Snow Leopard Reviewer's Guide

Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Version 10.6
Reviewer’s Guide
August 2009
Reviewer’s Guide 2
Contents
Page 4 Quick Look at Snow Leopard

Refinements
Exchange Support
New Technologies
Page 6 Dock
Dock Exposé
Stacks
Page 8 Finder
Page 9 Installation
Page 10 QuickTime X
QuickTime Player
HTTP Streaming
Page 13 Preview
PDF Text Selection
Import from Scanner
New Annotations Toolbar
Higher-Quality Image Scaling
Contact Sheet View
Page 15 Safari 4
Top Sites
Full History Search
Smart Address and Search Fields
Crash Resistant
Page 18 Universal Access

VoiceOver
Braille Support
Web Browsing
Page 20 Exchange Support

Simple Setup
Mail
iCal
Address Book
Page 23 New Technologies

64-Bit Computing
Grand Central Dispatch
OpenCL
Page 27 Performance
Page 29 Other Refinements

iChat
Chinese Character Input
Text Substitution
All-New Thesaurus
Services
Automatic Updates for Printers
Quick, Reliable Eject
More Efficient File Sharing
Core Location
Page 31 Product Details

Quick Look at
Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Snow Leopard is an even more powerful and refined version of the world’s
most advanced operating system. Snow Leopard builds on the success of Leopard with
hundreds of refinements, out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange, and new core
technologies that take advantage of the powerful hardware in every Mac. It enhances
the entire Mac experience in big ways and small, making the Mac more reliable and
easier to use.
Refinements
From installation to shutdown, Mac OS X Snow Leopard includes hundreds of improve-
ments that will help make your Mac faster, more responsive, and more reliable than ever.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard provides key refinements in many areas, including the following:
• Dock. Now integrated right in the Dock, Exposé gives you a quick and easy way to
see all of the open windows of an application. In the Dock, simply click and hold an
application icon: All of the open windows unshuπe on the desktop so you can quickly
locate a window and move right to it.
• Finder. The Finder has been completely rewritten using the modern Cocoa framework
in Mac OS X, taking advantage of the new technologies in Snow Leopard—including
64-bit support and Grand Central Dispatch. The familiar Finder interface is unchanged,
but you will discover the Finder is faster and more responsive. It also includes an
enhanced icon view with live file previews, so you can thumb through a multipage
document or even watch a QuickTime movie.
• Installation. Snow Leopard makes upgrading your Mac easier than ever. The entire
installation process is simpler and more streamlined, and is now up to 50 percent
faster.1 Refinements make installation more reliable as well. Once installed, Snow
Leopard actually frees up about 7GB of space on your computer.
• QuickTime X. The next-generation media technology, QuickTime X powers the audio
and video experience in Snow Leopard. It debuts a completely new QuickTime Player
application with a clean, uncluttered interface as well as an easy way to record, trim,
and share your media.
• Preview. Preview in Snow Leopard includes a number of refinements that make it
even better for viewing PDFs and image files. Preview delivers increased performance
for opening PDFs and JPEGs, and brings accurate text selection to multicolumn PDFs.
Sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms infer the layout of each page to identify
the columns. So now when you select text from a particular column, Preview gives
you just the text you need.
• Safari 4. The latest version of Apple’s blazing-fast web browser includes a range of
great new features like Full History Search, Smart Search and Smart Address fields,
and an innovative way to view your most frequented sites called Top Sites. In Snow
Leopard, 64-bit technology improves JavaScript performance in Safari 4 by up to
50 percent.2 Safari 4 is also more resistant to crashes because plug-ins now run
separately from the browser. If a plug-in crashes, Safari keeps running.
• Universal Access. Snow Leopard advances the built-in VoiceOver technology that
makes Mac OS X accessible for those who are blind or have low vision. It includes a
unique way to control and navigate the Mac using the Multi-Touch trackpad.
• Performance. Snow Leopard delivers a number of performance improvements across
the system that speed up many of the common tasks you do on your Mac. To name a
few: Installation is up to 50 percent faster than Leopard1; wake from sleep is as much
as 2 times faster; shutdown is up to 1.8 times faster; initial Time Machine backups to
Time Capsule are up to 80 percent faster than Leopard.2
Exchange Support
Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, so it’s easier than ever to take your Mac to work. You
get the features you expect from Exchange—like email, contacts, calendar invitations,
and access to the Global Address List—while also enjoying the powerful and innovative
features in Mac OS X such as Spotlight for instantly searching through all of your mail,
Quick Look for previewing attachments, and Data Detectors for acting on important
information in an email message.
New Technologies
Every new Mac ships with a new generation of hardware that includes gigabytes of
RAM, 64-bit dual-core processors, and graphics processing units that are capable of
enormous raw processing power. Snow Leopard includes advanced technologies that
enable developers to take advantage of this incredible hardware in their applications.
These technologies make Mac OS X Snow Leopard the world’s most advanced operat-
ing system and set up the Mac for future innovation.
• 64-bit. Computing with 64-bit technology shatters the 32-bit memory limit by
enabling applications to address a theoretical 16 billion gigabytes of memory. All
major applications in Snow Leopard have been written in 64-bit so they can address
all of that memory as well as perform faster.3 Snow Leopard makes the transition to
64-bit simple, with one version of the operating system that runs both 64-bit and
32-bit applications.
• Grand Central Dispatch. The performance in today’s processors is being driven by
more cores, not faster clock speeds. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) is a revolutionary
approach to multicore computing. Woven throughout the fabric of Snow Leopard,
GCD combines an easy-to-use programming model with highly efficient system
services to radically simplify the code needed to optimize the multiple processors.
• OpenCL. The performance of graphics processing units (GPUs) has grown exponentially,
with the most powerful GPUs capable of more than 1 trillion operations per second
(1 teraflop). OpenCL in Snow Leopard takes the power of the GPU beyond graphics,
making it available for general-purpose computing. OpenCL is an open standard
supported by the biggest names in the industry, including AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel.
Dock
The Dock provides users with an easy way to quickly access the applications, folders,
and files they use most from a convenient location at the bottom of the screen. Snow
Leopard includes a number of refinements that make the Dock even better, including
Dock Exposé so you can instantly view the open windows of an application as well as
conveniently scroll through and navigate folders in stacks.
Dock Exposé
Exposé has a whole new look in Snow Leopard. Open windows are now displayed in
an organized grid, making it even easier to find the one you are looking for. Using the
tab key, you can flip through all running applications to preview the open windows.
Windows in Exposé are spring-loaded, so you can drag and drop items between
windows. For example, if you drag a document from the Finder onto the Mail icon,
Exposé instantly activates, showing you all of your Mail windows so you can add the
document as an attachment.
Easily reorganize your windows

