolic link to the mysql-directory.
This was no big problem, as I just created a new link.
This might also occur for other, more “important” applications.
Alternatively – if the MySQL is just for development, you can always use the excellent MAMP application which has a stand alone MySQL install as part of the app. I upgraded with MAMP in place from 10.5 to 10.6 and had no issues with it.
i think you will find half of these where in leopard
Actually, I can’t get Finder to remember my view settings for Spotlight searches. I normally use the Column View in Finder and I prefer the List view for Spotlight results over Icon view.
However, every time I do a Spotlight search, the results show up in Icon View as opposed to List View which I had assuredly switched to the last time I used it. Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this behavior?
Hmmm – seems to me Apple could have included some *useful* interface tweaks, such as being able to resize the window from any point along the edge, proper maximize / restore behaviour, integration of quickeys and so on, instead of the ugly and (as far as I can tell) completely function-less ‘translucent menu bar’.
amazing post