Leapin’ Leopards!

So all you Apple faithful, today is the day, the latest OS update is a coming at 6 pm. I for one will stop by the PSU store to pick up my copy and install it on my MacBook this weekend. For those eager for the news, check out the reviews listed below.

First major reviews of Leopard hit the streets: NYT, WSJ and USAToday

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The big three geekmeisters have been released from their embargoes and the first Leopard newspaper reviews are out tonight. Uncle Walt even favored us with a cheery video rundown that appears to have been filmed in his rumpus room. A brief summary:

  • David Pogue from the New York Times: “powerful, polished and carefully conceived.” The respected Mac writer gives big points to Time Machine and Quick Look, while skeptically eyeing some lesser additions to the list of 300 (Danish localization spell checking comes in for Pogueian scorn).
  • Edward Baig at USAToday: “Apple’s operating system widens its lead aesthetically and technologically… Leopard is one cool cat.” Baig gives a pretty comprehensive rundown on new Leopard features and notes some hiccups with Back to my Mac vs. network firewalls.
  • Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and allthingsd.com: “Evolutionary, not revolutionary… I think it’s better than Vista.” The headline says it all: Faster, Easier than Vista. Walt took the time to go through scores of features and even do some startup timing tests with a Vaio (the Mac came out well ahead). He also noted a couple of neat features, such as Google Talk support in iChat and instant access to shared folders on Windows machines.

For those about to upgrade, we salute you, and we quote Mr. Mossberg on the topic of upward compatibility:

[E]very piece of software and hardware I tried on two Leopard-equipped Macs – a loaned laptop from Apple and my own upgraded iMac – worked fine, exhibiting none of the compatibility problems that continue to plague Vista. My old Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer, for which Vista lacks the proper software, worked instantly in Leopard, even over the network. And, unlike with Vista, it was able to print on both sides of the page. I popped my old Verizon cellphone modem card into the test Leopard laptop and it worked, too, with no software installation or tweaking.

Your mileage will almost certainly vary.

[via twitter/Joe Maller]<

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

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