|
Mac OS X Leopard (1-User) (Mac OS X) | 
 enlarge | From: Apple
Category: Software
List Price: £89.99
Buy New: £74.98
You Save: £15.01 (17%)
New (6) from £74.98
Rating:  39 reviews
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Mac Os X, Macintosh
Color: Berry Blue
Media: DVD-ROM
Operating System: Mac OS X
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 19.7 x 19.7 x 19.7
MPN: MB427Z/A
Model: MB427Z/A
UPC: 885909167876
EAN: 0885909216468
ASIN: B000FK88JK
Release Date: October 27, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 9 to 13 days
| |
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Brand New - Full UK Retail Boxed - Exactly the same as amazons - Price includes VAT and invoice supplied.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Hello Pretty! October 27, 2007
P. Francis (London United Kingdom)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
It's early days I know but I thought maybe just a short first impressions review of Leopard might help people decide as to whether or not it's worth their while in updating to the new Apple operating system.
To go through all of the extra features included in Leopard would, to be honest, take a lot longer than this short review. If you want to see all the extra features together with a short description of each one then pop over to the Apple site.
Someone recently described Leopard as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I think that, in my opinion at least, is pretty spot on. For me there is no killer application, no "I must have that" additional feature. Rather it's a combination of smaller additions, updates and features that, when combined together, have produced Leopard. This is all very personal to me and I realise that for some people Leopard is bringing to them something completely new and something that they have been wanting for a while. As I said, this is just my own personal opinion.
Apple have, as usual, employed the services of a Japanese origami master when it comes to the packaging. For me, part of the fun when it comes to buying an Apple product is the packaging. There's none of the usual bubble wrap and cardboard egg carton packaging here I can tell you. Just a simple and neat gatefold sleeve with your installation disk on one side and installation manual on the other.
Talking of installation, the next topic to cover is...how easy is the installation? In my case I'll answer that in one word...very. I simply unplugged all my peripheral devices such as hard drives, printer etc, inserted the Leopard disk, pressed a couple of confirmation buttons, such as where on my Mac would I like to install Leopard and that was pretty much it. The actual installation time took 120 minutes from start to finish. I should point out that I did let the installation disk check my CD / DVD drive first, an option that can be skipped should you want to. I was also given the option of customising what features I wanted to install ( I choose all of them) which would cut down on the time spent waiting for the install to complete. But let's be honest, hopefully you'll only ever have to do it once and you can always disappear and make a cup of tea once the process has started.
So with Leopard staring at me from my screen what do I think? Well irrespective of what you might think of Apple they do get full marks for producing eye candy and with this being their hammer they have made a big effort at hitting all the nails. The first thing you can't help but notice is the amount of eye candy. The dock icons appear to be sitting on a semi translucent glass shelf with just a hint of reflection beneath them. The menu bar is also slightly translucent with the desktop theme appearing beneath it. One thing that did need attention in the previous OSX was a windows makeover and at last Apple have got round to making all of the application windows look and behave the same. Anyone familiar with the design of iTunes will feel instantly at home. Both the Finder and Mail application have an iTunes based layout to them.
Of course none of this is going to make you more productive or suddenly inspire you to write that novel that you always knew was inside you somewhere but at least you've got something nice to look at whilst you stare at your screen.
Something which I did have concerns over before the arrival of Leopard was it's compatibility with third party applications. I've had a quick count and by my reckoning I've got over twenty five applications not released by Apple and so far only one (MailTags) has not worked with Leopard. A quick look at the MailTags site showed that, as yet, they haven't produced a Leopard compatible version but no doubt it's in the pipeline. Of course the real test will come over time as I use more applications and ask more of Leopard but initial impressions are very good with regards to the use of third party applications.
Something else that I know other people had concerns over was whether or not the installation disk would be DRM protected i.e would you need to register your copy of Leopard with Apple. Well thankfully the answer is no which means that I can install Leopard on my laptop as well without the need to buy another copy. Don't tell the Windows users, it'll only upset them!
