Oh, and the video was completely worthless, and the soundtrack a complete waste of audio. What does it actually show? Some words reading '64-bit' and some others saying '10.6'. Wow! Glad I watched 10 seconds of it.

Then again, if this is all Snow Leopard is, I hope the analysts plan accordingly. I hate to have them expect a hoard of adopters and find out most users aren't going to upgrade because they see little reason to. That's the problem with OS upgrades. You either have to shove in a bunch of c*** to appeal to the masses, or hope you can advertise "under-the-hood" enhancements in such a way people go "Wow, sure, it looks like what I have, but its 64-bit, so I need it!" (and not have them go "Wait, I HAVE to pay in order to get the bug-fix version of Leopard? Who is this, Microsoft?").

The Wintel machines my friends had lost motherboards for the most part. A large spate of users went the upgrade path to use Vista. The 2/4 ratio or 1/2 if you're being picky, is a low-ball estimate. I've seen my Wintel pals go through more.

Generally, they don't seem to get much more than 3-4 years from a Windows box.

In terms of cost, the Mac is on par or better than the equivalent Windows PC. You don't get Mac Pro performance from sub 1000 dollar Dell boxes. Performance=time, time=money, ergo Macs are cost effective at least in video production.

To clarify, PPC's day is over insofar as OS upgrade paths are concerned, the same hardware is still useful for many other applications. Whatever the case, any of PPCs running OSX would certainly be a better choice than running a contemporary Wintel box running Vista.

G'night troll

Umm, why would you need to update the OS on your G5 to Snow Leopard? If Leopard runs fine, then use it. Your G5 won't be able to take advantage of 64-bit anyway.
I have a 7 year old iBook that is running both OS 9.2 and OS 10.3. I use 9.2 for a couple programs that are not being upgraded for OS X. It still runs fine. So chill out.

PPC is gone. Apple does not sell PPC machines anymore and has not for a few years. Get over it. 10.5 works pretty damn well on them and they will continue to run well and support modern demands of computing for a long time, but for the platform to move forward it has to do so with an Intel focus. You might as well cry that Mac OS X doesn't run on your 680x0 Mac either.

I drive a seven year old Jeep Cherokee. Every day I pass gas stations that proudly hawk the new "flex fuels." My Jeep won't run them. Should Daimler Chrysler leave the US along with Apple since I can't run the latest fuel types? Of course not.

Your "logic," along with your poor command of the language, betrays your true motives here, PCT. Be happy with your Vista machine and all the wonderful innovation that oozes out of Redmond each and every product cycle. You and Stevie B. make a fantastic couple.

Just a little unrelated nit to pick; Daimler is no longer associated with Chrysler; they sold the Chrysler unit quite some time ago, once they realised how crappy it was. Chrysler is now owned by Cerberus (Daimler continues to hold a small stake, though).

With all due respect to those that purchased computers before June 6, 2005... nobody should be surprised that this would eventually happen. It will have been over three and a half years since Apple told us that this transition would happen. Sure, it would be nice to have 10 years of service, but it is simply unrealistic when you are a cutting edge company.

As others have said, just because Snow Leopard is out... doesn't mean your computer will automatically shut off. I'm using 10.4, and I'm very comfortable. I'll wait for a bit longer before updating.

to development requires abandoning some of the older architectures. As a developer I know how hard it becomes to keep supporting older systems and to test on them.

As a user I have been working on the Mac since System 6. Yes it was called System 6 back then. We used CodeWarrior to write our software. :). My first Mac paid off in three months and it ran well for another 4 with me (I had purchased a 2 year old machine). I did not upgrade it as there was no reason to. The Mac did not die. The hard drive crashed and being SCSI it was too expensive to replace as technology changed slowly around me. There were iMacs popping up and slowly my Mac was outdated. I had newer machines by then. The old box is still there as a reminder of the old era. If someday I get an opportunity to replace the drive and fire up System 7 on it then it will be a great day.

I personally don't think that Apple is making any mistake. They are right. Snow Leopard is a supposed to bring in enhancements to the OS and it is not supposed to be zing-bang all the time. I may upgrade the Intel Machines to Snow Leopard and leave the PPC to what they run now. Why upgrade when the old PPC Macs are doing good with what they run now. Actually two of my servers are on Tiger. One G4 on 10.2 and 1 G5 on 10.4.11. The servers are running non stop for 2 years now.

