Things you’ll notice in Snow Leopard

Time Capsule

Backing up over 802.11n to a Time Capsule is much, much, much fast now. Finishing still takes time, but the overall

Using the Time Machine UI is much faster to load and to search back through time

There is a new “Calculating Changes” phase in the Time Machine menu while a backup is being performed

Spotlight only uses 250mb when indexing after a backup, vs the 700mb it used in Leopard

There is a bug where sometimes your time machine can show as having no data. The workaround for now is to cancel out of time machine, and enter it again.

Finder

The Finder will tell you which application is keeping a disk from being ejectable

Navigating around mounted volumes is faster

You can choose the default spotlight search via the Finder’s Advanced preferences. Your options are Search This Mac, Search the Current Folder, Use the Previous Search Scope. Under Leopard, Spotlight behaved like the default “Search This Mac” option. I think most users will enjoy the “Search This Folder” option.

Menubar

The international menu displays a new palette icon if you are just showing the character or keyboard palettes in the menu

Safari 4

Even faster under Snow Leopard

32bit plugins do not work, you’ll need 64 bit versions, or open Safari in 32bit mode by selecting the Safari application in the Finder, choosing “File Info” from the File menu and then checking “Open in 32-bit mode”

Rosetta

Rosetta, the technology that allows a Macintosh with an Intel CPU to run programs written for older PPC machines is no longer installed by default. However, if you try to run one of those programs, the Mac will offer to install Rosetta without needing the Snow Leopard DVD

Mail

Mail is much faster to launch

Mail disables incompatible, 32 bit plugins

Spotlight

Spotlight searches are much faster, particularly to bring up applications.

You can now type/edit in the Spotlight menu during searches without that annoying lag. The UI is very responsive

Installing

You can install onto a non-boot volume without rebooting onto the Snow Leopard DVD

The option to Erase and install is gone. Installs are now upgrades only. If you want to erase, you can use the Utilities menu to erase the hard drive.

An upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, with default settings except for turning off extra languages, took 29 minutes

When choosing what to install, the Installer can look on the network for “nearby” printers and install those drivers only

Printing

The first time you print to a printer, Snow Leopard will query the printer and determine its characteristics.

Snow Leopard now displays ink level information right in the print dialog, even for my Canon which never grabbed proper ink information before. Choose Supply Levels from the print options popup menu (You might have to disclose the print dialog first)

System Preferences

System Preferences is now 64 bit. Like all plugins, it requires 64 bit preference panes, however, if you choose an older 32 bit pane, System Preferences will offer the option to re-launch in 32bit mode. System Preferences does this every time you launch it.

The Login Items section of Accounts now lists global login items (those installed for all users), but does not allow you to delete them. However, this is a great way to get alerted that something system wide is installed.

Screen Sharing

If you reboot a remote Mac via screen sharing, the screen sharing app will wait and try to reconnect once the reboot is complete.

Stacks

Stacks can now be navigated by keyboard, both by typing the name of a file or folder, or with the arrow keys

Dock Exposé

New to the Dock is Dock Exposé. If you click and hold on an application icon, the windows on your screen will all hide and be replaced with just the windows for the clicked upon application.

Another click restores your windows. This is great for “peeking” at an application’s windows. For example, you can peek at mail to see what is new, or peek at an application, determine you don’t need it open at the moment, choose “Quit” from the menu that popped up when you entered Dock Expose, and then be immediately back to your current working set of windows without the hide/tab/unhide/reorder game.

You can also press TAB while in Dock Expose mode and tab through the windows for each application, one at a time.

You can also mouse over a window while holding down the mouse button in Dock Exposé and then press the space bar. This will let you Quick Look a window.

And lastly, if you see a window you want to focus on, just click it while in Dock Expose mode!

Services

The services menu, found under your Application’s menu, is finally usable. If nothing is selected, the Services menu is empty, other than an option to open the services’ preferences.

However, if you select text, you get options for text only. No more ugly awful menu. And better yet, the menu is broken up into sections, such as stickies, or mail related, or my new favorite, Search with Google, which has the shortcut of command-shift-L.