You can reorganize the windows using
keyboard shortcuts: Press Command-1 to
arrange the windows alphabetically; press
Command-2 to arrange by application.
Exposé is more convenient than ever in To select a window, simply click

Snow Leopard. Click and hold an application on it. To get a full-size preview of a
icon in the Dock: All of the application’s open window in Exposé, hover over the
windows instantly unshuπe on the desktop, window, click the Space bar, and
making it easy to find the window you are the window scales up so you can
looking for. view its contents full size.
Stacks
Stacks are now scrollable in grid view, so you can easily view all items in the stack. In
Snow Leopard, you navigate folders in a stack to see all of the files inside. And you
can easily return to previous folders by clicking the return path icon in the upper-left
corner of the stack.
Folder navigation arrow
Scroll bar
Finder
The Finder has been completely rewritten using the modern Cocoa framework, taking
advantage of the technologies in Snow Leopard, including 64-bit computing and
Grand Central Dispatch. The result is a more responsive Finder from top to bottom
that delivers snappier performance while maintaining the same easy-to-use interface
that users have grown accustomed to.
The Finder improvements in Snow Leopard make browsing and finding files
even easier.
A more responsive Finder

PDF icon refresh is up to 80 percent
faster than with Leopard, and JPEG icon
refresh is up to 40 percent faster.2
With the enhanced icon view that

provides live file previews in the To preview a file, hover over the icon Use the slider to adjust the size of
Finder, you can flip through a and the controls will fade in, allowing the icons to see the files more clearly.
multipage PDF, play a QuickTime you to play a QuickTime movie or flip Snow Leopard lets you increase the
movie, and even preview Microsoft through a multipage document. size up to 512 by 512 pixels, four times
PowerPoint documents without the resolution in Leopard.
opening an application.
Change the default behavior of Spotlight

to search the currently selected folder or
your most recent search location. Using
the Action menu, you can also sort your
search results by name, date modified,
date created, size, kind, and label.
Installation
Snow Leopard makes upgrading your Mac even easier. The entire process is simpler
and more streamlined, and is up to 50 percent faster than for Leopard.1 The redesigned
Snow Leopard installer has a single, optimized process that delivers a comprehensive
and reliable installation. And, as with other versions of Mac OS X, the upgrade to
Snow Leopard leaves your data and applications in place. You don’t need to erase
your disk drive first.
In addition to being easier and faster, the installer is more reliable. During installation,
Snow Leopard checks your applications for compatibility, and sets aside any incompat-
ible applications that are known to create instability in Snow Leopard. The installer also
has a safe redo, so if your installation is interrupted by something like a power outage,
it will resume once your power is restored, without losing any data.
When you have completed the Snow Leopard upgrade, you will notice that about
7GB of space has been freed up on your Mac. That’s because Snow Leopard takes
up less than half the space of Leopard, giving you room, for example, to add about
1,500 more songs or a few thousand more digital photos.4
QuickTime X
Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, a major leap forward that advances modern
media and Internet standards. Since 1991, QuickTime has stood at the forefront of video,
delivering the first software-based video on a computer, followed by Internet video
streaming. QuickTime X marks another major milestone for this incredible technology
by rebuilding it on top of the core technologies in Mac OS X Snow Leopard—such as
Core Audio, Core Video, and Core Animation—to deliver greater efficiency and higher
quality. QuickTime X also includes a brand-new QuickTime Player application that
delivers a clean interface for playing back movies and an easy way to record, trim,
and share your media.
QuickTime Player
QuickTime X debuts a new version of QuickTime Player with a redesigned interface
that offers a clean, uncluttered movie-viewing experience.
QuickTime Player sports a Click the Share button to Click the arrow to take your
completely redesigned interface easily convert your movie movie full screen. When in
that leverages the power of Core for use on iPod, iPhone, or full screen, you can toggle
Animation technology to provide Apple TV, using the optimal between viewing modes, for
sleek, translucent controls that settings for each destina- zooming in the content to
fade from view when they are tion. You can also upload fill the screen or watching in
not needed. Move your mouse, your movie directly to widescreen mode.
and they come right back. MobileMe5 or YouTube.
Quick trimming
To trim your media to the ideal length, QuickTime Player displays frame-based
thumbnails to help you make the perfect edit.
Greater color accuracy

QuickTime X in Snow Leopard takes
advantage of the ColorSync technology
in Mac OS X to ensure color fidelity
across the various devices where your
media will be viewed.
QuickTime Player makes it a snap to trim your video Click the Trim
to the ideal length by removing an unwanted portion button to remove
from the beginning or end. Using the frame-based the unwanted
thumbnails, drag the slider to the desired frames for portions at the
the beginning and end of your video. beginning and end.
Click the Play button to preview the new clip.
Video and screen capture

