The mac experience is getting better, bit by bit. I've upgraded to Leopard recently, and have had some interesting encounters with software that I previously thought was not quite leading edge.

To start with, Safari is now much more usable and accommodating. For example, it now has Xmarks support, and there is the all important AdBlock plugin. So you get a browsing experience that is clean, crisp and rivaling firefox.

Secondly, the mail app is now nearing Outlook standards. There are 'notes' that sync with the iPhone, and to-dos that seem to appear in iCal too. The snag is this, whereas Outlook is one application that has Mail, Todo, Notes, Calendar together, Apple are continuing with the separation. This is fine for most, but it requires some switching - no big deal really.

Time machine is OK, it now works with ReadyNas so thats sweet.

The speed is obviously a factor of new hardware and a smarter OS - which will only get better with Snow Leopard, which will have an upgrade cost of pittance when its released.

So, all in all, a nice package thats slowly but surely getting the act together.