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The new version of Mac OS X costs £85 or £129 for a five-user Family Pack and requires a Mac with an Intel or PowerPC G5 processor, or a G4 at 867MHz or faster processor. That rules out a number of G4 Macs capable of running the current Tiger version of the operating system.

Leopard was first previewed over a year ago and originally scheduled for release in the spring, but work on the iPhone took priority. So Apple provided developers with a beta version - plus subsequent refined builds over the summer.

Leaked details from those builds, plus Apple CEO Steve Jobs' two presentations to developers, mean that Leopard appears to contain no surprises. There is the new desktop with Stacks for organising and viewing files via the Dock; iTunes' Cover Flow comes to the Finder; QuickLook for previewing files before you open them; Spaces to arrange

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windows into multiple desktops that can be quickly switched Exposé-style; Time Machine for backups and restores from any time in your Mac's history; personalised stationery, to-dos and notes in Mail.

The list goes on: new parental controls, the finished version of Boot Camp for running Windows; improved accessibility and voice controls; iChat adds effects to video chatting wand support for streaming presentations and movies; Dashboard can sync widgets between Macs and includes a tool for making your own widgets; iCal can now lay claim to being a proper desktop calendar with group calendaring and inline editing of events; and DVD Player now lets you bookmark DVD and create video snippets from any disc.

Announcing Leopard's release, Jobs couldn't resist another dig at Microsoft and its umpteen versions of Windows Vista.

"Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we've ever released," he said. "And everyone gets the 'Ultimate' version, packed with all the new innovative features."

The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to anyone purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller on or after 1 October 2007 and entitles them to a copy of Leopard for a shipping and handling fee of £5.95 (inc. VAT).