So the installation process was very easy, the operating system looks very nice and, on my Macs at least, appears to be very stable and it works with third party applications. Question is, is it worth buying? For what I would call the average Mac user ( and I don't mean to sound disrespectful when I say that) my best advice would be to take a look at the Apple website, see the features that Leopard has to offer and watch the videos. After that ask yourself if Leopard is offering you an application or feature that you have always wanted. If the answer is yes then sure, go out and buy it. Once you start to delve into it you're sure to find plenty more extra's that you like.
If on the other hand you're someone that I would call a pro-user then, essentially, you're not missing out on much more than eye candy and some "nice touches" and chances are you already have third party applications that deal with most of the major new features that Leopard has to offer.
Do I think it's worth getting now rather than later? Let's just say that I'm glad I pre-ordered it rather than standing in the rain outside the Apple Store Regents Street waiting for the doors to open.
Mac OS X Leopard - Prices UK vs USA October 21, 2007
Mr. Ian Mathieson (Cumbria, U.K.)
23 out of 34 found this review helpful
From Ian Mathieson, U.K.
The USA AppleStore sells Leopard for 129 USD. If you click the 'Add to Cart' button and then check your cart, you will be asked to enter your USA Zip Code from which Tax is then calculated and added. In the USA, Tax consists of a national Sales Tax (it was about 6% last time I visited the USA) together with a Local Tax which varies across the country, hence the need to enter your Zip Code. 2.5% was typical last time I was in the USA. So, to the 129 USD cost must be added around 11 USD to give 140 USD or 68.30 at 2.05 USD/ .
The Amazon UK price is 79.98 including 17.5% VAT, so the pre-VAT price is 68.07. Comparing the pre-tax prices in the USA and the UK, 129 USD is 62.93 at 2.05 USD/ . Therefore the pre-tax UK price is 5.14 more than the USA pre-tax price.
This is the ONLY way to compare product costs; it is not reasonable to compare them after tax because tax is a matter for the rulers of the country concerned and Apple, or anyone else, cannot be expected to reduce their profits by absorbing international tax differences. Ignoring any other cost factors that Apple may have to bear, such as Import Duty, etc. etc., I don't see how paying an extra 5 or so (or an extra 8%) can be classed as being ripped off. Any difference greater than this is entirely due to international Tax differences, so if we object to that difference, our beef is with our government over the UK rate of VAT, not with Apple for 'ripping us off'.
Great Product - Great Price October 18, 2007
D. W. Sherwood (uk)
18 out of 25 found this review helpful
Commenting on previous reviews regarding the price of leopard compared to our American friends price - you're not factoring in VAT which is added on purchase (unlike america), you're forgetting exchange rates and other economic variables such as the fact that our minimum wages are greater than Americans'.
All in all, comparative to a major upgrade such as XP to VISTA which by the way has far fewer features, this is extraordinarily great value for money.
Now to the review portion:
I am in the unique position of having a view point about this particular product, rather than apple products per se, and I am overall very pleased with the new OS.
I would have liked to have seen another ground-breaking feature such as scalable user interfaces, or read-write ZFS file system, instead of (in my opinion) gimmicky features such as the new transparent menu bar, and glossy dock. Nevertheless, the typical apple innovation is clearly still very strong with their unique approach to backup needs, stacks and multi-desktops.
The most important thing is that the OS is secure, reliable and it is very simple to use. The most obvious thing is usually the one to click; you don't have to go hunting for the right menu option; it's just the one that screams "click me".
The User Interface is still pretty nice. Again, not as groundbreaking as the original OS X.0 but nevertheless, a great improvement from our current 10.4. We are beginning to see much more uniform approach to windows and the OS applications which is refreshing, and we finally seem to have gotten rid of the brushed metal which was never a favorite of mine anyway.
