Apple: Mac OS X Leopard leaps October 26; Everyone gets ‘Ultimate’ version for just $129

Apple today announced that Mac OS X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6pm at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac.

“Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we’ve ever released,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in the press release. “And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate’ version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129.”

Leopard’s new desktop includes the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks, a new way to organize files for quick and easy access with just one click. Leopard automatically places web, email and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop, and users can instantly fan the contents of this and other Stacks into an elegant arc right from the Dock. Users can also create their own Stacks for quick access to folders, documents or applications. Leopard’s gorgeous new look extends to all applications, with every window on the desktop offering a consistent design theme and active windows outlined by deeper shadows that make them stand out.

The updated Finder includes Cover Flow and a new sidebar with a dramatically simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Content on any computer on a local network can now be searched using Spotlight, browsed using Cover Flow or copied across the network with a simple drag and drop. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their remote Macs over the Internet.

Quick Look is the fastest and easiest way for users to look inside files without launching them or even having the application that created them. With Quick Look, users can instantly view full-screen, high-resolution files of virtually anything, even media files, from any view in the Finder.

Spaces gives users a powerful new way to organize their work by creating customized desktops which can contain only those applications or documents needed for each project, with the ability to quickly switch between Spaces with the mouse or keyboard.

Time Machine lets users easily back up all of the data on their Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it’s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine data on an external drive.

Mail has been updated in Leopard and features more than 30 stationery designs and layouts that look great on a Windows PC or Mac so users can easily send stylish, personalized emails with beautiful graphics and photos. Notes and To Dos help users stay organized by acting just like emails that can be easily created, saved as drafts, synced across multiple Macs and stored in Smart Mailboxes. Data detectors automatically sense phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be added to Address Book or iCal with just a few clicks, and users can keep up-to-date by getting the latest news and blog feeds delivered directly to the their mailboxes with a built-in RSS reader.

iChat, the easiest-to-use video conferencing application on any personal computer, offers even richer video chats in Leopard with iChat Theater, which makes it easy to show photos, presentations, videos or files in a video conference; screen sharing which lets users remotely view and operate another Mac; and Photo Booth effects for fun distortions and video backdrops that can instantly make users appear to be anywhere they choose.

Other new features in Leopard include:

• improved Parental Controls, aiding parents in managing their kids’ online activities with automatic identification of unsuitable content before allowing website access, plus time limits and activity logs that can be accessed from any Mac on a home network
• the complete Boot Camp release, previously available only as a beta, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs
• Web Clip, bringing anything that a user wants from a web page to Dashboard as a live widget
• new Photo Booth features, helping users create animated iChat buddy icons or fun effects and backdrops with still or video images
• an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap
• a newly updated iCal with multi-user calendaring based on the new CalDAV standard
• an updated version of Front Row, making it even easier to play music or watch movies, TV shows and photos on a Mac using the Apple Remote.

Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of US$129 for a single user license, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple’s online store starting today. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-household, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $199. Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95. Leopard requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM and is designed to run on any Macintosh computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor. Full system requirements can be found at http://www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs

Pre-order Mac OS X Leopard now from the Apple Store. Just $129. Free Shipping.

153 Comments

  1. Apple is really starting to shaft the educational market. The EDU price for 10.5 is only $3 cheaper than the regular box… I remember the days when the EDU OS X would cost $69… So this marks the loss of the EDU discount on iPods and now software… Too bad.

  2. OK, I understand why they did the 6 PM deal with iPhone………
    Does this mean that there will be some type of registration, download/update, or some new feature that they don’t want to overwhelm the servers with…….like rentals?

  3. “Though that is a preorder price maybe once its out the education dicount price will be back to normal.”

    You’re probably right. Apple has a history of setting the initial price high and lowering it once all the fanboys have brought.

  4. While my wife is a teacher and we qualiry for the education discount, the odering process is flawed as anyone can say they teach for a school and get the discount. Heck, you only have to say you home school and get the discount. I found that kind of odd. I do believe people have taken this discount when they don’t deserve it.

    It doesn’t bother me going away as long as they fix. Make people prove it somehow.

