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Snow Leopard is Leopard, just faster. |
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Written by Chris Tangora
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Friday, 27 June 2008 |
It seems like Snow Leopard is just going to be another version of Leopard, but a lot faster. The big idea is
that the systems is being optimized for it's current environment, much
like a Snow Leopard is specialized for it's environment. Some interesting snippets have been picked up by the media, but there have been a few that might have slipped by the cracks.
We all know about the ability for the Mac to use multiple processors and the GPU if the programs are written correctly. That will help speed up the applications, but one thing that hasn't been mentioned is memory management. According to a reliable source the memory management in Snow Leopard is drastically improved on multiple fronts. Apple has revamped their memory management and added a new feature to release unused memory before it has to write to a disc. This should keep your system running faster, even when running multiple applications.
Image capture is supposed to get a good re-working as well. We already saw more RAW support in Leopard, and 10.6 is going to bring even more RAW support and improved scanning features. The Image Capture functionality is also going to be pulling heavily on the GPU for improved performance.
There are going to be a lot more apps that are coming across as 64 bit as well. This is something that Apple is doing to trim down the OS. Since the dynamic libraries for 32bit and 64bit applications are different, you have to load the libraries for your respective application. If Apple moves their apps to 64 bit compatibility then you have to load less dynamic libraries. Less loading means more space in the RAM which means a faster Mac.
I hope at least some of this is new to you. The 64 bit applications make sense as to why the beta was released as an Intel only OS, but it should support 64bit PPC in the near future. But my money is that in 10.7 you will see an Intel only operating system. That is when we will see the cool applications, since they can truly be built for a specific environment.
Apple's Snow Leopard Page
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