The next generation of the two main PC OS (operating systems) are  here, Apple’s Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, is out now and Microsoft’s Windows 7 is due to be released on the 22nd of October. Our comparisons is based on reviews of RTM versions of the software by renowned Technology websites we monitor.

Price

Windows 7 – Not confirmed yet. Speculations are that the Home Version will be around 50-70 USD while the Professional Version will start at 100 USD.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Prices for Apple’s new (upgraded) OS start at 29 USD, for Leopard users, Mac users with older versions, like Tiger, are forced to buy the full box set  which includes iWork and iLife at 169 USD.  However this upgrade is for Intel Mac’s only this is the end of the line of the older Power processor based MAC’s

Storage Footprint

Windows 7 – Minimum requirements are: 16GB for the 32-bit OS and 20GB for the 64-bit OS, but footprint seem to be about 6-8GB.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Gives back 6 GB of storage space and only requires 5 GB of free disk space. (due mostly to being Intel only)

Hardware Support

Windows 7 – When it comes down to hardware support Windows 7 outshines Snow Leopard, reports are that a 7 year old Pentium 4 2.8Ghz with 2GB of RAM does an outstanding job.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Meanwhile, Snow Leopard will only run on Intel Macs, which means that high-end Macs like the Power Mac G5 will be left in the cold.

Start/Sleep/Shutdown

Windows 7 – Improved Start/Sleep/Shutdown time, with start up times under 30s.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Apple doesn’t say much about start up times, but promises to cut by half wakeup times and 1.75x faster shutdowns.

Media Handling

Windows 7 – Windows Media Player will handle any type of media you throw at it, H.264, Divx, Xvid or AAC, etc.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – The new QuickTime player is also capable of handling a broader range of formats and handles H.264 and AAC even better than Windows 7. Another advantage is that QuickTime X Pro comes with Snow Leopard, no need to pay an extra for it.

Networking

Windows 7 – A real improvement when compared to Vista, with improved wireless connectivity and a smart way of finding files on your network.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – 1.55 time faster at joining networks than Leopard and more efficient file sharing. It will also interwork better with Microsoft the exchange mail server which is a plus for larger corporate users who use exchange.

Browsers

Windows 7 – Internet Explorer 8 is by far the best browser we’ve seen by Microsoft.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard – With a real modern web standards support Safari is a good option, especially when handling JavaScript programs, where it is faster than IE 8.

Conclusion

Overall Windows 7 is a more substantial upgrade than Snow Leopard which is more akin to a service pack, though for technical/political reasons only some XP users will be able to upgrade to it. Others XP users will need to do a fresh install while Mac users are forced to have Leopard installed. Second Windows 7 can run on older machines as mentioned above, Mac users will need a fairly new Mac Book or iMac to run apple’s refined OS.

On the professional side, Apple’s OS will still lead the way thanks to its ability to handle huge amounts of RAM which will still make the Mac OS X 10.6 an indispensable tool for the printing industry though you may need to upgrade to 64 bit versions of the applications you use to get the full advantage.

Apple’s upgraded OS the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was due to be released in September but after Apple Store mysterious disappearance on Monday, only to return with the Mac OS 10.6 available to order.

August 28th was to be the official released date, but Mac users can buy or upgrade from older versions to the Snow Leopard via the Apple Store now, while shipping’s will start on Friday the 28th.

As most of you already know Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X 10.6 is an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard or if you prefer Mac OS X 10.5, according to Apple Snow Leopard is a refined OS making it the word’s most advanced operating system.

With an extensive list of “refinements” I suggest you read “Mac OS X Snow Leopard – A Refined OS by Apple” and for even further information visit the Apple Store.

The first ever computer made by Apple was the hand-built Apple I, Steve Wozniak was its creator and market minded Steve Jobs had the idea of selling it. But it was only in 1984 that the first Macintosh came to life.

Back then, Apple Macintosh personal computers made history as the first PC’s to feature a mouse and use images (graphical user interface) rather than text (command line interface), which helped the company build market shares through the second half of the 80’s.

The first ever Mac to go on sale back in 1984, had 128 KB RAM in form of sixteen 64 kilobit (Kb) chips soldered to the logicboard, even though there wasn’t a memory slot at the time, the RAM was expandable to 512 KB, which meant soldering sixteen chip sockets to accept 256 Kb RAM chips, the final product also used the complete QuickDraw picture language displayed via a 9-inch 512×342 pixel monochrome display and microprocessor speed was at remarkable 8 megahertz.

If we compare it to the soon be to released Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the first Macintosh OS looks more than obsolete, I would say pre-historic, even though all those features were pretty advanced for their time.

It is quite clear how much Apple’s OS evolved since then, but let’s compare a few features.

The new Mac OS X V10.6 will have support to 16TB RAM, that is 16×10⁺⁶ times more than the 1984 Mac offered with its support to 512 KB RAM.

A new graphic system has been implemented, since the Mac OS X v10.4 QuickDraw had to be deprecated mainly for not been able to make use of the 64-bit support, QuickDraw than gave space to Quartz a more modern graphics system which can handle 64-bit applications, 64-bits apps will be the core of the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

What about the display options available compared to the 9-inch 512×342 pixel monochrome display that came with the 1984 Mac? Now that is something with no margin for comparison. How can we compare the LCD and Plasma displays of today and their trillions of colours to a monochrome display?