  5. Wow. Leopard. I’m scared.

    What I don’t get is why does Apple go through the trouble to schedule a date and time for this crap. Nobody is going to show up so Apple can simply litter the shelves of their retail stores for snobby gay people with their “OS” quietly and without the embarrassment of scheduling a party which no one will attend.

    This is a bold move especially considering the massive runaway success of Microsoft’s Vista launch. I still have a warm feeling from the pleasant camaraderie experienced in the line to get Vista. Hordes of super cool Windows users talking about what matters: saving money and playing games. What a night.

    Your potential. Our passion.™

    MDN word: month, as in The lack of interest in Leopard will force Apple to close its doors in a month.

  6. To all of you whiners complaining about the educational price:

    1) How many of you are legitimate edu customers, and how many of you just want to pay less?

    2) What is Microsoft’s price for Vista Ultimate to the educational community? Yeah, I thought so…

  7. Just got off the phone with the Apple Store. I guess refurbished macs don’t qualify for the Leopard upgrade. That stinks. The woman I spoke to also insisted that I needed 2 gigs of ram to run leopard. Even after I gave her the address to the tech specs page for Leopard, she still insisted that I needed 2 gigs and 1 gig wasn’t enough. Oy vey.

  8. If Mac OS X had all the features of Vista Ultimate, it might be fair to claim that everybody was getting the “Ultimate” version.

    Ultimate version of Mac OS X maybe. As once Steve finishes migrating you all, the next version will be Mac OS XI Vista.

  9. I like how each new screen saver is counted individually as one of the 300+ “new” features.

    Maybe the screen savers are part of the top secret features?? I haven’t seen them mentioned on the rumor sites or touted in the dev. builds…

  10. “I was in Montreal Apple store last month and I knew about Macs more than the sales guy.”

    Most of the salespeople in mac stores are kids who don’t know anything about the machines. The appleGENIUS is the person you want to talk to. But, the GENIUSES know as much or less then i do about the OS and or the machines.

    Where are the secret features to leopard? these don’t exist right?

  11. Oh boy!

    Time to get that big external hard drive for Time Machine!
    Maybe a RAID drive would be best, just in case…

    Will Time Machine work wirelessly with a hard drive attached to my Airport Extreme? if so, I hope it’ll run on my old 1ghz TiBook. The MBP? No problem…

    I’ve got no problem ponying-up the $129, but I should actually qualify for an educational discount, since I DO teach a real class.

  12. That stinks that they basically took away the education discount. I don’t blame them since there are many people that don’t qualify but lie about it. We actually do qualify.

    However, I bought a Mac Book Pro with a purchase date of Oct 2 so I just ordered through the up to date program for $10.

  13. Man, this is the first OS X release where I’d qualify for the educational discount and it’s gone. Oh well, I’ll be able to split the cost of the $199 family pack with people I’m living with.

    “an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap”

    YES! I’ve wanted this for a long time, I even sent in a feature request a while ago. I look things up on wikipedia a lot, and I thought it should be as easy as the dictionary feature.

    MDN MW: Clear, as in, “the road is now clear for all those who were waiting for Leopard to buy a new mac! Expect to see massive mac sales this next quarter!”

  14. Was just watching CNBC. They were talking with 3 analysts, discussing Tech outlooks and specifically Intel and PC shipments. Mark Haynes (CNBC host and NOT a tech-savvy guy) asked if Apple’s announcement of Leopard shipping would affect PC shipments. When one analyst replied “no, Apple’s good news will lift all boats”, Mark Haynes paused and then replied “I don’t know about that. I’m getting an Apple. I’ve seen enough Blue Screens Of Death to last a lifetime”. Coming from an “average Joe” user like Mark Haynes, this is shocking. Made me smile, big time.

  15. LOL… everyone gets Ultimate Version. Unlike the Windows suckers who bought 1 of the 7 different versions that MS tricked them into buying thinking each is unique, we get one price, one ultimate version. Hey Windows users, that unique feature was just watered down version of Vista Ultimate Stupidity.

  16. Oh no! Even the enhanced Dictionary couldn’t prevent Apple from the sin of misspelling! Leopard is doomed!

    “(Bonjour) Holisticly provide access to ethical communities vis-a-vis client-focused.”