With a single click, QuickTime Player can now capture audio or video using the built-in
camera and microphone in your Mac to make a podcast or send a short video to a
friend. You can also catch the action taking place on your screen with screen recording.
Start recording and QuickTime Player captures the activity on your screen and creates
a movie file. It’s perfect when you want to teach your friends how to do something on
the Mac.
HTTP Streaming
QuickTime X also introduces a new way to deliver live video over the Internet using
standard HTTP protocols. To date, live video has been broadcast over the web
using special streaming servers with special protocols. Now, QuickTime X delivers a
breakthrough in media delivery by streaming live audio and video from any standard
web server. Because the same infrastructure that powers the web is used, you don’t
have to worry about firewalls or wireless router settings. Plus HTTP live streaming is
designed with mobility in mind, so it can dynamically adjust video quality to match
the speed of the network, ensuring an uninterrupted playback experience whether
you are watching on a computer or iPhone or iPod touch.
Preview
Improved performance The Preview application in Mac OS X allows you to quickly and easily view and work
With Snow Leopard, opening a JPEG is with PDF and image files without the need for any additional software. Preview in
up to 2.3 times faster than with Leopard, and Snow Leopard delivers a number of refinements, including performance improvements
opening a PDF is up to 1.4 times faster.2 for opening PDF and JPEG files as well as more accurate text selection in PDFs. By
applying sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms, Preview infers the layout of
each page to identify the columns. So now when you select text from a particular
column, you’ll get just the text you need.
PDF Text Selection

With Leopard, when you use a PDF viewer such as Preview, selecting text from a
PDF document that contains more than one column can be a challenge. Sometimes,
instead of highlighting just the text in a specific column, the cursor selects all of
the text across the page, giving you a jumble of words from each column.
Snow Leopard solves this problem by applying sophisticated artificial intelligence

algorithms that analyze the layout of the PDF in real time to identify the contents of
each column. So when you select text that falls in a single column, only the text you
want is highlighted. Built into the core of Mac OS X, this feature is available almost
anywhere you view PDFs, including Preview and Safari.
Import from Scanner

Choose Import from Scanner in the File menu and your images will be available in
Preview. With Snow Leopard, you can now scan, view, and correct your files and images
in Preview. The scanning interface even detects the placement of images or documents
on the scanner to automate the selection of regions to scan.
New Annotations Toolbar

Get easy access to all of the annotation tools in Preview, including shapes, comments,
links, strikethrough, and highlighting, as well as two new annotation types: text and
arrows.
Higher-Quality Image Scaling

The Adjust Image Size command in Preview uses the advanced Lanczos interpolation
algorithm to provide higher-quality scaling with fewer blurry artifacts compared with
traditional interpolation algorithms.
Contact Sheet View

View multiple images or pages of a PDF as a contact sheet so you can see them at the
same time in a thumbnail view.
Safari 4
Snow Leopard includes Safari 4, the latest version of Apple’s web browser. With this
UP TO version, Safari strengthens its industry leadership: Its Nitro JavaScript engine lets
50%FASTER
you enjoy blazingly faster browsing, even on the most demanding Web 2.0 sites.
In addition to the faster speed, Safari 4 includes a host of new features such as Full
History Search, Smart Search and Smart Address fields, and Top Sites—an innovative
way to quickly view the sites you visit most frequently.
64-bit technology in Snow Leopard

improves JavaScript performance in Top Sites
Safari 4 by up to 50 percent.2 Thanks to Top Sites, you can enjoy a stunning, at-a-glance preview of your favorite
websites that makes it easy to jump to a site with a single click. When you click a
website thumbnail, Safari expands the site full page so you can immediately start
browsing.
As you browse, Safari automatically recognizes your favorite websites based on
how often and how recently you have visited them. As you explore the web and
discover new sites, Safari automatically adjusts your Top Sites previews to match
your evolving interests.
Top Sites button. Just click the

Top Sites button in your Bookmarks
bar to get back to Top Sites, no
matter where you are.
Top Sites. A wall of graphical previews

makes it easy to find the site you want
to visit.
Customize Top Sites. Customize the

position and number of sites by clicking
the Edit button.
Fresh news. A star in the upper-right corner
of a site’s thumbnail image lets you know
the site has been updated.
Full History Search

Zero in quickly Even if you remember only a snippet of the text, page title, or web address of a
Safari stores all of the text from every site you’ve visited, Safari can find it. Safari stores all of the text from every page
page in your browser history, so you can in your browser history, so you can easily track down that article or posting that
instantly track down an article or post- caught your interest.
ing that you want to revisit. Of course,
you can prevent Safari from storing When you enter a term in the Full History Search field, Safari immediately starts
pages by using Private Browsing. delivering results using Cover Flow, so you can visually flip through websites to
quickly find the one you’re looking for. To start a full history search, just enter a
word or phrase in the Full History Search field in Top Sites.
Cover Flow. Flip through your history

just like you glide through album covers
in iTunes.
Clear History button. Clear your history

at any time by clicking the button.
Full History Search field. When you

enter a term, Safari searches the text
of every page in your browser history
to find matching results.
Smart Address and Search Fields

The redesigned address field in Safari 4 has been fine-tuned to make it even easier to
find the website you’re looking for. Simply enter an address and Safari displays a Top
Hit (the most likely match), the closest matches from your browsing history, and the
closest matches from your bookmarks.
Smart Search Field. When you enter

text, Safari recommends relevant
searches courtesy of Google Suggest
and your recent search history to help
you find what you’re looking for.
Smart Address Field. Just start typing and

Safari auto-completes the web address and
offers a list of useful suggestions.
Top Hit. Safari highlights the most likely

match, called the Top Hit, so you can get to
it with one click.
History. Safari provides a pull-down list

of relevant suggestions drawn from your
browsing history.
Bookmarks. In the same pull-down menu,