I respect the thoughts of "the Guest" and Testudo. They have their opinion but I do not share with them.

The main particularity of a computer is to get obsolete the day you buy it, like a car's particularity is to lose most it's value in the first 2 years.

I bought a Quad G5 fully loaded, just 3 months before they pulled the plug on the PPC. I knew it was coming, but I needed a tower to replace my old G4, I had a huge After effect contract to deliver in a short amount of time. I gave the G4 to a friend and is still running after almost 9 years of service. I was pissed when the Intel MacPro came out just 3 months after my G5 purchase. Especially since I would have paid 1,200$ less for a more powerful and future proof system but that's the way it is.

The G5 runs beautifully, but After Effects CS4 works only on Intel and the next OS won't probably work on it. There is also more and more applications working only on Intel. So either I continue to use my G5 with the current software and maximize it's purchase for a few more years. Or I swallow my pill, and buy a new one, wishing that it won't be obsolete in less than 4 years. If I didn't accept that, I would not be using computer and I would probably still do illustrations with paint and brushes.

The main particularity of a computer is to get obsolete the day you buy it, like a car's particularity is to lose most it's value in the first 2 years.

I bought a Quad G5 fully loaded, just 3 months before they pulled the plug on the PPC. I knew it was coming, but I needed a tower to replace my old G4, I had a huge After effect contract to deliver in a short amount of time. I gave the G4 to a friend and is still running after almost 9 years of service. I was pissed when the Intel MacPro came out just 3 months after my G5 purchase. Especially since I would have paid 1,200$ less for a more powerful and future proof system but that's the way it is.

The G5 runs beautifully, but After Effects CS4 works only on Intel and the next OS won't probably work on it. There is also more and more applications working only on Intel. So either I continue to use my G5 with the current software and maximize it's purchase for a few more years. Or I swallow my pill, and buy a new one, wishing that it won't be obsolete in less than 4 years. If I didn't accept that, I would not be using computer and I would probably still do illustrations with paint and brushes.

The Wintel machines my friends had lost motherboards for the most part. A large spate of users went the upgrade path to use Vista. The 2/4 ratio or 1/2 if you're being picky, is a low-ball estimate. I've seen my Wintel pals go through more.

OK, so they upgraded because of dead motherboards. Sounds like some people you know should buy themselves a UPS or something. (And be forewarned, if you mobo goes on your mac, you are even more screwed. At least PC users have a good chance to replace it cheaply).

And others updated because they wanted to use Vista? Then that's a choice. Just like a PPC Mac owner who wants to use Snow Leopard, they need to buy a new Mac.

Sure, you can use the argument that I don't have to upgrade just because it is out, but, then again, they didn't need to upgrade to Vista just because it came out (and, really, you know people who upgraded SPECIFICALLY to use Vista?).

Generally, they don't seem to get much more than 3-4 years from a Windows box.

What? 3-4 years? How dare they! I'm sure, right now, you're using a 7 year old Beige G3 running OS X.4 and just running rings around their computers. Then again, Apple doesn't support 10.4 or 10.5 on a G3, so you're kind of running behind the times. Maybe its time to get a new Mac.

Hmmm, now that I notice, you never even mentioned the macs you own. You apparently have only owned 2. So I'm assuming one was a PPC 7100 (or perhaps a Quadra 840?). And the other was 10 years later. So maybe that was a Dual-Mirror-Door G4. Guess you'll be running Leopard for another 5 years...

Guest is a troll, but he is making a valid point about the dropping of PPC machines that are still very capable Macs. We have a number of Quad-core 2.5 Ghz PowerMac G5s here with a boatload of RAM in them. These machines are very fast, even when compared to the newer Mac Pros. I can't fathom that these Macs won't be able to run Snow Leopard, singularly because Apple is "choosing" to obsolete them. There's no technical reason they have given for such a decision, if in fact they have decided to do this.
I hope Apple will spring a surprise on us all by still including some PPC support, even if its only for the very latest of the PowerPC Mac lineup.

If they DO decide to drop support, let's hope Apple wakes up and totally revamps the Mac Pro lineup around the same time to 'help' us who have PPC Macs decide to make the plunge to Intel machines. So far, they've given us little reason to upgrade, in particular with the Mac Pro lineup. Its been a loooong time since they've done anything significant to them.

