If succesful it will drive sales of Mac PC's up against several other Intel powered PC makers who run the Windows OS.

A first look reveals that Leopard's new features are compelling and largely a success, but you won't miss out if you wait a while to make the change.

This week, we got a sneak peek at the full retail version of Leopard, and on the whole we liked what we saw. If you're familiar with Mac computers, then the changes will be subtle rather than earth-shattering.

Click to enlarge

The first thing you'll notice is the slick new desktop, with program icons arranged along the bottom of the screen in a transparent, three-dimensional mirror-effect "dock". It's purely cosmetic, but it does show Leopard's computing power.

Crucially, Leopard is the first Apple operating system that will also allow you to install a Windows operating system alongside it. The BootCamp program has been available for download on some other Apple machines, but it required a level of technical expertise to install and run that some novice users may have found daunting. In Leopard, it's all built in: you just need to buy a copy of Windows and let the BootCamp assistant guide you through the installation process. This is an important development for Apple; Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista, got a lukewarm reception following its February launch, and Apple will be hopeful of attracting disappointed Windows users with Leopard. BootCamp provides a "safety net" for those wary of switching operating systems.

Page: [1] 2 3 4 | Next Page