10 Small But Significant Leopard Features
The latest and greatest Mac operating system OSX Leopard 10.5 is just six days away from arriving in our hands. I took a good look at the full list of 300 new features and hand picked ten small but significant ones to showcase.
Multicore Enhanced OS
As I’m sporting a Mac Pro, I like to make the most of my four processor cores with software optimized for this platform.
Leopard provides optimum performance from Core Image, Core Animation, and OpenGL, all tuned to take advantage of your Mac’s multicore processor. All application on the system including ‘lightweight’ apps such as Mail and Address Book are all now multi core ready.
iChat Video/Audio Conversation Recording
Perfect for keeping track of important meetings or for creating video podcasts with others from around the globe, you can now save your audio and video chats with iChat recording.
iChat asks your buddies for recording permission before the chat starts, then stores completed audio chats as AAC files and video chats as MPEF-4 files — so you can share with others or sync to your iPod.
I’m often chatting on iChat and can’t keep track of notes on paper quick enough to keep up with the conversation, this will help me dictate notes after the fact - perfect for audio interviews.
Safari/Mail RSS Integration
RSS has become far more popular over the past year but a large majority of Mac users are still not too sure what it’s all about. With Leopard, Apple has made it even easier to manage and add RSS feeds to Safari/Mail.
You’re able to add news feeds to Mail directly from Safari. When you read an article in Safari, it will show up as read in Mail, and vice versa. This universal way of accessing your RSS feeds will make it much less of a chore to keep up with the latest news.
Of course, some will still stick with dedicated RSS readers like NewsFire, though having everything in sync between Safari and Mail, and multiple machines is appealing.
New AirPort Menu
Leopard gives you a clearer picture of your surrounding Secure networks in the AirPort menu, Secure wireless networks are now identified by a lock icon.
Talk about handy for those sporting laptops. How often have you been in a hotel and wanted to connect to an pen network without having to click on each one in the list to find an open one.
Image Manipulation Tools In Preview
Preview is no longer just an image viewing application without much of a purpose. You can now crop, rotate, resize, and save images in a range of image formats. Selection tools make it a snap to cut and paste images from Preview directly into other applications.
I’m looking forward to the revamped Preview as it looks like it will quicken up my photo output workflow for things such as Desktop Friday. No more wasted time opening Photoshop just to scale an image and save for web.
Enhanced Find In Safari
I wrote about this feature a couple of months ago. No more is searching on long pages clunky and time consuming, I can simply hit Apple + F and start typing, with results highlighted in orange instantaneously.
Safari now allows you to instantly and graphically locate any text on the current web page. It highlights every instance of the word you’re searching for and even dims the rest of the page so you can focus on the results of your find.
Calculations in Spotlight
I’m often opening Dashboard to make a quick calculation with the Calculator widget. Spotlight now allows you to calculate simple equations at the click of your mouse, or the touch of a key.
Simply hit your Spotlight shortcut, and start typing. Spotlight will instantly show you the result. Enjoy support for over 40 functions ranging from simple math to logarithms to trigonometry.
System Wide Grammar Check
Tigers system wide spelling check has been a real asset to the operating system since it was first introduced. Apple is introducing a similar feature in Leopard, a system wide grammar tool.
Let your grammar set a shining example. A built-in English language grammar checker helps ensure that you don’t make errors in grammar - I expect a few bloggers to be silently excited over this feature.
Eject All Partitions/Devices In Finder
I’m often stuck with a CD inserted in my Mac Pro, a handful of DMG files on my desktop, and multiple iPods hooked up to my machine. Ejecting and dismounting all of these devices doesn’t take long, but it’s annoying when you’re doing it multiple times a day.
Leopards new eject all partitions/devices feature provides greater flexibility when ejecting a partitioned USB or FireWire volume. You can eject just one of the volumes or all the volumes at once with a single click. No more dragging and dropping to the trash, just one painless click.
Hot Corner for Sleep Display
As Paul Stamatiou wrote a few days ago, this is one of the smaller new additions within System Preferences, yet it will make a large difference to those too lazy to switch their monitors off each time they leave their Mac.
I’ll be taking advantage of this feature and setting up a convenient hot corner to put my display to sleep each time I leave my desk.
Do any of these feature excite you as much as they excite me? Have you placed your pre-order for Leopard or do you plan to pick it up from an Apple Store on launch night?
#1
James Bayliss → jamesbayliss.com
Great summary of some best features, Nice glenn :)
#2
Jason → www.iamjdub.com
Good list! I definitely am excited to get Leopard, was able to pick it up cheap with the corporate discount. I think the calculations in the spotlight is going to be a handy feature :)
#3
Richard Saunders → www.rdsaunders.co.uk
Hi Glenn
Good summary but I am looking forward to Time Machine and an improved mail, screen sharing in iChat looks awesome too.
