Apple Announced Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Client and Server Release Date--April 29

Yesterday, Apple announced that the latest version of Mac OS X client and server, 10.4 or Tiger, will be released on Friday, April 29 at 6:00 p.m. during a special event at Apple's retail stores. However, if ordered from the online Apple Store, the client and server editions of Tiger will be shipped for free with an arrival date of April 29. The server edition can be ordered from the Business Section of the online Apple Store.

System Requirements: The minimum Mac system requirements for Tiger include a minimum of 256MB of memory, a PowerPC G5, G4, or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. In addition, initiating a multiway video conference requires a PowerPC G5 processor or dual 1GHz G4 processors and 384 Kbps or faster broadband Internet access. While just participating in a multiway video conference requires a 1Ghz G4 or dual 800 MHz G4 processors or faster and 100 Kbps broadband Internet access. Basically, every Power Mac back through the Blue and White G3, all PowerBook G4s, iMacs back through the first slot loading CRT iMac, the Mac mini, emac and iBooks back throught the clamshell FireWire model and SE all qualify.

Pricing: The client edition of Tiger is priced at $129 and the 10-license server edition is priced at $499. Apple is also selling a 5-license household family client edition for $199 and an unlimited license server edition for $999. If you are a student or teacher, the education client editon is just $69. The lowest advertised price that we could find from a third-party retailer is Amazon.com at $94.99.

In addition, the Mac OS Up-To-Date program will make Tiger available for $9.95 to those who purchased a new Mac on or after April 12th.

Finally, Tiger comes on a DVD disc. But if your Mac does not have a DVD drive, a set of CDs may be purchased the Media Exchange Program for an additional $9.95.

Improvements: Apple touts over 200 improvements, with features like Spotlight, Dashboard, iChat with the superb H.264 codec and 4-person 3D video conferencing, Automator the improved AppleScript, QuickTime 7, Safari 2 with built-in RSS reader, Mail 2, iCal 2, Font Book 2, new syncing with Xsync, 64-bit processing support, Core Image, Xgrid and much more.

We have pre-ordered a Family Edition copy of Tiger for our home Macs to be delivered on April 29.

More... and more... [Dana Baggett and Bill Fox]