Safari lists sites from your bookmarks, so
you can jump to one without typing its
address.
Crash Resistant
Safari 4 in Snow Leopard is more resistant to crashes. Because browser plug-ins are
the number-one cause of crashes in Mac OS X, Safari has been redesigned so that
plug-ins run separately from the browser. Now if a plug-in crashes on a web page,
Safari keeps running.
If the plug-in crashes, Safari keeps running. Simply refresh the page to start the
plug-in again.
Universal Access
Every Mac comes standard with a wide range of assistive—or Universal Access—
technologies that help people with disabilities experience what the Mac has to offer.
Many of these unique features are built right into Mac OS X. Snow Leopard continues
this support with a host of innovative features that advance accessibility even further.
VoiceOver
With the release of Tiger in 2005, Mac OS X was the first operating system to include
a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver. More than just a simple text-to-speech tool,
VoiceOver makes its possible for those who are blind or have low vision to control and
enjoy their computer by using the keyboard. It features a unique voice called Alex—
based on speech technology invented by Apple—that delivers natural intonation and
amazing intelligibility even at speaking rates up to 700 words per minute. With Snow
Leopard, VoiceOver has become even more powerful and easy to use.
VoiceOver in Snow Leopard offers a breakthrough way to take control of your computer
even if you cannot see the screen, using gestures on the Multi-Touch trackpad on your
Mac notebook. The entire surface of the trackpad represents the active window on the
screen, with each corner representing absolute window coordinates.
By leveraging the incredible Multi-Touch trackpad, users who are blind or have low
vision can quickly move around in an active window or between different windows
by using simple gestures:
• Tap the trackpad to hear the various elements of the windows spoken to you.
• Drag your finger to hear items continuously as you move along the trackpad.
• Flick with one finger to move to the previous or next item.
• Touch the corresponding location to jump directly to an item in a window.
Braille Support
The Mac is the only computer that supports braille displays right out of the box. Just
plug in the display and you are ready to go. Snow Leopard improves upon this by
including the latest drivers for over 40 models, including wireless Bluetooth displays.
Snow Leopard also includes a new feature called braille mirroring that allows multiple
USB braille displays to be connected to one computer simultaneously. It’s perfect for
classroom settings, where teachers can lead all of their students through the same
lesson at the same time, even if the students are using different display models.
Web Browsing
Not only does VoiceOver provide a great screen reader that lets users hear about the
items in an application window, it also delivers a world-class web browsing experience
to those who are blind or have low vision. For these users, Snow Leopard offers new
capabilities that provide a much more intuitive way to browse the web.
VoiceOver begins reading an entire web page automatically after it loads, and you
can use key commands or Multi-Touch gestures to control VoiceOver as it’s talking.
To help you more quickly size up web pages you haven’t visited before, VoiceOver
can provide a customizable web page summary, including the title, number of tables,
headers, links, form elements, and more.
Snow Leopard fully supports HTML web tables without the need for a forms or table
mode. You navigate tables using the same commands you already know. You can hear
the contents of a table, including the column title and column and row number, by
dragging your finger across the trackpad or using simple keystrokes.
Exchange Support
More and more, people want to bring their Mac from home to work. Mac OS X has a
long history of compatibility with Windows environments. It can run Microsoft Office,
plug into Active Directory managed networks, connect to Windows file and printer
servers, and run native Windows applications using Boot Camp or virtualization
software. Apple is taking this compatibility one step further in Snow Leopard by
including built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007—something even
Windows PCs don’t have. Now you will be able to use your Mac at home and at work.
Mail, iCal, and Address Book in Snow Leopard support Exchange, giving you access to
your email, calendars, and contacts from the applications you already know and love.
Using the Autodiscovery feature in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, setup is a breeze,
so you will be up and running in no time. Mail, iCal, and Address Book work seamlessly
together so you can accept calendar invitations right in Mail, access your Exchange
contacts from iCal, or create a meeting with a group of contacts by simply dragging
the group folder into iCal. Snow Leopard includes the features you would expect from
Exchange—like email, calendar invitations, notes and tasks, and access to the Global
Address List—combined with powerful Mac features such as Spotlight, Quick Look, and
Data Detectors.
Simple Setup
Everything you expect Setting up your Mac for Exchange is a snap. If Autodiscovery is enabled on your
Snow Leopard support for Exchange Exchange Server 2007, all you do is enter your Exchange user name and password and
includes the features you expect to enjoy: Snow Leopard will grab all the pertinent information from the server and configure
• Email your settings, so you can start using your applications right away.6 Snow Leopard also
• Calendars supports manual configuration of your Exchange server settings, and remote setup
• Contacts
and access of Exchange through most VPN connections.
• Global Address List
• Invitations in email
• Notes
• Tasks
• Availability
Mail
Integration with Address Book Mail in Snow Leopard includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007,
Composing messages with Mail is a breeze. so now you can access your work email right alongside your personal mail in one
Mail has access to all of your contacts in application. Mail in Snow Leopard gives you full access to your messages, folders, and
Address Book and autocompletes names notes and tasks right from the Exchange Server—all while using the great features
directly from the Global Address List. in Mail like Spotlight, Quick Look, and Data Detectors.
Access your Exchange email right

alongside your personal mail.
Access notes and tasks from the

Exchange server.
Easily access the contents of your folders

from the Exchange server, which appear
in the Mail sidebar.
Instantly preview attachments without Use Spotlight to search through all of your
having to open them in a separate messages almost instantly to find the one
application using Quick Look. you are looking for. You can save your
searches as Smart Mailboxes.
View and respond to calendar invitations from within Mail.
Click the iCal icon to launch iCal and

view the invitation.
You can accept or decline a meeting

right from the email message.
iCal
Integration with Mail iCal is the elegant desktop calendar application in Mac OS X that makes it easy to keep
With iCal, you can send a meeting invitation the events in your life organized. With Exchange support in Snow Leopard, you can
to people outside of your organization in now view your work events and your personal activities in one convenient location.
addition to your Exchange contacts using
email. They will receive an .ics attachment
that, when opened, will add the appointment
to their iCal calendar.
View your Exchange calendars

alongside your personal calendars.
You can view them all at the same
time or one calendar at a time.
View and reply to calendar invitations.
Check availability for everyone invited Create calendar invitations and use the
to the meeting. If someone is busy, iCal inspector to add contacts from the Global
automatically finds the next available Address List and your local contacts in
time when everyone is free. Address Book. Invitations are automatically
sent via email.
Schedule meeting rooms and resources.
Address Book
Simple scheduling of groups Address Book in Mac OS X gives you a central location to store your contact informa-
Access your contact groups from the tion, where it can be accessed from almost any application, including Mail, iCal, and
Exchange server so you can easily send an iChat. In Snow Leopard, you can also access your Exchange contacts and search the
email or invitation to a group of people. Global Address List.
Search the Global

