Pros & Cons
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- Lightning-fast Spotlight search tool.
- Dashboard offers customizable "widgets" for gathering information quickly.
- Expanded support of 64-bit computing.
- Improved data- and image-processing core technologies.
- Small functional improvements to nearly all parts of the OS.
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- Lag in application switching on older Macs.
- Less powerful graphics cards won't run some of the visual effects.
The latest big cat from Apple—continuing what Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, and Panther started—is Tiger, now officially yclept OS X 10.4. This upgrade will be known for the speed it brings to daily tasks, as well as for the usefulness and creative design of its many improvements (Apple lists over 200 of them). While a few standout additions are grabbing the headlines, it's the systemwide improvements that will thrill the Mac faithful.
Tiger's biggest spotlight-stealer is, appropriately, Spotlight, a lightning-fast search engine that's built into the OS's core. With it, you can search through the names and contents of most documents on your system in only a second or two. It not only checks office documents and PDFs, but also Mail, iCal, and Address Book entries, and even song-file metadata. Spotlight is always on and lives at the right side of the toolbar, marked by a blue magnifying glass icon. Click it to get a search box; it starts searching as you type and is usually finished about a second after you're done.
You can preview Spotlight's finds directly from a results window (running a QuickTime movie in miniature, for example) or click to open the file. Spotlight is bound to have a big impact on the way Mac users store and browse for files, since running a search is now faster than opening a Finder window. Microsoft has announced a similar search engine for the next version of Windows (code-named Longhorn), and in the meantime, there are several very good free utilities, such as Yahoo! Desktop Search (based on X1), to gain such functionality in Windows.
Its speed and breadth would be enough to guarantee Spotlight prominence in the OS, but the brilliance of the technology is how it filters down and integrates with other apps. Mail, Apple's e-mail client, uses Spotlight not only for rocket searches, but also for new Smart Folders that automatically update with appropriate content. Address Book likewise uses Spotlight to create Smart Groups.
Dashboard
Tiger's second-most-prominent addition is Dashboard, a collection of assorted useful tools (called widgets) that skitter across your desk, serve a quick purpose, then disappear as quickly as they came. Dashboard is permanently on and is accessible through the Dock. Click its icon to bring your widgets forward; they float above your desktop. You can customize the group, which might include a world clock, weather center, dictionary, stock watcher, Yellow Pages lookup, or many others. Arrange the widgets as you like and download new ones online.
One downside of Dashboard is that the widgets aren't ever-present. You can't keep widgets running in an unused portion of the screen to glance at. Still, they are perfect for quick info checks, so that you can dive right back into your work. They're also not a new idea: Konfabulator, a third-party app with a strong following, has been offering Mac users the same thing for years. But now that Apple has built Dashboard into the OS, such widgets are certain to be used by a far larger audience.
Apple is letting third-party developers contribute to Dashboard, and we wish it were allowing the same type of input for Safari, its default browser. Safari's big addition in this build is an easy and intuitive handling of RSS feeds that makes them not just for the technorati anymore. You can easily see which sites have RSS feeds, then bookmark them. Counters after your RSS bookmarks or folders show the number of new posts since your last visit. Best of all, you can create a screensaver from feeds. When the screensaver kicks in, your feeds begin to scroll by in a typically good-looking Mac way.
Safari also has a new setting for private browsing that recognizes that, while online security is important, people are also concerned with security and privacy in their own households. Turn on private browsing and you can surf without leaving a trace. Both changes are useful, but they're not nearly as handy as Firefox extensions that let you remove ads or switch off annoying animations. So while Safari is vastly preferable to the poky Macintosh version of Internet Explorer, Firefox still takes the prize among browsers (be it for Mac OS or Windows).
iChat AV, Apple's desktop video-conferencing tool, has become several times more useful with the inclusion of four-way video conferencing. Using the H.264 codec, iChat is able to show four video streams at once in a virtual meeting room. If you don't want to worry about arranging your hair, it also lets you host a ten-person audio conference. For all the attention it's gotten, iChat AV's advanced features (like four-way conferences) have some hefty requirements that will keep them from being widely used. Besides needing an Apple iSight or another FireWire video camera, all of your conference mates will need OS X 10.4, a broadband connection, and a G5, 1-GHz G4, or dual 800-MHz G4 Mac. Plus, the person initiating a multiway conference needs a G5 or dual 1-GHz G4.