Guest is a troll, but he is making a valid point about the dropping of PPC machines that are still very capable Macs. We have a number of Quad-core 2.5 Ghz PowerMac G5s here with a boatload of RAM in them. These machines are very fast, even when compared to the newer Mac Pros. I can't fathom that these Macs won't be able to run Snow Leopard, singularly because Apple is "choosing" to obsolete them. There's no technical reason they have given for such a decision, if in fact they have decided to do this.
I hope Apple will spring a surprise on us all by still including some PPC support, even if its only for the very latest of the PowerPC Mac lineup.

If they DO decide to drop support, let's hope Apple wakes up and totally revamps the Mac Pro lineup around the same time to 'help' us who have PPC Macs decide to make the plunge to Intel machines. So far, they've given us little reason to upgrade, in particular with the Mac Pro lineup. Its been a loooong time since they've done anything significant to them.

Ok here is the real question, is there going to be any features in Snow Leopard that would benefit PPC machines. I just switched to a Macbook Pro a couple months ago and sold my Powerbook G4 1.3 Ghz (with Leopard) and for the most part the G4 was still able to do everything I ask of it. To my shock I have found that Leopard on a Intel mac crashes more then the PPC and some things feel sluggish as well. I've read a lot about how Snow Leopard is optimization of Intel Code, which is greatly needed. So far nothing has been said about anything new in Snow Leopard which would apply to PPC machines. I think people are losing site of the more important aspects of support. As long as security updates continue for 10.4 and 10.5 in PPC and Intel and iLife and Quick Time and other software from Apple comes in PPC and Intel and will still install on 10.4 and 10.5 then this is really a non issue. Its when security updates and patches and software like iLife starts coming in Intel only will PPC users really be affected. I couldn't put 10.5 on my 800Mhz iMac because it required 866Mhz, so it has 10.4, and nothings limited for it being a entire OS version behind. I don't see support dropping for 10.4 let alone 10.5 any time soon so every one needs to take a chill Pill.

One thought of why Apple might be dropping PPC support is what they said SL would include. Bug fixes/improvements to the existing software. They may decide "Let's dump the PPC code so we can lose all that support, and focus on fixing/improving the Intel support itself".

Then, maybe, they can go all out and finally fix the damn finder. Actually, what they should do is dump the entire finder and come up with something from scratch that is completely different. Of course, it won't matter. Whatever they come up with will end up violating some guy's patent and they'll get sued...

If no firewire and no ppc support is the way apple is going, i will have a hard time justifying purchasing from them....

Everyone seems to be forgetting that the reason Apple had to drop the PPC is because IBM could not deliver on their promises of the PPC. They had promised a 3 GHz PPC processor more than 2 years ago, even at this point there have been no noticable improvements to the PPC. If they had stayed with the PPC even with the meager improvements, everyone in this forum would be complaining that Apple can't compete with the Windows hardware and that they need to dump the PPC and go to Intel... In doing that you HAVE to make concessions. Do you want an OS that doesn't perform because they are supporting 3 year old hardware, or do you want a system that doesn't perform because they stuck with hardware that hasn't seen any noted improvement in 3 years.

The lack of Firewire on the MacBook is simply because it didn't fit.

IBM could not deliver on their promises of the PPC. They had promised a 3 GHz PPC processor more than 2 years ago

Look at the intel line-up, it barely goes above 3 GHz as it is, and as we all know, the name of the game these days is adding multicores - something that IBM seems more than capable of doing with their cell processors. So lets not buy the MHz myth, the improvement in speeds of OSX on intel processors hasn't been that great anyway.

In fact what we got with intel were machines for which the OS was barely optimised, and probably works well below its best - of course we did get the ability to run Windows natively - now thats progress I suppose (except for me - yuck)...

Of course what Snow Leopard does promise is optimisation for multicore computers (like my dual dual G5) and yes my powermac could definitely do with the latest optimisations in parallel processing technology, they promised me a goddam supercomputer - why can't they deliver the optimisations that would make it that?

That this release of Snow Leopard is exactly that.. a Form of Leopard. It is more like a Big Maintenance release which won't really create a barrier between Intel and PowerPC Macs. This will not be a feature rich release. Apple also will continue to support PowerPC Macs. They just won't releasing new operating systems that will run on them.

