Hardmac reports on a performance comparison between Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Christophe Ducommun, developer of MovieGate, a video encoding and DVD creation software package. Ducommun, who is optimizing his application to take advantage of the Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL features of Snow Leopard, has found remarkable performance improvements for his software on the operating system when running on a Mac Pro.
Christophe Ducommun who keeps optimizing Snow Leopard for his application MovieGate just sent us results to illustrate how Snow Leopard can improve performance when one can make use of Grand Central and Open CL. Tests below have been performed with a Mac Pro 2007 (Quad Core 2.66 GHz with a GeForce 8800 GT).
The results include an approximately 50% increase in video encoding speed when compared to Leopard, while also reducing the CPU load during video decoding by passing some of the work to the graphics processing unit.
Snow Leopard 150 frame/s for encoding in MPEG-2 70% CPU load for decoding 130% CPU load for MPEG-2 encoding (ffmpeg)
Leopard 104 frame/s for encoding in MPEG-2 165% CPU load for decoding 100% CPU load for MPEG-2 encoding (ffmpeg)
While Ducommun's experience is relatively rare at this point due to the inability for the vast majority of applications to make such comprehensive use of Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL at this time, it highlights the potential performance gains these core technologies can bring to Mac OS X as developers begin to take advantage of them.
Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important.
Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped.
The new ...
Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year.
Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker.
The Weibo user known as "Instant Digital" today suggested that next-year's iPhone 18 Pro models will be available in at least one of the following color options: Coffee, purple, and burgundy.
The iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Pro were all available in ...
Friday October 31, 2025 8:52 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device.
Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that have been leaked about Apple's foldable iPhone so far.
Ove...
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device.
The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...
Thursday October 30, 2025 12:42 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Tomorrow is Halloween, and then November is upon us. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple next month, as the slower holiday season approaches.
Apple is expected to kick off November by releasing iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1. With beta testing now wrapped up, the updates will likely be released this Monday, November 3 or Tuesday,...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Thursday October 30, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple CEO Tim Cook today said that a more personalized version of Siri remains on track to launch at some point next year, with the new set of features expected to debut on the iPhone as part of iOS 26.4 in March or April.
"We're also excited for a more personalized Siri," said Cook, on Apple's earnings call for the third quarter of the 2025 calendar year. "We're making good progress on it,...