New Mail
Apple's Mail client has received the greatest cosmetic makeover under Tiger; the new UI looks more professional and efficient, but hasn't undergone any drastic changes. The Spotlight-driven search and smart mailboxes make looking through thousands of e-mail messages a snap. Besides that, we were wowed by the ability to turn attached photos into a slide show instantly or save them in iPhoto. Users can also make slide shows from the Finder, simply by highlighting a group of photos and right-clicking. It's a great way to preview images quickly.
Tiger's many improvements ripple through the OS and bring better ways of working to nearly every task. Synchronization with .Mac accounts (Apple's $99-per-year suite of online tools) is now handled through System Preferences, and users can choose automatic syncing so that changes to calendars or contacts are updated immediately. Parents can now turn on parental controls in the Accounts System Preference, so that children's access is restricted to safe areas. It uses a whitelist, which is more restrictive but also more controlled.
A new tool called Automator offers a simple visual approach to scripting. Dictionary, another new tool, provides users with the contents of the Oxford American Dictionary any time they like. Its contents can also be accessed through a Dashboard widget and in Safari (place your cursor over a word and press Command-Ctrl-D to show the definition). A built-in migration assistant helps people with new Macs import files and settings from their old machines, and a new Voiceover tool in the Universal Access System Preference reads content aloud to those with vision problems. While iCal and Address Book get modest improvements, including an iCal birthday calendar, Address Book envelope printing, and Spotlight-driven tools in both, they still feel like the redheaded stepchildren of the OS. We'd love to see them get an overhaul that finally puts them on a par with Microsoft Entourage.
Installation and Speed
We installed Tiger on three Macs, with no trouble on two. On one it repeatedly went into kernel panic early in the install process. After much time researching forums and help docs, and trying Apple's phone support, we found that detaching all our USB, FireWire, and SCSI cables did the trick. But note that the OS is available only on DVD. Users who want install CDs have to buy the DVD and send it to Apple's exchange program. That service costs an extra $9.95.
In our testing, Tiger seemed at least as fast as the previous OS in running individual apps, and often a hair faster, although the difference was never dramatic. What kind of performance you'll see seems to depend on the age and speed of your machine. We saw a noticeable lag in application switching on less powerful machines, including a 933 G4 desktop, when several apps were running. Hence, Mac mini owners might find Tiger occasionally more sluggish than the last Mac OS. And only more powerful graphics cards with strong video memory will be able to handle Apple's Core Image graphics technology. People with iBooks and older Macs won't see Dashboard's ripple effect when adding widgets, for example, but that's just eye candy.
Windows compatibility has always been crucial to Apple, since the easier it mixes with Windows, the more likely it is to get into enterprise environments. Tiger improves compatibility with Active Directory support, including Kerberos authentication.
With only a few must-have additions, but a wide variety of smaller improvements, is this upgrade worth the $129 price? We think it is. Once you taste the power of Spotlight, you'll wonder how you ever lived without competent, easy-to-use desktop search. And since having the latest build of the OS is usually a requirement for running any other subsequent product upgrades (the next version of iLife or iWork, for example), you'll want to grab this Tiger by the tail.
| Learn more about Apple's OS X Tiger: eWEEK.com Coverage • |
Final Thoughts
Apple OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Apple's latest OS delivers two big improvements and hundreds of smaller ones. The Spotlight desktop-search tool is a real boon, and given the host of other enhancements, most Mac users will want to upgrade.