Apple Mac OS X 10.4 review

Apple is on a roll.

The iPod is selling in its millions and Mac sales are up, thanks to new models such as the low-cost Mac mini. To top it all off, it has released a major new upgrade to the Mac OS. The program's full name is the rather longwinded Mac OS X version 10.4, but Apple prefers to call it Tiger, following on from previous upgrades Panther and Jaguar.

Tiger seems to be an extremely polished upgrade. It has been available for a while as we write this and there have been no last-minute bug fixes, patches or security updates. Installation is straightforward, as the installer program can update your existing OS X software without affecting any other applications or files stored on your Mac. Once installed, Tiger seems to run just as fast as the previous version of the Mac OS, so you shouldn't need to upgrade your existing Mac.

This leaves you free to concentrate on exploring the long list of new features. The Mac OS is based on UNIX, so there are a few obscure technical updates, including fine grain locking, access control lists and 64-bit virtual memory. But the Mac is known for its eye-catching graphical interface, and that's where all the fun features are to be found. The biggest bit of eye candy is the Dashboard, a transparent screen layer that can be used to hold a series of Widgets. These Widgets are small programs that perform specific tasks such as checking share prices, the weather or train timetables. The Dashboard is invisible most of the time, but when you press a specific user-definable key it pops up on the screen, hovering above the normal desktop display and showing all your Widgets at the same time. Once you've got the information you want from the Widgets, just hit the same key again to return to the normal screen display.

Another impressive new feature is the Automator which, as the name suggests, is used to automate repetitive tasks. The Automator provides you with a series of predefined commands known as actions. These actions can be used to issue commands to the Mac OS or to specific programs, such as Apple's Address Book and Mail programs. You could, for example, use one action to check the Address Book for people who have birthdays coming up and another to launch Mail and send them a birthday email message.

Another handy automation tool lets you use the Safari web browser to round up internet RSS news feeds and create a personalised news page with all the latest stories from the news services you choose.

The feature Apple seems to be making the most fuss about is Spotlight, the new desktop search tool. As well as searching for files by name, this can also read files and locate information contained inside the files. It can locate text stored within PDF files and check the metadata or key words associated with digital photographs or audio and video clips.

As always, Apple is guilty of indulging in graphical elements for the sake of it and some features, such as the Widgets, could have been implemented in a more straightforward manner. But there's no doubt that Tiger is an impressive upgrade. Having said that, while there's enough for any Mac user to warrant an upgrade, it's a shame it has to be paid for.