    (No, it’s not “communities”) ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Also, i know my English is not perfect but can someone pls tell me what the heck that sentence means? Its on this page. Thanks!

  17. Apple/Leopard web site not working on Safari or any other browser… hope it’s not a preview of how well Leopard is working. Or not.
    Oct 16, 07 – 10:54 am

    Works fine on the new Navigator, I’m trying it.

  18. Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and its 300-plus new features and innovations are coming Oct. 26, 2007.

    If you buy a qualifying Mac between October 1, 2007 and December 29, 2007, and it does not include Mac OS X Leopard, you’re eligible to get Leopard after it’s released for just $9.95 plus tax.

    How to get Leopard
    Click here for more information.

  19. This release, as well as tech specs, indicate that screen sharing through iChat (not just the Finder) is back!!! It disappeared from Apple’s Leopard pages for a while, but now it’s back–HOT DOG!! If that really means it can be done over the internet, not just on a local LAN, that will be a BIG productivity boost for our small company!!
    MW: “order”–no kidding!!

  20. Surpirse, eh, the canadian price for Leopard is the same as in the US, eh. Now, eh, if Apple Canada can only roll back the prices of their other stuff to reflect the reality that the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar, eh, I’ll be as happy as people in the rest of the world with an iPhone, eh eh (Rogers eh, get your act together, hint hint … eh).

  21. What I don’t get is why does Apple go through the trouble to schedule a date and time for this crap. Nobody is going to show up so Apple can simply litter the shelves of their retail stores for snobby gay people with their “OS” quietly and without the embarrassment of scheduling a party which no one will attend.

    On top of it all, Zune Tang now reveals himself to be a homophobe – not funny, ZT… which is a shame, because it used to be.

  22. I’m betting that the educational discount isn’t that low for pre-orders, but may drop down once it is officially released. Either way I’m having to wait, don’t have the funds in the budget to purchase it this month (Ratchet & Clank on PS3 come first, if not by much).

    Hopefully after release (maybe a week after, maybe even a month or more) the student discount will go back down. I just hope it goes down before I stop being a student!

  23. Zune Tang’s comments are inappropriate (and off topic). MDN constantly turns a blind eye to the comments left on their site. It reflects poorly that they consistently allow derogatory comments to remain on their site indefinitely. This isn’t an isolated occurrence, but is ongoing, with incidents happening every week.

    MDN: It would be wise to start cleaning up the off-topic, inappropriate comments before this matter is brought to the attention of your advertisers. I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy to know their ad dollars are being spent on a racist, homophobic, bigoted haven.

    How ironic, the MDN Magic word: Class. Something MDN sorely lacks.

  24. @ “@ZuneTang” and “MDN condones…”: Dude, have you still not gotten that Zune Tang is satire? In this case satirizing the nutjobs here that keep breaking out the “gay” thing here? I’m gay, and because I get it, I’m not offended. There are others who have posted here, however, that really are homophobic. You guys just happen to be getting upset about the wrong one.

    MW: social, this one’s for you ZT baby! Call me! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  25. “So where are the secret features that Jobs said they didn’t want Redmond to know about?”

    What Jobs meant is that he didn’t want Redmond to know how much he was copying them with features like Time Machine and the new Vista-esque Finder.

    Let’s face it, when Apple is reduced to this crap pile of features, it’s time to shut down the company and give the money back to the shareholders.

  26. @MacSheikh

    Oh no! Even the enhanced Dictionary couldn’t prevent Apple from the sin of misspelling! Leopard is doomed!

    “(Bonjour) Holisticly provide access to ethical communities vis-a-vis client-focused.”

    (No, it’s not “communities”) wink

    Also, i know my English is not perfect but can someone pls tell me what the heck that sentence means? Its on this page. Thanks!

    I couldn’t find that sentence (nor any like it) anywhere near that page.

  27. I never saw an answer to IFF’s question — Does anybody know if new Macs purchased on or after Oct. 26 ship with Leopard? I have been waiting for Leopard to come out before I get my new Mac (and waiting for a miniPro, but that’s another story) so I don’t have to purchase it a few weeks later.

  28. Hooray! A new feature of the Dictionary app: Front and Back Matter “Access a wealth of content found in the front and back matter for the New Oxford American Dictionary, such as grammar, spelling, and pronunciation guides.”