I did pre order but then realised I’m in London for Mac Expo on launch day so I guess I’ll be in the queue at the Regent Street store to pick up my copy on the day. Maybe it’ll keep me going on my Powerbook until I spend my money on a new re vamped Mac Pro.
#4
QueryHello, Glen.
Great list, but Preview has had all of those features (except for, I think, resize) for a while, now.
I pre-ordered Leopard from Amazon, and am excited to try it out. Of course, it’s going to arrive sometime early in November, but that’s the price I pay for being cheap, I suppose.
#5
ob81 → www.ob81.com
That hot corner stuff is old I think. I have that on my Macbook, barely use it. I must look into the Safari/Mail RSS integration though. We shall see!
#6
Loren → r3fresh.com
It will be nice when the operating system is working the computer to the best of it’s abilities. I remember when I tried CS3 and how fast it was compared to CS2. This OS will be optimized perfectly for my mac laptop.
Features? Well, I’m not excited for any one feature, but I’m glad to see a refresh of some of my favorite apple applications.
#7
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
Great article. All of these (minus the Preview features since most were there already) are things I’m looking forward to. The enhanced search in Safari in simply fantastic and saves a ton of time.
Although one thing I’m not sure about is RSS in Mail. Mail is one of my favourite apps and is definitely one of my most used as well. I’d consider using it for RSS as well as email if they integrated the 2 nicely, but if not then I’ll stick with NNW.
Regarding the ‘eject all partitions/devices’ feature: How do you accomplish it with just one click?
#8
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Not exactly sure yet, I’m thinking it’ll be something in the Finder’s menu. Apple didn’t exactly state how this would work.
#9
Chris Thomson → christhomsonblog.com
I found the Address Book & Yahoo Sync feature kinda, well, odd. Even though its a small point, that was part of .Mac sync. I found it kinda odd that they included that.
Oh, and also Wikipedia in Dictionary; Goodbye Pathway! I’m also excited about the system wide grammer check, that’ll help me out quite a bit! :D
#10
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
Then it’s not truly one click is it? ;)
#11
Ronald Poi → www.imperu.net
One of the features i like the most is the incredibly-easy Screen Sharing on iChat or Macs on the network. That’s definitely a greaaat feature.
#12
Ethan Fortes → ethanfortes.com
I too find all these features very helpful. Excellent round-up.
#13
Peety → peety-passion.com
I am glad they finally updated preview with editing features, however, does preview finally support .gif animation files? I have to use another apps to view the animation..
Thanks for this list.
#14
Dustin MacDonald → www.dustinmacdonald.com
News is not mail.
#15
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
I agree. They’ve turned Mail into an application which could almost be called “Inbox.” It’s no longer just Mail, it’s everything on hold or coming into your digital life. Thoughts, email, to-to’s, and news.
#16
rmaspero → www.rmaspero.com
I love Leopard and doing some equations in spotlight sound cool i think my favorite new feature is being able to scroll inactive windows
#17
10 Small But Significant Leopard Features « v1ruz blog → v1ruz.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/10-small-but-significant-leopard-features
[...] read more | digg story Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized [...]
#18
Pranker → www.prankvideoz.com
it’s surely a leap ahead when it comes to simplicity.
#19
RichHey glenn does the new eject feature mean that you can eject a single partition from a multi partitioned disk with ejecting all the partitions?
#20
JustinLeopard is going to be hot.
But Glenn, do you think they will come out with new Macbooks/ portable computer?
#21
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
Eventually they will.. Theres speculation that they will release a new model on the Leopard release date but nobody knows for sure except SJ.
#22
Andreas → xgrape.net
Since I am also sporting a Mac Pro, I have high hopes for al the optimizations. I also think I might make Safari my default browser again (been using Firefox since early this year). I placed my order the day it was put up :) So excited!
#23
Henning → www.firstofall.net
Very nice post, Glenn. I didn’t even know about some of these features, and now I’m even more excited. Hopefully, I will pick up a MacBook Pro sometime around October 26th, so I can’t wait.
#24
Cristian Lorsson → crkr.org
I’m on a poor 17″ iMac Core Duo, but expecting the multicore optimizations. Also, I saw the Leopard Guided Tour, and most of my expectations were met.
#25
herval → hervalicio.us/blog
almost ALL of these features are available at either Windows or Ubuntu. Don’t understand the “wow” here…
#26
dbThe difference with Preview is that you can now add red circles or rectangles around view. So if you want to highlight something you can do it all right in preview now. The toolbar buttons to do that are not in the default toolbar, you have to customize the toolbar.
#27
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
WIndows has calculation in its search? Linux has a new airport menu? News to me.
#28
herval → hervalicio.us/blog
linux has calculation in its search and both linux and windows (and even my f*cking palm!) show a lock icon when they find a password-protected wifi network. Good enough for u?
#29
Amu → selewat.info
i like textedit in leopard can read/write .doc files
#30
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
I agree that its about time Apple implemented the protected wifi network showing, but the point of the article was that these were small but important features that Apple put into 10.5, not ‘wow look at these new features!’.
