Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2252 in Software
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MA453Z/A
• Released on: 2005-04-29
• Platform: Mac OS X
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Tiger keeps up Apples blazing pace of innovation with more than 200 breakthrough new features, including Spotlight, a revolutionary new way to find files and information on your personal computer; Safari RSS, a new version of Apples innovative Web browser that provides instant access to the most current RSS information on the Web; Dashboard, a dazzling new way to get in and out of a collection of new all-purpose "widgets" quickly; and iChat AV multi-way video and audio conferencing, the industrys first consumer solution with a stunning 3D interface.

Second-Nature Searching
Tigers new system-wide Spotlight search helps you find anything on your Mac, instantly. Spotlight can find email messages, calendars, and contacts along w ith documents, movies, images--any kind of file--all at once. Spotlight results are displayed in easy-to-understand categories that help you browse, pick, and click. Finding the stuff you need on your personal computer is now as fast and effortless as searching for songs in iTunes. Tiger also introduces enhanced searching in the Finder to help you locate files and documents more quickly and easily. New Smart Folders in the Finder, Smart Mailboxes in Mail, and Smart Groups for contacts let you categorise and organise all of your important information into logical groups automatically.

Start a Party
You may never need to rent video conference time or crowd around a tinny-so unding speakerphone again. With iChat AV you can video conference right from yo ur Desktop with up to three more people, or audio conference with up to nine more people. iChat AV doesn't sacrifice quality for quantity. New H.264/AVC video technology in Tigers QuickTime dramatically improves picture quality while high -quality, full-duplex audio delivers natural-sounding conversation. iChat AV keeps conferencing simple: just click on a buddy to start your conference and then invite a few more buddies. An innovative new three-dimensional virtual chat-room interface keeps your video conference organised. Graphical sound-level indicators keep you on top of who's talking in audio conferences so you can always put a voice with a name.

Facts, Functions, and Fun... Fast
Dashboard zooms across your Desktop in a flash, giving you instant access to information and application controls that you use frequently. Just like Expose, you open and close the Dashboard by pressing a function key, so its a snap to get in and out. The Dashboard displays new mini-applications called widgets. They're cool looking as well as handy: get quick stock quotes, check the time around the world, or access Mac OS X-application features such as an iTunes playback widget or an Address Book contact widget.

Get More from the Web
Safari RSS consolidates all of the most recent news and information from thousands of major news organisations, community Web sites, and personal Web logs into simplified listings. Using Safari RSS, you can quickly find the very latest stories on your favourite topics by searching easy-to-use listings rather than having to browse individual Web pages. You can even create your own personal news-clipping service that compiles only articles and stories that you want from any number of sites. Safari also adds page archiving, so you can save or email complete Web pages with images and links intact. Safari also protects your identity on shared or public Macs. Using the privacy feature, your personal infor ation and activities on the Web are never saved, so they cant be snooped later on.

Automator - Robots Don't Grumble
Introducing Automator, an innovative application that helps you streamline challenging repetitive manual tasks without programming. It works like a robot inside your computer.
Accomplish all of your time-consuming, repetitive manual tasks quickly, efficiently and effortlessly with Automator Workflows. It's simple to create custom Workflows just by dragging items, pointing and clicking. Perform the task once using your Automator Workflow or many times even share Workflows with friends.
You can easily automate tasks like renaming a large group of files, resizing dozens of images to fit an iPhoto slideshow or creating iCal birthday events using Address Book contacts, then repeat those tasks again and again. Simple and easy-to-understand application Actions are the building blocks, so you don't have to write any code. Each Action has all of the options and settings you need, so you don't have to work hard to figure out how to make it work.
You can even incorporate Tiger's new Spotlight search into Workflows to identify items automatically. Simply drag the Finder Action into your Workflow, click Run and powerful Spotlight search technology takes over to find files, disks, folders or items that match whatever criteria you choose.

Customer Reviews

It works and it doesn't crash - honest...
OK, I bit the bullet and upgraded from 10.3 to this. And I have to say it was very easy especially with the new utility that copies back all your applications and settings from the previous system. Instead of wasting a couple of days re-installing programs etc I was up and running within a couple of hours.

The system seems a bit 'snappier' and the interface has been tweaked and refined so it is all very cool and it just seems to work. And at half the price of Windoze XP it has to be a (bit of a) bargain - which is a novelty from Apple!

