uTorrent for Mac is Coming: An Early Review

Written by Ernesto on June 26, 2007 

When BitTorrent Inc bought uTorrent, the most popular Windows BitTorrent client, they announced that they would begin porting it to both the Mac and Linux. They have. Here’s a preview of the “soon to be released” Mac version of uTorrent.

Up until now, BitTorrent users on a Mac haven’t had the chance to use the fastest, smallest, most portable and appealing BitTorrent client ever, but this is about to change. Unfortunately we don’t have a confirmed date for the official release yet, judging on the state of the BETA version that’s being tested at the moment, it wont take long.

Let’s start off with some screenshots.

The Installation Disk Image
uTorrent Installation DMG

Main Window with Downloads
uTorrent Downloads Window.png
Click to enlarge.

Speed
The main reason I like uTorrent so much is because downloads are considerably faster in it than in any other BitTorrent client. This held true when I compared uTorrent Mac to Transmission and Xtorrent. The downloads speeds in both couldn’t match uTorrent’s. Azureus was the only one that came close, just as I had expected.

Application Launch Time
uTorrent Mac, just like its Windows counterpart, is super-light. It launches immediately (not even 1 bounce in the Dock!). This is clearly one piece of well-coded software. Probably part of the reason why BitTorrent Inc decided to buy it.

uTorrent in the Dock

Interface
uTorrent Mac has a simple, yet appealing interface that is easy to use and navigate. It’s not as stylish as Xtorrent’s, but then again, no one can create interfaces like David Watanabe.

Search
Though it may seem that uTorrent has some sort of built-in search functionality, currently only offered by BitRocket and Xtorrent on the Mac, it does not. Typing something such as “HDTV” into the search box and hitting return will merely open a BitTorrent.com search page in your default browser.

Conclusion
It’s too early to draw conclusions but it’s a great first impression, especially for a pre-release version.

It’s worth mentioning that some Mac users such as myself like uTorrent so much, we even prefer running it under emulation than using one of the available Mac BitTorrent clients. uTorrent is not only the most popular Windows BitTorrent client according to a poll we conducted last year, but also the winner of our BitTorrent clients comparison.

Many of you are probably dying to download uTorrent Mac. Hang in there, it’s coming real soon.

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132 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

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26 Jun 27, 2007 at 19:30 by Jared Schwager

“Can you select individual files for download? That’s something I really miss on the mac (without going to Java and Azureus).”

If it’s anything like the Windows client, yes. That’s one of my favorite features of uTorrent.

27 Jun 27, 2007 at 19:34 by shirish

Using deluge(on linux), from svn daily, its also coming along well . Although its still a baby, its good :)

28 Jun 27, 2007 at 20:36 by balaurici

I want to test uTorrent on my Mac!
Pls, give us the SVN trunk URL!!

29 Jun 27, 2007 at 21:27 by Muped

Run uTorrent only on a Intel Mac or on both Macs (Universal Binary)

30 Jun 27, 2007 at 23:32 by balaurici

So will be!

31 Jun 27, 2007 at 23:38 by BaD_CRC

Sorry but… isn’t it something similar to bitrocket?

I mean…

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1233/641398521_1df847af3b_o.png

32 Jun 28, 2007 at 01:37 by Joe

23: You’ve never used Windows uTorrent, have you? Your question should be “didn’t the BitRocket UI come from the Windows uTorrent?”

I can’t wait for this to come out officially. Transmission is trying to stay too lightweight and user friendly at the expense of reasonable features. uTorrent is a good combination of looks, power, and friendliness and I won’t be sorry when I get to drag Transmission to the Trash.

33 Jun 28, 2007 at 02:04 by balaurici

Well right, but, Jolix did not “somehow” copy the interface of uTorrent”. I’m sorry if I do a terrible mistake, but I need, we need, a real BT Client, yeah, with solid suport, isn’t yet, open source, but the one?
I think Azu’ is good, but not good enough…

34 Jun 28, 2007 at 03:47 by Sherlock Asimov

the Interface is too similar to that of BitRocket.

35 Jun 28, 2007 at 03:51 by Joe

Read #24 “Sherlock”. uTorrent’s UI was first.

36 Jun 28, 2007 at 04:02 by Justin

Does it have selective file downloading?

37 Jun 28, 2007 at 04:42 by werd up

[quote comment="124834"]hope the linux version can run on the command line with only the web interface as a gui, would be great on my server :)[/quote]

check out http://tf-b4rt.berlios.de/

38 Jun 28, 2007 at 08:55 by Rick

http://enjoys.it/2007/06/28/%c2%b5torrent-for-osx-alpha-soon/
Seems like the developers are progressing nicely with porting µtorrent to OSX. There has been another post announcing a possible public alpha release in the next two weeks:

http://enjoys.it/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/screenshot-1.png

\o/

39 Jun 28, 2007 at 12:13 by danielpunt

I hope it runs on PPC Mac’s.

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