@Roelstation - Please don't apologize on Apple's behalf:

"The lack of Firewire on the MacBook is simply because it didn't fit."

That's complete bull$HIT, and you know it. Space had nothing to do with it. It's all politics and marketing. And it's very much un-appreciated. It was a very lame thing to do.

I don't own any PPC machines, but I completely feel sympathy for people who have them, specially Quad G5. They shouldn't be left out in the cold. They paid good money for their machine.

By the way, IBM didn't drop the ball. The decision to go Intel was completely political too. They wanted Windows compatibility and switchers, which is what they go. IBM will ALWAYS be a better chipmaker than Intel. In fact, every chipmaker will be better than Intel. Intel is all about marketing and mass-production. The x86 is the most outdated and the most inefficient architecture out there. Just because Intel makes good compilers, doesn't make the CPU any better. IBM will always get you more performance per millimeter than Intel ever will. The last three generations of Intel processors have not even made a 25% improvement in speed.

I'm a long time Mac User (since 1990) and I've owned at least 6 different Macs, and we have at least 10 in my family. However, in the past 12 months, I'm getting a little concerned at Apple's attitude towards limiting choice and crippling machines.

Recently I decided to purchase a display for my MacBookPro, and I really liked the Apple Cinema Display. Of course, it's been discontinued and replaced with the LED display which WILL NOT WORK on my machine, and I don't like them anyway. They have made the new LED displays, glossy (yuck) and removed FireWire ports and added DRM protection to them, all in the name of improvements. And they're really ugly with that black trim on the front. To me the only improvement is the LED. The rest of it is all steps back. What the h*** is Apple thinking?

And we have the whole FireWire fiasco. I've been wanting to buy a Mac Mini for the living room, and I'm waiting for the update, but if they botch this one up with NO FIREWIRE as well, then I'll go out and buy a PC equivalant and put Hackintosh on it.

I'm starting to agree with SOME of Testudo's points on Apple limiting choice and dictating what the user should want. Apple should offer choice, and let the user pick it. MacBookPro was offered in both Matte and Glossy. Nothing wrong with that. The Cinema display should be Same with iPods. I really liked my iPod with FireWire. I could sync 30GB of songs in about 5 minutes. Try that with USB; it'll be at least 30 minutes.

Actually "shanwde".........you must be agreeing with me, although I know testicl-udo has his place in the forum. Apple is dropping real fans to make way for real marketshare gains by making the whole "package" attactive. It pissed me off that they s**** customers by locking them in on limited life hardware when software can easily make is reusable again.

Right now IBM make 5-6GHz processor chips, and will blow intel away anyday. That stock. I bet they have 9GHz chips in the back burner, waiting to come out to play in the real world.

But really, limiting hardware like "FireWire" and using DRM built in in the name of "advancement" means that they are forcing they buyers into a less-usable workflow, how sly of a "dark" company who inspiration was built on real open-source.

Steve Jobs doe know business, and whats good for business is normally bad for the people.

I hope google takes over the world, that way we will all live a happy life...

Apple also will continue to support PowerPC Macs. They just won't releasing new operating systems that will run on them.

Gee, they'll support them, but aren't releasing any new OS for them. Exactly what support are they offering? When you call with a problem, they say "Oh, we fixed that in Snow Leopard. But we feel your pain." Or they'll send you emails with video of cheerleaders yelling "Gooooooooo PowerPC Mac user, go!"

Oh, and until Apple actually releases a support document describing what support as a PPC owner (or a 10.3 or 10.4 user) you will be getting, anything anyone says is just wishful thinking and hoping.

Right now, the "theory" is that Apple supports the current and last OS releases with security updates. 10.3 right now is supposedly dead, for no reason than Apple doesn't want to support it.

But all this is "theoretical" because Apple has never officially said they will support 10.4, let alone they've stopped supporting 10.3. As users, you're stuck guessing what Apple will and won't do.

That isn't how a company should treat its customers. But Apple has always treated people who dare not upgrade to the latest and greatest as non-people. Which is funny, considering how many mac users always talk about how long their macs last.

It's leopard with some strings changed in the apps.

show me some lipo's of the core apps and I might change my mind.