14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier today, Softpedia reported that Apple had seeded developers with new test builds of Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.1 software. On the Mac front, Apple offered up a certain “Build 10A411,” which, reportedly, weighs in at close to 750 MB, but also comes in the form of a 730 MB update for some devs. So, the big question is why the different sizes?
9to5Mac reports that Apple has landed “another big one at 748MB,” referring to the latest version of the beta OS, scheduled for a September public release. MacRumors also spreads the news, pointing out that registered Apple developers received a Mac OS X Snow Leopard Build 10A411 no smaller than 750 MB (“about 750 MB” are the site's exact words).
AppleInsider, on the other hand, which also acknowledges and documents the release, claims, “The latest update weighs in at roughly 730 MB, about half the size of build 10A402a distributed last week,” yet doesn't post any visual proof (such as a Mac OS X Software Update listing).
Not long after Softpedia posted the news, an Apple developer who wished to remain anonymous contacted us with evidence that Build 10A411 of Snow Leopard weighed in at just 727.3 MB, at least on his system. This may suggest that developers can receive considerably smaller / larger updates, perhaps depending on their systems' hardware.
Below (left) is the screenshot the dev in question attached in his email. The second screenshot represents 9to5mac's evidence that Build 10A411 can also come as a 748.1 MB (or close-to-750 MB) software update.
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