Tiger unleashed
Written: May 13 '05 (Updated May 20 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Spotlight, ease of upgrade, MAC OSX just keeps getting better and better!
Cons: Being stung for Quicktime Pro, other than that, none.
The Bottom Line: I'm glad I upgraded, I can see no reason for not doing so, other than the cost.
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| craig_c's Full Review: Apple Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Full Version (M9639Z/A) |
I wrote the original short review of Tiger meaning to do just that, write a short review of the Tiger upgrade. Then I get comments asking me why I like Tiger and what is so good about OSX. so I decided to add a little more....not a lot but a little!
I've been in the IT business for the last 20 years or so, and during that time have worked with mainframes, midsized UNIX servers and of course, desktops/laptops. I love technology.
About three years ago, I walked into a bar and a friend of mine was there, he had a new G4 powerbook. I'd never seen one before. I'd never used a MAC.
To say I was impressed was an understatement! 1Ghz ethernet card, 802.11g wireless card, DVD burner...the list went on. Then to cap it all, I found out that under the beautiful user interface, lay UNIX. This was a dream made in heaven!
I bought one of course. I also bought Move2Mac, a package which helps you transfer all those Windows files to the MAC. I also bought Office for MAC, and yes, it's written by Microsoft. I spent the whole night I bought it learning about all the really cool features - it simply blew me away.
Yes, it is different to a Windows machine, but without wishing to get into a MAC vs Windows debate, I'll probably leave it at that.
Today, my life revolves completely around the MAC. I use Word, Powerpoint and Exel all of which are fully compatible with Windows machines. I use MAC Mail and Address Book and of course all the iLife products.
The bundled applications with the MAC are awesome. iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie (HD), Garageband. My digital world revolves around these. I surf, so I use Safari, the world's fastest browser. I connect devices to the MAC, so I use USB and Firewire (both Apple inventions). I do web design, so I can use any of the common web design packages, and oh, by the way OSX just happens to run an Apache web server as well!
There is literally nothing I can't do with the MAC, and most things I can do better. I don't worry about viruses, worms and trojans; I've never seen a blue screen of death. My MAC never crashes, applications rarely, if ever fail.
I bought a new Sony DSC-P100 camera the other week. I plugged it into the MAC and without loading any software, the MAC brough up iPhoto and asked me if I would like to import pictures from the Sony. A few nights later, I shot some video on the Sony and wondered what would happen when I plugged the camera into the MAC. Need I have worried?? No, the MAC imported the video clips, plus a thumbnail of each clip, placed them in iPhoto and allowed me to play the video clips directly from within iPhoto!
Just now I'm 'producing' movies, using photos and web cam footage. iMovie is just incredible! Oh, plug the iSight web cam in as well and you can pull web cam footage straight into iMovie as well (including sound)!!! Of course, all movies can be exported directly in to QuickTime for web streaming or what ever.
So, the MAC is my digital world. In addition, just in case I feel the urge to use Windows, I can bring up windows XP Pro, in a Virtual Terminal. Cool that! I can now drag and drop files between the MAC and the 'virtual' PC and yes, they both run concurrently and no, they don't crash. I also use Remote Desktop to access my windows XP work laptop.
So, I suppose, if I'm asked the question "why do you use a MAC?" I would reply with a question; "Why would I want to use anything else??"
Oh, and the only reason I gave MAC OSX Tiger a 5 star rating, is because Epinions doesn't allow 6 stars!!
Original review follows.......
The other reviews have more than adequately covered the new features in Tiger, so on that I have little to add.
Some other comments may be helpful though.
1. Widgets: However nice they are, I do worry about the security impacts of having new widgets downloaded and auto-installed. Widgets could pose a major security threat to Tiger.
2. Widgets again: Nice yes, a must have - no, do I use them - no, not much.
3. Spotlight - however organized you are, it is always easy to misplace files. spotlight is a great way of tracking them down.
4. Upgrade 10.3.9 > 10.4, flawless, quick and painless. The only application I used on Panther which no longer works is Onyx, which fails to pass the authentication screen.
5. Wireless - after being woken after a 'sleep' Tiger prompts you for which wireless network to join, rather than picking up the last used access point. Irritating.
6. Having purchased QuickTime Pro the week before I upgraded, I was miffed to be stung again for the $29.99 to register QuickTime 7.0 Pro. Apple, please stop being so money grabbing.
7. The new features of Tiger are 'nice to haves'; the hype of the launch did not match up to the reality. For normal users this was an upgrade to an already good OS rather than the major revision that was promised.
8. My main reason for upgrading was for future compatibility with any patches. Incidentally, unlike some Windows users I have never ever had a problem with applying any patches to OSX.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
craig_c
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Member: Craig
Location: Cumming, GA, USA
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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