Address List to locate
Along with your personal contacts, contact information.
access your Exchange contacts from
the server.
Create custom Address Book groups

from your contacts, making it a cinch to
send an email or invitation to a group
of people.
New Technologies
Every new Mac ships with a new generation of hardware that includes gigabytes of
RAM, 64-bit dual-core processors, and graphics processing units that are capable of
enormous raw processing power. Snow Leopard includes advanced technologies that
enable developers to take advantage of this incredible hardware in their applications.
These technologies make Mac OS X Snow Leopard the world’s most advanced
operating system and set up the Mac for future innovation.
64-Bit Computing
All major system applications are 64-bit Snow Leopard takes advantage of the 64-bit processors in every new Mac, delivering
In Snow Leopard, all major system all major system applications in 64-bit—and enabling them to run faster and address
applications—including the Finder, Mail, all of the physical memory in the computer.3 Snow Leopard makes the transition to
Safari, iCal, and iChat—are now built with 64-bit simple, with one version of the operating system that runs both 64-bit and
64-bit code. So not only are they able to 32-bit applications.
take full advantage of all the memory in
your Mac, but the move to 64-bit applications Breaking the 4GB barrier
also boosts overall performance. Today’s Mac systems can be configured with up to 32GB of memory; however, any
32-bit application on the system can access only up to 4GB of memory at a time.
The 64-bit computing shatters this barrier by enabling applications to address a
theoretical maximum of 16 billion gigabytes of memory.
Increased performance
In addition to addressing massive amounts of memory, 64-bit also delivers increased
speed. The 64-bit applications can crunch up to twice the data per clock cycle,
dramatically speeding up numeric calculations. In fact, math operations in Snow
Leopard are up to two times faster than with 32-bit operations.
Faster with 64-bit
Safari JavaScript 1.5x
QuickTime Player 1.3x

launch
Open a large PDF 1.2x
Baseline 1.0x
Times faster than 32-bit
Testing conducted by Apple in August 2009 comparing prerelease Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard with shipping Mac OS X v10.5.8
Leopard. Testing was conducted on a shipping 2.0GHz MacBook system and a shipping 2.66GHz iMac system, both configured
with 2GB of RAM. JavaScript benchmarks based on the SunSpider Performance test. Performance will vary based on system
configuration, network connection, and other factors. These tests reflect the approximate performance of Mac OS X.
More secure
Beyond the performance benefits of 64-bit, Snow Leopard takes advantage of features
in the underlying 64-bit hardware to improve security, adding extra protection to help
prevent certain types of malicious code from ever running. The 64-bit applications
benefit from a more secure function argument-passing mechanism and the use of
hardware-based execute disable for heap memory that helps protect their data. In
addition, memory on the system heap is marked using strengthened checksums,
helping to prevent attacks that rely on corrupting memory.
Easy transition
The goal at Apple has been to make the move to 64-bit computing as simple as possible
for the user. Since Jaguar, Apple has been adding 64-bit capabilities to Mac OS X, and
throughout this transition there has always been a single compatible version of Mac OS X
running both 32-bit and 64-bit native applications side by side. In addition, Mac OS X
enables developers to deliver their applications as a single version that runs on both
64-bit and 32-bit Mac systems. This has resulted in a seamless transition; users have
not had to deal with the complexity of choosing between 32- and 64-bit versions of
Mac OS X or between 32- and 64-bit versions of applications.
Snow Leopard takes the next big step in the transition to 64-bit, making Mac OS X
faster, more secure, and completely ready for the future.

Historically, microprocessors have gained speed by running at faster and faster clock
speeds. Consequently, software has run faster as the clock speeds increased—without
programmers having to do any additional work. However, processor clock speeds
began to reach a limit because power consumption and heat became problematic.
Because of these issues, CPU vendors shifted their focus from increasing clock speed
to putting multiple processor cores into a single CPU. CPUs with multiple cores can
deliver more performance while consuming less power than CPUs running at higher
clock speeds, but software does not automatically run faster on multicore processors.
Benefits of GCD To harness the full power of multicore processors, software developers must use a
Grand Central Dispatch provides a wealth special programming technology called threads. Threads are a way of splitting up
of benefits across the system: improved a program such that multiple processors or cores can work on different parts of an
responsiveness, dynamic scaling, better application at the same time. Each application is responsible for creating and manag-
processor utilization, and cleaner code.
ing its own threads, and applications that create too many or too few threads for a
given system and workload can reduce the overall efficiency of the system. Because
threads can be difficult to program, many developers don’t invest the time to make
their applications multicore aware, resulting in applications that don’t take advantage
of the power of multicore systems.
Built-in support for multicore

Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) in Snow Leopard solves these problems with a
revolutionary, pervasive approach to multicore processing that builds multicore
right into the operating system. Because it is built into Mac OS X at the most
fundamental level, GCD not only can simplify how developers build their code
to take advantage of multicore processors, but also can deliver better performance
and efficiency than traditional thread approaches. With GCD, threads are handled
by the operating system rather than the individual applications.
Threads in Leopard Mail New model for programming multicore

In Leopard, Mail uses the same number of Snow Leopard makes it much easier for developers to harness the power of multicore
threads when idle or busy. processors in their applications. GCD gives developers a simple way to describe the
different pieces of work that applications need to do, and an easy way to describe
Busy
how those pieces might be dependent upon one another. Units of work are described
as blocks in the code, while queues are used to organize blocks based on how they
need to be executed. By using blocks and queues, developers no longer need to worry
Idle
about threads, thread managers, or locking data. Mac OS X handles all of that.
Threads in Snow Leopard Mail Comprehensive