Great, not insanely, but great...
Ah, but it does crash, admittedly kernel panics are very rare indeed. Crashes are limited to programs generally, so if one stops responding, you can force quit it and open it again, without having to restart. The Finder does freak out more than apple fans like to admit. 10.4 doesn't feel as dramatic an upgrade as 10.3 from 10.2, but it's a solid upgrade.

New features? I couldn't give a damn for Dashboard, a novelty- I tried Konfabulator too, meh... Front Row only comes on the latest computers, not here.Now Spotlight I hate, rubbish search program that is overhyped. If you have external drives, Spotlight is fairly useless. One good thing, if you find a problem, Apple owners are fairly vocal about it and someone has probably found a solution and posted it on the internet somewhere. They even write software to help with the most obscure things.
Aparrently there are 200 new features... See: http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/newfeatures/over200.html Do you believe?

Everything gets a brush up, except the GUI is still messy, brushed metal here, aqua there, unified there. There is a free makeover called UNO, which I thoroughly recommend.

if you are on 10.3 and it still works okay for you, you may be better to wait. The new operating system is on the horizon and appears to be ready to arrive in the next six months. Mac OSX is better than Windows, far less frustrating. Frustrations usually come from being led to expect more than OSX can offer. I've also found, that trying to teach my mother to use OSX, it isn't that simple as advertised. Novices will initially find OSX just as baffling as Windows. Once you get the basics, like driving a car, Mac OSX proves much easier to run and maintain.

It's lack of full support for Mpeg 2 encoding and decoding (in regards to Quicktime and iLife), is frustrating to say the least and seems to be contrary to the 'ease of use' concept of Apple. Mpeg2 support has to be purchased separately from Apple and is not properly included in MacOSX. Annoying! You'll find some shareware items out there that will help. You'll need little applications to fill holes in OS 10.4...I recommend Speed Download software from Yazsoft too. If you deal with various graphics from Windows world too, then get a copy of Graphic Convertor from Lemkesoft. OSX doesn't do everything you'd think. Free audio software from versiontracker website will help, like Audio Recorder and Audacity. I also recommend you avoid HP products, as their software and drivers are rubbish for OSX. Eventually you'll realise you'll need the latest version of Toast to burn disks just the way you want. Macs have no TV, I recommend you get the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid USB, that way you get a mac that's a proper media center; it includes EyeTV software and this one uses a full sized socket and an extra cable that links to S-Video and composite; meaning you can record off your video/pvr or playstation (even an xbox 360 apparently). Then you'll realise you need ilife, then at least photoshop elements and... Okay I'm going on too much...

But one thing you will need if you have OSX or an Apple computer is DiskWarrior. If you still own old Norton Disk Doctor disks, burn them, they are incompatible and will destroy you operating system. DiskWarrior lacks bells and whistles, but it's the most reliable and one that will work on most computers. The first aid software on 10.4 only helps so much, like it says it's first aid only and helps the simple day to day problems. DiskWarrior should come as a package with OSX, you will need it when things start acting odd, buying it before you develop a problem will save time and tears. You really do need it. Now virus protection I leave up to you, but macs can pass on viruses to Windows computers, you could be a carrier even if viruses don't hurt OSX. Yet...

I hope you have broadband, as you'll still have some downloading of updates to do!

If you are thinking of switching to Apple, then do it, it will cut the amount of 'swearing at inanimate objects syndrome' by half. But expect to take time to relearn how to use a computer to avoid frustration. OSX isn't as intuitive as it first appears, it has it's own language you need to learn just like Windows. Now Macs run on the same Intel chips, you can even try running Windows on your machine! Expect OSX 10.5 to add better facilities to do this, at the moment you can download Boot Camp from Apple to install Windows. New applications are being coded to help run that favourite Windows only application on OSX without Windows operating system. When 10.5 comes out, there's little excuse to not change. You will need some experience to run Windows on an Intel Mac, so 10.4 may not be the best place to start. Windows doesn't work on G3 or G4 computers. I found OX 10.4 doesn't work on some G3 computers. If your computer is fairly old, be careful before updating. Your machine will have firewire, a DVD drive and at least 256MB of RAM (you need more really). If you bought a new computer in the last few years, you should be okay. All macs at the moment come with OS 10.4, so no need to buy this, you'll only need to download updates.

Cheap at half the price (of that other operating system)
There is no better operating system. OSX does what Apple has always claimed about their products. It just works!

When I first got hold of this operating system (way back in its first edition), I was so amazed at how intuitive it was. You simply think about what you want to achieve, and the OS helps you through the process of getting to that goal.

It baggars belief that such an intuitive, beautiful operating system comes at such a small cost compared to a certain other operating system.