Why go Snow Leopard? is there any advantage yet? one single reason?

[crizdee]

Hi,

Other than having a new computer that only runs on SL, is there any advantage in going SL over L.

I know of disadvantages: like certain plugins not compatible and some not going to be SL compatible, but as yet i see no need to go there.

Chris

[@ndy]

The single most important reason: your computer will reboot faster after PT craps out.

[relaxo]

Reason #1 Snow Leopard is simply superb. I have it running on ten different Macs now. PT 803 is much better as well.

10.0 was such a relief that the looooong wait is over and Steve is back. (Newton, BeOS, Performa *%$#, etc, remember pain?)
10.1 got us actually somewhat working.
10.2 got us at least civilized and decent.
10.3 now you are really getting somewhere. Very real, very usable... essentials all there and kicking.
10.4 bam...that's it!!! Superb system.
10.5 bling flash and fluff and bugs although Time Machine is very useful.
10.6 took the neglected Ferarri Dino into the F1 pit to be repaired, rebuilt and tweaked. Absolute success, everything runs better and works better and it's like giving all of my macs a big processor upgrade for cheap.

By far I'm the most stoked about optimized multi processor support. So often an application is working as hard as it can, but Activity monitor is only showing 80% out of 800%...it's only using one processor out of 8 when number crunching!!! Apple claims, "Grand Central Dispatch makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems." If developers program for Grand Central right, our current 8 core Mac Pros we already own will be many times as powerful, just getting faster and faster for free! I don't ever recall that happening before.

Regarding yes or no...definitely yes! EVERYTHING...I mean EVERYTHING is so much better, smoother faster, more clever, and less buggy.

If you do upgrade, be serious about reliability and do a clean install...as always.

[@ndy]

Originally Posted by relaxo

If developers program for Grand Central right, our current 8 core Mac Pros we already own will be many times as powerful!

Digi has already claimed that their multithreaded code is above and beyond Grand Central. I remember when Digi claimed that they were not going support multithreading at all because the Apple dual processors out at the time were nothing but a fad. Maybe they will change their minds. They tend to do so.

[Barry Johns]

I have not noticed any difference on any of my machines. I've upgraded 4 to SL, my DAW has not been touched.

[nod25]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

I have not noticed any difference on any of my machines. I've upgraded 4 to SL, my DAW has not been touched.

You're on 8.0.3 Barry?

I was on the cusp of installing SL but think I might wait until it's 'mandatory' for a new release (for 8.5 or 9), whenever that may happen.

I was nervous enough updating to 8.0.3 from 8.0.1.

DTS said themselves that SL is not a 'must have' upgrade...

[relaxo]

Nod25 you should reconsider. I don't know who Barry is, or where he could possibly be coming from with that extraordinary statement, but in my 15 years installing Mac DAWs, there has never been any jump as performance and reliability improving as Snow Leopard 10.6. It's like getting a total engine rebuild. 10.5 Leopard was a paint job and custom interior.

What defines a must have? You must have Stacks? You must have Spotlight? You must have the Dock? Or you must have a major upgrade whose SOLE purpose was to totally rebuild an OS for performance and reliability, installing proper multiprocessor support and 64 bit capabilities, and much smother and reliable networking and OpenCL and trimming out PPC code. An upgrade that reeks...absolutely reeks of stability. That's exactly what I want for my PT workstation, thank you. What do you want?

Should you buy Mac OS X Snow Leopard? If you're already running Leopard, then the answer is a resounding "yes." If you're still running Tiger, well, then it's probably time for a new Mac anyway. When you buy one, it'll come with Snow Leopard.

And a endless other reviews besides mine...but if you want more of the the bloat, flash and fluff and bugs of 10.5 Leopard...then 10.6 Snow Leopard simply sucks.

[sunburst79]

Frankly I didn't notice a difference here other than it was a LOT less bloated since they had dropped the PPC code out of the install.

Dropping all the legancy code should make it easier to move forward.

[relaxo]

It's a bit of an Apple lie, it's a lot less bloated because it doesn't automatically install ever printer driver West of the Mississippi anymore. But it burns way cleaner. That's what it feels like to me.

[Howardk]

This post poses a good question. My related questions are: Has anyone loaded a session up to the brink with VIs and RTAS plugsin using Leopard and then opened the same session in Snow Leopard? How different did it perform, ie Did it stutter with RTAS msgs? What did the PT performance meters say? I suggest that this is the only big difference that would make it worthwhile to change right now, because PT8 on 10.5 is stable for me, and RTAS multi-threading is the only area lacking performance that I am experiencing. Am I missing something else important, or this really the issue?