In Snow Leopard, Mail uses more threads GCD is deeply integrated into Mac OS X, providing a comprehensive multicore
when it needs them; but when idle, it implementation that gives developers everything they need to take advantage of
releases those valuable system resources multicore in their applications. This includes the following:
for another application to use.
• Language extension to C, C++, and Objective-C
• An efficient, scalable runtime engine
Busy
• A rich, low-level system API and a convenient, high-level Cocoa API
• Sophisticated analysis and debugging tools
Idle With Grand Central Dispatch, Snow Leopard delivers a new foundation on which
Apple and third-party developers can innovate to exploit the enormous power of
today’s hardware as well as the hardware of the future.
Scalable, e∑cient engine

GCD has a scalable, multicore execution engine that automatically adjusts the
workload of an application based on the number of cores in a system. This allows
GCD-based applications—and the entire operating system—to efficiently scale from
a system like a dual-core Mac mini to an 8-core Mac Pro without requiring developers
to do any manual tuning.
GCD is also extremely efficient, dynamically scaling the number of threads used to
execute an application. For example, without GCD, if an application needs 20 threads
when at maximum capacity, it might set up 20 threads and consume the associated
resources even when it has nothing to do. GCD, by contrast, frees resources when it’s
not using them, allowing them to be used by another application and helping to keep
the whole system more responsive.
OpenCL
Modern graphics processing units (GPUs) have evolved from single-purpose chips
into flexible processors that offer levels of performance once reserved for room-size
supercomputers. OpenCL is a new API, language, and runtime in Mac OS X Snow
Leopard that lets any application tap into the vast computing power of the GPU,
opening up incredible performance opportunities.
Variety of applications Each new generation of GPUs pushes the graphics-rendering envelope forward by
OpenCL brings parallel computation to delivering increased realism, fidelity, and resolution. As a result, today’s GPUs are
accelerate a wide range of applications, from capable of rendering billions of pixels per second. In fact, GPUs are performing
entertainment software to scientific solutions operations at supercomputer performance levels, with the fastest GPUs performing
to image and video processing, and it handles around 1 trillion computations per second (1 teraflop). To harness the incredible power
both task- and data-parallel computing.
of these GPUs, developers use a programming standard called OpenGL. However,
because OpenGL is designed specifically for graphics rendering, GPUs have been
limited to graphics-related applications such as games and 3D software—even though
they possess the power to do so much more.
GPU Performance Growth
Gflops
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Source: NVIDIA
Apple realized that the trends in GPU designs offered an incredible opportunity to
take the GPU beyond graphics. All that was needed was a nongraphics API that could
engage the emerging programmable aspects of the GPU and access its immense
power. OpenCL is that technology, delivering the means for any application to access
the supercomputer-like performance of the modern GPU.
Optimized
With OpenCL, developers do not have to worry about which graphics card is in a
particular Mac. It automatically optimizes for the kind of graphics processor in the Mac,
adjusting itself to the available processing power. OpenCL provides IEEE 754–based
numeric precision and accuracy, fixing a problem that has hampered GPU-based
programming in the past.
Easy to adopt
OpenCL uses a C-based programming language with a structure that will be familiar
to programmers, who can simply use Xcode developer tools to adapt their programs
to work with OpenCL. Developers don’t have to completely rewrite applications to use
OpenCL—they need only rewrite the most performance-intensive parts in OpenCL C.
The vast majority of application code can be left unchanged.
Khronos OpenCL working group Open standard

3DLABS, Activision Blizzard, AMD, Apple, While initially developing OpenCL, Apple realized that the technology offered an
ARM, Broadcom, Codeplay, Electronic opportunity for the industry to work together to define a standard for parallel
Arts, Ericsson, Freescale, Fujitsu, GE, programming. With the support of AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA, Apple proposed OpenCL
Graphic Remedy, HI, IBM, Imagination
to the Khronos Group consortium as the basis for a new standard. Demonstrating the
Technologies, Intel, Los Alamos National
strength of the proposal, OpenCL was expanded to include digital signal processors
Laboratory, Motorola, Movidia, Nokia,
(DSPs) and other specialized processor architectures. It was ratified as a royalty-free
NVIDIA, Petapath, QNX, Qualcomm,
RapidMind, Samsung, Seaweed Systems, open standard in December 2008.
S3, STMicroelectronics, Takumi Technology, Mac OS X Snow Leopard ushers in a new generation of computing performance
Texas Instruments, and Toshiba. with OpenCL. Using this powerful new technology, Mac developers can easily tap into
the incredible performance potential of the GPU for more than just graphics tasks.
Performance
Snow Leopard delivers a number of performance improvements across the entire

system that accelerate the things you do on your Mac every day. Here are some
key areas where you’ll notice the improvements:
Faster at Common Tasks

Up to 2x faster than Leopard
Wake from sleep 2.0x
Shut down 1.8x
Baseline 1.0x
Times faster than Leopard
A More Responsive Finder

Up to 1.8x faster than Leopard
PDF icon refresh 1.8x
JPEG icon refresh 1.4x
Baseline 1.0x
Speedier Initial Backup of Time Machine to Time Capsule

Snow Leopard 1.8x
Baseline 1.0x
with 2GB of RAM. Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection, and other factors. These tests reflect
the approximate performance of Mac OS X.
Faster Installation
Snow Leopard 1.5x
Baseline 1.0x
Leopard. Testing was conducted on a production 2.16GHz MacBook system and a production 2.4GHz iMac system, both configured
with 1GB of RAM. Performance will vary based on system configuration, data sets, and other factors. These tests reflect the
approximate performance of Mac OS X.
Improved Mail Performance

Up to 2x faster than Leopard
Move messages 2.0x
Search 2.0x
Launch 2.0x
Baseline 1.0x
Improved Preview Performance

Open JPEG 2.3x
Open PDF 1.4x
Baseline 1.0x
Other Refinements
iChat
Snow Leopard makes the world’s best video chat more reliable and more accessible
than ever. iChat includes technology to address many common router incompatibilities,
ensuring a successful connection for video chats.7 The bandwidth requirement for
640-by-480 video chat has been reduced from 900 Kbps to 300 Kbps, and iChat
Theater now offers 640-by-480 resolution, four times greater than before.
Chinese Character Input

