Cupertino, California  - Apple brought the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system into stores on August 28. Mac OS X 10.6, dubbed Snow Leopard, includes hundreds of improvements, Apple claims.

Many functions have been made quicker. That includes the Finder search function, the Mail e-mail client, and the backup application Time Machine.

Snow Leopard also requires only half as much storage space on the hard drive as the previous version. Applications like Finder, Mail, iCal, and the Safari browser have additionally been redesigned to work with 64-bit systems.

Snow Leopard is being offered to users of Mac OS X Leopard for 29 dollars. Intel-Mac users of the older Mac OS Tiger can purchase the Mac Box Set with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and various programs for around 169 dollars. (dpa)