    This could go a long way towards more intelligible posts on the MDN site. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

  29. @ Jeff

    What the #%&@! Now it says “Network your computers and smart devices instantly.”

    I knew i should have taken a screenshot or something. Nevermind then, i guess. And thanks. Wierd though…am i the only one who caught it?

  30. Re: Secret Features

    Think these have all been revealed by now (back to Mac, ZFS Read-Only — the usefulness of which still is unfathomable to me, etc.) or are there others?

    Seems like they’d have a special event if there was more to say…

    And what about iPhone ty-ins? You’d think they’d want to get all up in our piece to talk that up…

    oDd.

  31. @ John B

    For all interested, Leopard Up-To-Date Program:

    “Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer on or after October 1, 2007 that does have not Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard included can upgrade to Leopard.”

    Details here. Hope this helps.

  32. “They need to stop hiring “Shirt Folders” and get back to hiring passionate Mac users.”

    Apple experimented with Passionate Mac Users, but found they spent too much time frothing at the mouth and biting customers who owned Windows PCs.

    Since most of Apple’s business these days is in peripherals for Windows PCs (iPods) they just couldn’t have that.

  33. “I like how each new screen saver is counted individually as one of the 300+ “new” features.”

    Heck, if it were me, I’d count each possible frame in each new screen saver as a new feature.

    Leopard. 1.2 million new features. Take THAT, Vista!

  34. If you know more about Apple products than the specialists, I suggest working for Apple. Sounds nice?

    As for the specialists, I feel sorry for them when all of the recent switches harass them for refunds and free upgrades.

  35. From RoughlyDrafted:

    Daniel Eran Dilger
    In a move that echoed the $100 iPhone rebate that Apple extended to early adopters who bought the phone in June and July, the company has announced that it will be giving those who bought a new Mac this month a $110 rebate on the price of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which will ship October 26, 2007.

    The rebate applies to all new Macs, but not certain refurbished discount models or the Apple TV, which while technically being a Mac, lacks the ability for users to install their own operating system. Apple lists qualifying models on its website.

    http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/list.html

    Qualified users can request the rebate as part of Apple’s Up to Date program. With the $110 rebate, the Leopard product is $9.95.

  36. It’s Not Working:

    This is going to come as a shock to you… but Apple’s website wasn’t created using Leopard. I’ll think you’ll find that’s a different kind of software.

    Don’t get too flustered though, it is only one thing you can’t blame Leopard for, there will be plenty of other rest assured.

  37. Hey Whiners,

    Hurry up and install 10.5 on your machines. The faster you find out what’s wrong with it and b*tch about it, the sooner we’ll see 10.5.1.

    Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about…..

    BWAAAAAAA!!!!

  38. Why 6pm?

    So the Apple faithful can spend the whole day lined up inside the stores. It’s like the old bar/grille trick of snaking the wait-to-be-seated line past the bar…

    Steve doesn’t want anyone to leave with just Leopard. Resistance is futile. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />

  39. It doesn’t state that DVD player WON’T work, just that the improved de-interlacing won’t work. Face it, the machine just doesn’t have the horsepower. It will still play DVDs as well as Tiger does on your machine now though.

    You don’t really expect Apple to be able to do things that are technically impossible, do you? Machines do age… otherwise, there would never be a need for any of us to buy a new machine. To not buy Leopard because your machine will not be able to take advantage of one feature enhancement seems really petty. Is this really the feature you wanted from Leopard the most?!

  40. I’m telling you all again, unaanounced 10% across the Apple Store discount the night Lepoard is released!!!

    It’s happening the same way it did when Panther was released.

    6 PM on a Friday night.

    1: About 5 or 5:30 the store will be closed, lines made outside.

    2: 6 PM the stores opened, high fives and a sudden announcement of 10% across the store.

    Remember to ask for the Lepoard upgrade disks when buying a new Mac. Because they will forget to give them to you.

    And for christsake, don’t buy a glossy screen. It will fsck up your eyes, trust me.