Snow Leopard offers a breakthrough new way to enter Chinese characters by
leveraging the Multi-Touch trackpad on a Mac notebook. Simply draw the character
on the trackpad and it will appear onscreen in a new input window that recommends
characters based on what you draw. Just tap the trackpad to choose the right
character. The input window even offers suggestions for subsequent characters
based on the one you choose.
Text Substitution
Snow Leopard includes support for text substitution in applications such as Mail, iChat,
Safari, and TextEdit. Text substitution lets you create shortcuts for phrases you use
frequently, which expand automatically as you type. Common substitutions are built
in—for example, (c) changes to a copyright symbol (©) and fractions convert to the
smaller-style fractions (1/2 to ½). You can also add your own substitutions; for example,
“pnc” can expand to “privileged and confidential,” and your initials can expand to
your full name. Text substitution can be configured in the Language and Text pane of
System Preferences and can be enabled in each application.
All-New Thesaurus
Snow Leopard includes the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus, Second Edition. New
features help you to differentiate between easily confused words, and find the right
shade of meaning. The thesaurus also provides the words in context and gives you
background on words through the writing of well-known authors.
Services
The Services menu in Snow Leopard has been reinvented to provide more streamlined,
simplified, and helpful options. The menu is contextual, showing you only the services
relevant to the application or content you are viewing. Access services by right-clicking
a file or selection. You can configure which services appear in System Preferences and
even create your own services using Automator.
Automatic Updates for Printers

To help you get the most from your printer, Snow Leopard makes sure you always
have the most up-to-date printer driver. When you plug in your printer, Mac OS X
can download the driver from the Internet. It also periodically checks to make sure
you have the latest version of the software; if not, it downloads the newest version
through Software Update.
Quick, Reliable Eject

Mac OS X has probably informed you more than once that a disc or external drive
could not be ejected because it was in use. Now Snow Leopard improves the process,
so you’ll get fewer of these error messages; and if you do get one, a dialog tells you
which application is using the drive so you can quit it and eject the disc or external
drive properly.
More Efficient File Sharing

The Bonjour technology in Mac OS X makes file and media sharing a breeze, without
the need for complex setup. Plus, Bonjour in Snow Leopard makes sharing more energy
efficient. Previously, if you had a computer at your home or office that shared files, you
would have to leave the computer on all of the time, an inefficient use of energy. In
Snow Leopard, with a compatible Airport Extreme or Time Capsule base station, your
Mac can go to sleep while continuing to share files, waking only when you need it and
sleeping when you don’t.
Core Location
Snow Leopard uses Core Location technology to locate known Wi-Fi hotspots to
determine your current location.8 Using this information, it automatically sets the
appropriate time zone in System Preferences—so no matter where in the world you
are, your Mac will be set to the right time. Core Location also lets developers build
location-awareness into their applications.
To see a list of the refinements in Snow Leopard, visit
www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html.
Product Details
Pricing and Availability

Leopard users can upgrade to Snow Leopard for $29; the Mac OS X Family Pack,
which includes a five-computer license, is $49.9 Both can be purchased from the
Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/store), Apple Retail Stores, and Apple Authorized
Resellers. Volume licensing and maintenance programs for customers who need
10 or more licenses are available directly from Apple.
Anyone running a Mac with an Intel processor can purchase the Mac Box Set, which
includes Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard; iLife ’09, with the latest versions of iPhoto,
iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD; and iWork ’09, Apple’s productivity suite for
home and office including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.
How to Upgrade
Upgrading to Snow Leopard is easy, fast, and preserves all of your data, so you are
ready to go as soon as the upgrade is done.
To install Snow Leopard on your Mac, insert the DVD, double-click the installer icon,
and follow the onscreen instructions.
To install Snow Leopard on a MacBook Air without an attached DVD drive, insert the
Snow Leopard DVD in a Mac or PC and enable “DVD or CD Sharing” in the Sharing
preferences on the MacBook Air. Select the remote disk in the sidebar of the Finder,
double-click the installer, and follow the onscreen instructions.
General System Requirements

• Mac computer with an Intel processor
• 1GB of memory
• 5GB of free space
• A DVD drive for installation
• Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
• Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
Feature-Specific Requirements
iChat
• Audio chats require a microphone and a 56-Kbps Internet connection.
• Video chats require an iSight camera (built-in or external), USB video class (UVC)
camera, or FireWire DV camcorder; and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream
Internet connection.
• Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and
white balance.
• Some iChat features offer better performance and quality with higher system
capabilities.
Exchange support
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 4
• Auto-setup requires enabling the Autodiscovery feature of Microsoft Exchange Server.
QuickTime X movie capture

iSight camera (built-in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire
DV camcorder
QuickTime H.264 hardware acceleration

Mac with a NVIDIA 9400M graphics processor
Developer tools
An additional 3GB of available disk space
OpenCL
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, GeForce 9400M,
GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, or GeForce GT 130; or ATI Radeon 4850
or Radeon 4870
64-bit support
Mac with a 64-bit processor

Mac with a multicore processor
What’s Included with Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard

Applications
• Address Book
• Automator
• Calculator
• Chess
• Dashboard
• Dictionary
• DVD Player
• Font Book
• Front Row
• iCal
• iChat
• Image Capture
• iSync
• iTunes
• Mail
• Photo Booth
• Preview
• QuickTime Player Languages