The new Mac OS X v10.6 is set to be an OS for generations to come, can you imagine how it will look like 20 years from now. Think about it and leave your thoughts in our comments section

During last month’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, Apple announced the prices and official release date for the Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v10.6).

Back in June 2008, right after Steve Jobs announced the new version of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard was to be released some time this year, we previewed it here and highlighted some of the improved features.

As we get closer to its official release date, the Mac OS X Snow Leopard or if you prefer Mac OS X v10.6 is due to a more detailed preview.

First things first, Apple’s “refined” operating system will be available from September 09 with prices starting at $29 (for users updating from Mac OS X Leopard).

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard is not a brand new OS by Apple, it is simply, as Apple like to call it, a refined version of the Mac OS X Leopard, prove to that is Apple focus on improving and simplifying built-in applications to make it faster, more reliable and most importantly easier to use.

The first major improvement was to make the Mac OS X V10.6 installation faster, easier and more reliable, upgrading from older versions just got 45% faster and in case of a power cut, it can start again without losing any data. Disk space usage has also been reduced by half, freeing about 6GB.

A completely new QuickTime Player has also been included, which will feature optimised support for modern codecs, new trimming interface, easy uploads to YouTube and MobileMe and hhtp-based live streaming, all with improved colour accuracy.

But without a doubt the biggest refinement is the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit, this means a support of up to 16 TB RAM, you might think that Apple exaggerated a bit on the RAM support, but it wasn’t just the other day when we were happy with our 256 MB RAM PC’s and look at them now, obsolete.

Nearly all built-in applications are now 64-bit which makes them faster and more responsive.

For the printing industry the good news is the ZFS File system with support for storage pooling, data redundancy, automatic error correction, dynamic volume expansion and snapshots, this will allow applications like Photoshop to make better use of multi core systems and larger memory configurations.

No doubt Apple has built the Mac OS X Snow Leopard thinking away ahead of its time, this new OS is ready for the next generation of professional and personal computers.

What do you have to say about Apple’s refined operating system, will it stand up to expectations?

Apple have released their lastest laptop, the 17″ MacBook Pro, but is it any good? We think so!

The 17” MacBook Pro is handsome and impressive-looking with its aluminium casing and black screen frame. The display is bright, colourful and glossy, though you can choose a matt screen instead.

The standout feature of the 17” MacBook Pro is the battery life, claimed to be up to 8 hours, even while you’re surfing the web.

The keyboard is exceptionally comfortable, with keys that light up automatically in low light. The mouse pad is a large glass surface that responds to multiple finger-touches, like the iPhone, making navigating documents easier, for example.

There are other enjoyable details of the 17” MacBook Pro, like the magnetic connection for the power cable so if you trip it detaches, and even if you fall, the computer won’t be dragged with you. Programs work speedily, and you can multitask to your heart’s content without noticeable slowdown.

Apple produce some wonderful technologies but they do come at a price, then again you pay for quality don’t you!!

Last week Apple lannounced an update to its laptop line launching the new 15” Mac book pro and a 13” Mac book, plus an entry level Mac book ($1000) in a white plastic case.

The new Mac book pro and Mac book have been redesigned using an innovative laptop body, machined out of a single block of aluminium, this new “unibody construction” process makes for a more solid laptop. The chassis is one piece, made stronger by its lack of connecting corners—and less prone to manufacturing flaws, according to Apple.

This is an application of monocoque designs, which was used in cars as early as the late 30’s in fighter plane construction (the Spitfire is an example of monocoque construction).

The other main difference is the inclusion of a second discrete graphics card in the Mac Book Pro.

The Mac Book features a GeForce 9400M integrated graphics card that apple claims is 5X faster than similar offerings from Intel. The Macbook Pro features that same integrated graphics card, but then adds an additional 256MB or 512MB GeForce 9600M GT for users who need more graphical grunt, so very useful for photographers who want to do heavy Photoshop work on the road.

However, not all Mac users are happy with the dropping of FireWire support from all but the Mac book pro. People doing video editing and audio production are particularly unhappy about this, as both of these applications need the performance that fire wire offers over USB2.0

The world’s slimmest laptop and also one of the most expensive and desirable just got a little bit cheaper. Apple has reduced the prices of the MacBook Air by £300. When it first came out in January this year the Macbook Air had a price of £2028 it now costs £1719 with the 64GB SSD and 1.8Ghz Core Duo Processor. The 80GD hard disc model remains with its original price.

This price reduction comes from two changes on the MacBook Air options, the SSD and the 1,8GHz processor. Before adding the SSD option used to cost £500 now it is just £300 and adding a 1,8GHZ processor used to cost an extra £150  this now costs and £100. This cut is due to the fall in the price of SSD drives as manufacturers ramp up production.

With the price cut on the MacBook Air with SSD and a 1,8GHz processor this is no longer Apple’s most expensive laptop.

The leader of the pack now is the 17" MacBook Pro with a price of £1799 for the base configuration.

Apple insider is reporting that O2 will open it’s stores early on the July 11th iPhone 3G release date to sell the 3G Version of the Apple Iphone.

O2 is also said by the new sources to begin stocking up on iPhone 3G units the week before the launch rather than the just-in-time deliveries that were made in some areas with launches of the original Apple cellphone. Demo units may be in use shortly afterwards, according to the sources.

For some, though, the most important news may come a year later. Separate O2 staff are suggesting that the wireless carrier’s usual policy of offering an unlock code for PAYg phones after 12 months will remain true for iPhone 3G.