Snow Leopard
Like a fool, I installed Snow Leopard today…the very day it was released. I should have waited a few weeks (at least).
For example, I see this message for various System Preferences panes…
…and then the window flashes and re-launches. As a few people informed me on Twitter, this is caused by 32-bit programs running within the new 64-bit System Preferences application. That makes sense after hearing the explanation, however people without a Twitter support group might just assume it’s a bug. UPDATE: Silly me! The dialog has a little question button that explains what’s happening. Doh!
Compatibility
The Snow Leopard Compatibility Matrix lists a surprising number of apps that Just Don’t Work right now. For me, this means:
- The BOINC screen saver doesn’t launch at all. So for now, I won’t be contributing CPU cycles to search for aliens.
- The software for my Logitech MX Revolution mouse doesn’t really work fully. I downloaded the latest version from Logitech, but it refuses to install. My mouse still functions, and I worked around the main problem: the thumb wheel no longer invoked Spaces. I was able to configure the wheel to trigger an F8 keystroke, so now it works with Spaces again.
- Inkscape won’t even launch. I was getting pretty fed up with Inkscape anyway, it has always been riddled with bugs on Leopard. Starting next week, all Twittch.com comics will be created in Adobe Illustrator.
- After installing Snow Leopard, I have about 3GB more disk space.
- I don’t notice any performance difference.
- Whenever I click an icon in the dock to launch an app, the initial “bounce” animations are very choppy and slow. They were smooth under Leopard.
- SuperDuper! has a brand new release that works with Snow Leopard, so that is very good.
- Update 2: The dock crashed earlier today. I was moving an icon, and the whole dock vanished. It did recover after a few seconds of beach ball activity.
That’s about it. I think for the most part, vendors are rushing to release Snow Leopard compatible products. I bet within a very short timeframe, just about every good application will work without a hitch.
A few months ago, I had resolved to *not* get Snow Leopard until Apple released a patch or two. But like most fanbois, I couldn’t resist.
Re the Logitech software… I gave up on that when I found they were using APE to inject commands; never went back to it after that even when they removed it. I got hooked on http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/ ControllerMate for controlling mice and other gadgets on my desk, but that is really pandering to my controller configuration OCD. Which reminds me, I must check on it’s Snow Leopard compatibility…..
I doubly recommend ControllerMate, I’ve used it with my MX Revolution for a couple years now with zero complaints. The logitech software just never worked great for me under Tiger, so I had switched back then.
On machine #1 the install blew up, necessitating I wipe the drive, restore from TM to leopard, then try again. Worked great second time.
On machine #2 (current mbp) worked first time, no big deal.
I’ve noticed an all-around improved responsiveness in general use on both machines. lower cpu when streaming video, a few things like that. Battery life in hibernate (just closing the lid) on the laptop seems better – used to drain a bit anyway.
Debating whether to go from photoshop cs3 to cs4.
Dock animations very smooth on both machines. Drives seem to stay off longer on the laptop, perhaps a bit better caching?
I’ve noticed dock crashes when I sometimes use Exposé form the trackpad. And Force Quitting an app in Snow Leopard causes iTunes playback to jitter unpleasantly, even with crashreporterd disabled. Neither of these things used to happen on Leopard, and I was hoping they were issues only in the developer builds of SL. Oh well, 10.6.1 will fix most things I’m sure.
I’ve installed on a 2.93GHz MBP 2009 with 8G RAM and SSD, and on an iMac 2.26(?)GHz Core Duo with 4GB RAM.
- On both machines, Spaces is noticeably slower when switching between desktops.
- The little trailing arrow is missing from the desktop switching grid (no biggie but I always liked it)
- Expose is choppy
- Cisco VPN stopped working (Error 51: Cannot communicate wiht the VPN subsystem). Reinstalling the VPN Client fixed it.
The WindowServer is taking up much more CPU than previously. Do this:
1. Open Activity Monitor
2. Sort on Process Name, such that WindowServer stays visible
3. Activate Expose a few times and watch WindowServer spike to a high CPU utilization (70-99%)
I’m pretty sure WindowServer didn’t spike that high in Leopard (I’ve another 17″ MBP, late 2008 that I’ve not upgraded which I’ll compare with tonight).
All in all, Snow Leopard provides pretty close to zero value and has resulted in a more choppy user experience. At least for me.
Update on the choppiness…
I removed several startup items and performance is now much better. I’m not sure which of these was the culprit (didn’t have the time or inclination to remove them one at a time). These included:
iCal (I’m guessing this is not the culprit
MyMacTime
MenuMinder
Nobody has updated the compatibility status of MyMactime and MenuMinder at the URL you provided. I may register and update these, if I can verify that one or the other is the culprit.
Moving around in Spaces still seems slower than under Leopard, but at least things are back to a reasonable normality.
qo
My internet keeps dropping me. Husband on PC having no problems, but I can be working, hit something that will try to connect, and I’m dead in the water. Have to stop and start Airport to get back up.
upgraded 4 macs (iMac 24″; MBP 17 and MBP 15 and iBook)
now MBP17 (4GBRAM) having serious issues with DOCK; Expose and Spaces…. DOCK hangs when I try to open MAIL… then disappears until I reboot. Expose and Spaces do not work -have had to swtich them off as they lose all their settings.
Reinstalled from scratch and everything was well for 3 days… now back to same problems.
Major issue is that all 4 machines are identical except for CPU, RAM and Hard-disk size. Running same apps except for APERTURE on MBP 17 (the culprit machine)!!!
SO can anyone advise?
James