• Safari • English
• Stickies • Japanese
• System Preferences • French
• TextEdit • German
• Time Machine • Spanish
• Italian
Development • Dutch
• Apache web server • Swedish
• AppleScript • Danish
• AppleScript Studio • Norwegian
• Automator 2 • Finnish
• Complete Java JDK, including javac, • Traditional Chinese
javadoc, ANT, and Maven tools • Simplified Chinese
• Dashcode • Korean
• DTrace (original project by Sun) • Brazilian Portuguese
• GCC compiler and toolset • Portuguese (Portugal)
(original project by FSF.org) • Russian
• Instruments • Polish
• Perl
• PHP Utilities
• Python • Activity Monitor
• Ruby and the Ruby on Rails frameworks • AirPort Utility
• Shark • AppleScript Editor
• SQLite • Audio MIDI Setup
• Xcode 3 IDE with Interface Builder 3 • Bluetooth File Exchange
• Boot Camp Assistant
Key technologies • ColorSync Utility
• AppleScript • Console
• Aqua • DigitalColor Meter
• Bonjour • Disk Utility
• CDSA security architecture • Exposé
• Cocoa, Carbon, and Java • Grab
• ColorSync • Grapher
• Core Animation • Java Preferences
• Core Audio • Keychain Access
• Core Image • Migration Assistant
• Core Video • Network Utility
• Grand Central Dispatch • Podcast Capture
• H.264 • RAID Utility
• Inkwell • Remote Install Mac OS X
• OpenCL • Script Utility
• OpenGL • Spaces
• PDF • System Profiler
• Quartz Extreme • Terminal
• QuickTime X • VoiceOver Utility
• 64-bit computing • X11
• Sync
• Unicode 5.1
• Universal Access
• UNIX
• USB and FireWire peripheral support
• Xgrid
1Testing
For More Information conducted by Apple in August 2009 comparing prerelease Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard with shipping Mac OS X v10.5.8
Leopard. Testing was conducted on a production 2.16GHz MacBook system and a production 2.4GHz iMac system, both configured
with 1GB of RAM. Performance will vary based on system configuration, data sets, and other factors. These tests reflect the approxi-
For more information about Mac OS X v10.6 mate performance of Mac OS X. 2Testing conducted by Apple in August 2009 comparing prerelease Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard, visit www.apple.com/macosx. with shipping Mac OS X v10.5.8 Leopard. Testing was conducted on a shipping 2.0GHz MacBook system and a shipping 2.66GHz
iMac system, both configured with 2GB of RAM. JavaScript benchmarks based on the SunSpider Performance test. Performance
will vary based on system configuration, network connection, and other factors. These tests reflect the approximate performance
of Mac OS X. 3All system applications except DVD Player, Front Row, Grapher, and iTunes have been rewritten in 64-bit. 4Based on
4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; actual capacity varies by encoding method and bit rate. 5The MobileMe service
is available to persons age 13 and older. Annual subscription fee and Internet access required. Terms of service apply. 6Requires
Autodiscovery feature of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. 7Video chatting requires a broadband Internet connection; fees may
apply. 8Location information depends on data collected by third parties. These data services are subject to change and may not
be available in all geographic areas, resulting in location information that may be unavailable, inaccurate, or incomplete. 9Prices
are Apple Store prices as of August 2009, do not include taxes or shipping, are subject to change, and are listed in U.S. dollars.
© 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, AirPort, AirPort Extreme, AppleScript, Apple TV, Aqua, Bonjour,
Boot Camp, Carbon, Cocoa, ColorSync, Cover Flow, Exposé, FireWire, GarageBand, iCal, iChat, iDVD, iLife, iMac, iMovie, iPhoto, iPod,
iPod touch, iTunes, iWork, Jaguar, Keychain, Keynote, Leopard, Mac, MacBook, MacBook Air, Mac OS, Numbers, Pages, Photo Booth,
Quartz, QuickTime, the QuickTime logo, Safari, Spotlight, SuperDrive, Tiger, Time Capsule, Time Machine, Xcode, and Xgrid are
trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Finder, iPhone, iWeb, Multi-Touch, OpenCL, and Snow Leopard
are trademarks of Apple Inc. Apple Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. MobileMe is a
service mark of Apple Inc. The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use
of such marks by Apple is under license. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corp. in the U.S. and other countries. Java and all Java-based
trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. OpenGL
is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. Other product and company
names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Product specifications are subject to change without
notice. This material is provided for information purposes only; Apple assumes no liability related to its use.
August 2009 L414798A

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Page 4 Quick Look at Snow Leopard

Page 18 Universal Access

Page 20 Exchange Support

Page 23 New Technologies

Page 29 Other Refinements

Page 31 Product Details

Easily reorganize your windows

Exposé is more convenient than ever in To select a window, simply click

Folder navigation arrow

A more responsive Finder

With the enhanced icon view that

Change the default behavior of Spotlight

Greater color accuracy

Click the Play button to preview the new clip.

Video and screen capture

PDF Text Selection

Snow Leopard solves this problem by applying sophisticated artificial intelligence

Import from Scanner

New Annotations Toolbar

Higher-Quality Image Scaling

Contact Sheet View

64-bit technology in Snow Leopard

Top Sites button. Just click the

Top Sites. A wall of graphical previews

Customize Top Sites. Customize the

Full History Search

Cover Flow. Flip through your history

Clear History button. Clear your history

Full History Search field. When you

Smart Address and Search Fields

Smart Search Field. When you enter

Smart Address Field. Just start typing and

Top Hit. Safari highlights the most likely

History. Safari provides a pull-down list

Bookmarks. In the same pull-down menu,

Access your Exchange email right

Access notes and tasks from the

Easily access the contents of your folders

View and respond to calendar invitations from within Mail.

Click the iCal icon to launch iCal and

You can accept or decline a meeting

View your Exchange calendars

View and reply to calendar invitations.

Schedule meeting rooms and resources.

Search the Global

Create custom Address Book groups

Faster with 64-bit

Safari JavaScript 1.5x

QuickTime Player 1.3x

Open a large PDF 1.2x

Times faster than 32-bit

Grand Central Dispatch

Built-in support for multicore

Threads in Leopard Mail New model for programming multicore

Threads in Snow Leopard Mail Comprehensive

Scalable, e∑cient engine

GPU Performance Growth

Khronos OpenCL working group Open standard

Snow Leopard delivers a number of performance improvements across the entire

Faster at Common Tasks

Wake from sleep 2.0x

Shut down 1.8x

Times faster than Leopard

Snow Leopard Reviewer's Guide

Snow Leopard Reviewer's Guide