2 Replies Latest reply: Feb 1, 2010 6:44 PM by cgrscott RSS

    taking Snow Leopard for a spin . . .

    cgrscott Community Member

      Back in September I purchased the Snow Leopard install DVD to use it's Drive Setup app to perform more reliable SATA hard drive partitioning on my '07 Mac Pro, before I re-installed Tiger from the machine's OEM install DVD.

       

      Over the weekend, I installed Snow Leopard on my external FireWire drive, connected to my Mac Pro.  I used the migration tools to get all of my apps and settings onto my new installation of Snow Leopard.  I ran the OS updates.  The latest update appears to be Mac OS 10.6.2.  Everything seems to be as stable as in Tiger 10.4.11.  Rosetta runs my MS Word X app and my Retrospect Client 5.0.540 just fine in Snow Leopard.

       

      The only problem I have with Snow Leopard is the default gamma setting of it's software display driver, when running my two Graphite 17" Apple Studio Displays.  It is so bright, my CRT displays' manual Brightness and Contrast controls cannot bring the display into a controllable range for calibration.  This may be my only obstacle to moving up to Snow Leopard, from Tiger, for now.

       

      Photoshop CS4 seems to open and display image files a little faster under Snow Leopard.

        • 1. Re: taking Snow Leopard for a spin . . .
          370H55V Community Member

          The gamma issue seems to be a sticking point for a lot of people. I have a new 23" HD wide screen LCD monitor and I can adjust it so that the brightness is just where I want it.

           

          Personally I like what they've done with stacks so that my dock isn't nearly as cluttered as it used to be, even with Leopard. That and the seven gigs of space it doesn't take that 10.5 did for the first 24 hours I owned my MacBook Pro were enough to sell me on Snow Leopard.

           

          Photoshop doesn't really look any different than it did on my mini with 10.5 though.

          • 2. Re: taking Snow Leopard for a spin . . .
            cgrscott Community Member

            It looks like non-Apple LCD monitors that use the same IPS display technology, that Apple displays use, will work for me and let me get good calibration under Snow Leopard.  I have been using two anciant Apple 17" Graphite CRTs in a dual display work envirement.

             

            It looks like I can get the DELL UltraSharp 2007WFP 20.1-inch Flat Panel LCD display for $150-$200, per display.  This display uses the same IPS (InPlane Switching) technology that Apple utilizes in the Apple Cinema Displays and the iMac.