  41. My Tiger is rock solid so that is not an issue for me to upgrade. All the other features like Notes, Time Machine, Spaces etc are taken care of by other apps and are working flawlessly. Where are the new groundbreaking inventions SJ talked about? As it is now the only thing to look forward to is a green menu-bar and, seriously, I do, because I’m kind of tired of the color of the one I have looked at for 12 hours a day for the last few years.

  42. yes, I agree with Teag so can someone explain for me what is special with Leopard… they say it is an major upgrade to the OS but I only see cool gadgets that already exist in other applications…so please convince me!

  43. What’s with all of you cheapskates?
    “I want my discount, bla bla bla”.
    How about being an Apple proponent?
    Support it at full price. Help the company. Statistics, revenue, etc.

    Assholes! Figure the difference between the full retail, and the price you think you are “entitled” to pay, and the number of days you’ll be using Leopard (i.e., for instance, 15 mos., perhaps), and decipher the cost difference PER DAY.

    Not much eh?
    Quit WHINING!

  44. Dan A says:

    “yes, I agree with Teag so can someone explain for me what is special with Leopard… they say it is an major upgrade to the OS but I only see cool gadgets that already exist in other applications…so please convince me!”

    Go FSCK yourself, you whining baby!

    MDN word: river

    As in, “cry me a …”

  45. TEAG says:

    “My Tiger is rock solid so that is not an issue for me to upgrade. All the other features like Notes, Time Machine, Spaces etc are taken care of by other apps and are working flawlessly. Where are the new groundbreaking inventions SJ talked about? As it is now the only thing to look forward to is a green menu-bar and, seriously, I do, because I’m kind of tired of the color of the one I have looked at for 12 hours a day for the last few years.”

    Why don’t you switch to Windows, dickhead?
    MDN word “girls”
    As in “girls will be girls”.
    Right, TEAG?

  46. If Leopard had all of the ‘features’ of Vista, Steve would be ashamed to sell it. I don’t think anybody should have to buy a new and ‘better’ computer the day AFTER an OS releases in order to have the OS ‘work.’ Any friends of mine who have Vista all say the same thing, it’s a pitiful operating system. It offers more than it can actually do and with so many years under it’s belt, it never reached the expectations of the consumers: 10 minute startups, system crashes, counter-intuituve interfaces, abundances of superficial aesthetics, viruses etc. ALL VISTA. None of which have come to a Mac, and that which we hope never will.

  47. re: yes, I agree with Teag so can someone explain for me what is special with Leopard… they say it is an major upgrade to the OS but I only see cool gadgets that already exist in other applications…so please convince me!

    —–

    I will tell you what is so important about leopard…

    It is the only version of Mac OS X that has been built up for intel processors.

    If you have an intel processor mac Leopard will run incredibly fast.

    And for all those whiners who say they wont buy Leopard for their 10year old G4 based mac – learn to upgrade!

    Apple isnt mIcrosoft! – The reason why Apple is so innovative is because I has to say goodbye to supporting older systems.

    There is alot of fantastic features in leopard that once you start using them you are going to wonder how you got by without those features. Spaces is a prime example of this, this feature alone is worth the price. Being a freelance designer, using spaces will speed up my productivity ten fold. I can have a desktop for all my communication software, a desktop for web software, one for drawing and one for page layout.

    Seriously, Macs are the cheapest they have ever been and there is no reason why anyone cannot get a new mac and upgrade.

    I use a mac mini because of space limitations in the house I live in and its a fantastic machine.

    Embrace the future, dont hang onto the past.

  48. hehe, all the trolls on this site crack me up.

    Trust me trolls, Leopard is about to open up a whole new world. There ARE secret features, and the reason you don’t know about them is because they are still secret.

    Can’t wait for 26th October!!!!!

  49. @OS X service pack 5 – Leopard

    “The only difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Microsoft gives you minor service releases like this for free, and Apple charges you $129 for each one.”

    -Right, such as all of those Vista Ultimate Extras that Microsoft promised to but isn’t really developing. (They are now try to pass off ‘language packs’ as extras. Since when does language support count as an extra feature?)

  50. “Yes, with such a pathetic small upgrade with no secret features, and most OS X users running Windows as well, the Last Post is playing for Mac OS X.”

    Every point is emotional, a generalization and unproven. Nice try, Shoeman.

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