Article: Snow Leopard: Less Slow, Less Laggy

After a weekend of using Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro (2008, Penryn-based), I have to say that this doesn’t feel like an operating system update in the traditional sense. My computer functions the same, almost everything is in the same place, but the biggest change for me is speed.

There have been a number of changes that many people have talked about and while I appreciate them, I like that my year-old MacBook Pro feels faster than the day I bought it. Although I haven’t done any sort of scientific testing, the Dock is more responsive (especially Stacks and Exposé), wake-up and shutdown are faster, connecting to a wireless network, and the updated bits of feedback make the computer seem more responsive.

One example is that Time Machine has a status indicator that shows the percentage when the computer is preparing a backup. Although the mechanism behind this has been refined, I applaud Apple for these small changes to my system. Someone clearly had to think of that.

I could get into the other impressive improvements, such as QuickTime X, 64-bit applications, and Exchange support, but I think these noticeable speed improvements made the $30 price for Snow Leopard worth spending. The additional features are just icing on the cake. Besides, I think many people were satisfied with Leopard to the point that Apple probably could have kept updating security and bugs for a few years and there’d be no complaints.

What is your favorite aspect of Snow Leopard?