#31
Katie → soundslikekatie.com
I was really eager to see any future posts you might have that cover Leopard related things. I’m curious as to how you will be ordering your copy of Leopard as well as how you plan to install it. Fresh install, archive & install, upgrade… ?
#32
Chris Vick → vickslife.com
Well, you can click and hold on the menu, and release when you get to that option. ;)
#33
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Fresh install. Just trying to work out what I’ll do with the 750GB of active data before the clean install. I think I’ll be moving everything to my 250GB and 500GB drives and wiping my current 250GB boot disk for install.
#34
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Smart thinking ;-) It could be just one click then ;-)
#35
TimmyDoes anyone know if Adium will be making any updates to its software in conjunction with Leopard’s release? I’ve been using Adium for a couple years now and might find it difficult to part with, although the updates to iChat make it very enticing.
#36
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
Although I never use that option, you have me there haha.
#37
Blair BeckwithI’m msot excited about the calculations within Spotlight, to be honest. Opening Sashboard ia a pain when all you need to do is “11 * 5632″.
#38
Brendan → www.advertisehereforever.com
I just ordered my 2.8Ghz 24″ iMac, upgrading from an intel Core 2 Duo 17″ :))
LEOPARD HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!
#39
dbThere is no problem running the latest version of Adium with Leopard.
#40
Blair BeckwithCould the old iMac not hangle leopard? Anyways, that’s a very nice computer; I hope you’re happy with it.
#41
Edalytical → edalytical.com
You’re exactly right. It is the small things, the little refinements, that cause me to keep upgrading OS X with each release. The systemwide spellchecker, the systemwide dictionary, etc…
#42
Blair BeckwithI’d even upgrade if all they did was change the look. I always need the latest stuff, lol. or at least, when I can afford it…
#43
Michael Mistretta → michaelmistretta.com
I am really excited about Leopard particularly the little features. However, I have some thoughts on Mail. Mail.app like Safari is not meant to be an RSS reader for a geek that has hundreds of RSS feeds. I think it’s more for a businessman who wants one or two feeds like CNN or something show up right in his inbox. I know I won’t be using that features, but it really brings RSS to the mainstream.
I’m also wondering how much of a boost in speed I’ll see on this 64-bit MBP with 2 cores. Will it be noticeably faster?
#44
Blair BeckwithAlthough the geek may not be their target demographic, it is still important for them to add funtctionality for those people.
#45
Michael Mistretta → michaelmistretta.com
I think many features are for the geek. Especially the smaller ones. I just think that by bringing RSS to the masses, it’s going to get a lot more people using RSS, instead of having to get a totally separate apps.
#46
So The Big Cat Is Coming at shibbyonline → www.shibbyonline.co.uk/2007/10/22/so-the-big-cat-is-coming
[...] upgraded to the latest version but recently I’ve lost the way with Apple. Despite other bloggers detailing a few reasons why they would upgrade, if I was asked a month ago if I would the answer would be [...]
#47
Blair BeckwithI see what you mean… In general, a lot of geeks out there would not be satisfied with the RSS features included in an email program.
#48
Bryan → bryan.squall.us
I am going to be at the Leopard release event at my local Apple store. I cannot wait. I am also looking for Spaces(I believe), the virtual desktops, which is very handy and something I use every day on my Ubuntu box.
#49
Blair BeckwithAhh, another Ubuntu user. I hope Apple’s virutal desktops can compete with Compiz’…
#50
Bryan → bryan.squall.us
Who said anything about Compiz? =P I am talking from a completely functional and productivity standpoint here. I truly love my Macbook, but OS X could definitely use the extra desktops/workspaces. Just like my Linux boxes has had for a very long time, it just _happens_ to be that I use Ubuntu as I think they have done the best job packaging a Linux desktop… Of course there is no end all cure all of an OS.
#51
miniature violins – smack|foo → www.smackfoo.com/2007/10/miniature-violins
[...] focus would have a better result in previewing what the upcoming release will provide, or not provide, rather than trite assumptive reasoning. with very good market and product sense, [...]
#52
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
After using Leopard for a few days now I have to say most of these small features are making the biggest difference for me.
The iCal event finder is simply fantastic and works much better than I had anticipated, and its integration with iCal is flawless (so far).
#53
Blair BeckwithI’ve only just finished the install of Leopard, and within minutes of regular work, I have to admit the calculator within Dashboard is helping more then I thought it would!
#54
Dustin → www.dustincook.ca
That has been there since 10.4.0….
#55
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Been there since day one of Tiger ;-)
#56
Jehad → jchandab.wordpress.com
I must say the hot corner to sleep the display is most useful to me, because no timer really applies. Sometimes i’ll be reading for 10 minutes without touching the mouse or keyboard and the screen will sleep, so definately a manual easy setting is preferred.
#57
Dena Alvaradoh07ue2jb7im9bmza