My only concern are things such as the new dock; very "Vista" as is the new menu bar. Not user friendly - I can't see the text as clearly!
Still, overall, a solid improvement. Although I'm not what one would describe as an Apple "Fanboy", I do applaud apple for again pushing the boundaries of what an OS should be like. I have to use Vista for work, and when I come home, it's OSX all the way.
If you haven't actually tried it - do! The way things like "Stacks" work (and they're beautiful) without a hint of a murmur from the hard drive, the way windows glide in and out, and the way Time Machine works so elegantly yet effortlessly is truly remarkable. Add to this the fact that you can jump back to any point in time in the history of your computer and retrieve files that disappeared long ago is an historic achievement.
Again, well done apple. Keep pushing the boundaries, it's what the industry needs.
 Still the most advanced OS out there. October 27, 2007
Mr. C. J. Thorpe (Liverpool, England)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
I got this last night, and although I have not had it long I have to say so far it is living up to every expectation.
For the first time I decided to rather than wipe my old OS and then install just to upgrade straight to Leopard. Having made sure I did a system check first using first aid and repair privileges I then started the install. It worked perfectly. It kept all my old files and settings with nothing lost or altered. All my bookmarks, saved emails you name it they were kept just how I had them before.
At first look it does not look a huge amount of difference than Tiger. Just small differences in the main screen, brushed metal used more in places, Smokey glass effect in others. Black apple symbol rather than a blue one. I think it gives an already very professionally looking OS that extra boost in appearance with a clean but friendly look and feel.
I have no discovered yet all the little extra gems in it but will detail three of the things I am impressed with so far.
Stacks in the dock is very good. Can put a folder of applications or docs or movie files, pics etc and when you click on it, it either fans the documents up so you can see them all and choose which you use, or if there are a lot brings up a grid for you to select from. This added files showing mini previews when you look at the file showing the picture for example or a little movie you can play is very handy.
Next, and I have only just started to play with this, but I am probably impressed with this most of all and that is spaces. It allows you to choose from four spaces in which to set applications. (I think you can create more spaces if you like) You assign the applications to the spaces choosing from numbers 1 to 4 and it means when you open that app in that particular space it flips the desktop to the screen. It is like having four desktops in one. For example say I put ichat and second life in space one. When open they both show on my desktop there. Then I want to open a web browser. When I do so as that is in space 2 is slides the desktop into the second space where I can see my browser and nothing more. Second life and ichat are still running but just not in view at the moment. Then I want to view a mpeg and assigned QuickTime to their. It slides into that screen to my browser, second life and iChat all cannot be seen on the desktop but I see the movie. Then having watched the movie and want to see what is going on in second life I select that and it flips back into the desktop with second life and ichat. I am very impressed. It keeps you desktop from getting too cluttered. Means you don't need to hide open apps away when not using them you just flip between the spaces.
Time machine is a very handy automatic backup tool. I bought an external hard-drive to go with this. It automatically backups up to the external every hour. The real handy function is if you lost a file and know which folder it was in you can go into time machine and it shows the folder in current and all the backup folders behind it going off into the infinite. You can then scroll through the folders of the past until a time when the file you lost was still in existence then restore it back to your current folder. Its a very easy way to find lost things as well as keep a good backup.
I thought there might be one little drawback. Last night when starting up, switching between user names and shutting down it did seem a little slower than Tiger had been on these. However this morning it was fine and just as fast. I guess that was it just settling in and works like a dream.
I am sure I have a lot more things to discover in this but so far I am very very impressed and glad I upgraded. Once again I feel Apple is leaps and bounds ahead of its competitors when it comes to their OS.
why is this $60 more expensive than the US version October 18, 2007
Dogface (London)
15 out of 59 found this review helpful
Why is this $60 more expensive than the US version? Is there some secret UK-only feature worth almost half the cost of the OS again that not in the US version?
Is the DVD made out of real gold in the UK version?
|
|
|
|
Copyright Thalasar Ventures | |
