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    Should I upgrade from OS X 10.4.11 to 10.5.x Leopard?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by AaronCW, Jun 10, 2009.

  1. AaronCW

    AaronCW Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all. Been awhile since I posted, nice to have an issue to talk about...

    I picked up an old iBook G4, specs are:
    1.33Ghz PowerPC G4
    1GB DDR SDRAM
    ATI 32MB VRAM AGP Video Card (integrated I believe)

    Seems to be loaded with all the goodies: Bluetooth, Firewire, USB, WiFi.

    Not sure if it would be worth it to upgrade to 10.5 though, seems like it would only slow me down but with Unix/Macs I'm not so sure. Plus, it appears that 10.5.x is the last OS Update for the PowerPC crowd. Any thoughts? TIA

    Oh yea, best price I found was $108 @ Amazon with Free Shipping (Pricegrabber has it for $95 but after shipping about the same as Amazon I guess) ... If I could find it a lot cheaper I would buy it on principal. Think the price will drop once September and Snow Leopard hit?
     
    AaronCW, Jun 10, 2009
    #1
  2. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    if your gonna use it awhile... i'd say Leopard would be much better for ya than Tiger, I'd definitely upgrade. Your video card will not be integrated into the chipset, and if its really a 1.33 G4, i think it should be higher than 32mb, but it might be.. probably a Radeon 9200.
     
    doh123, Jun 10, 2009
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  3. AaronCW

    AaronCW Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah I bought this as a spare for my wife to use around the house when she wants some portability (in the backyard or whatever) so I do plan to keep it probably until it dies.

    And about the Graphics card... It was staring me in the face and I didn't see it... It says it is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9550.
     
    AaronCW, Jun 10, 2009
    #3
  4. Colton

    Colton Also Proudly American

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    I wouldn't upgrade unless you could get a GREAT deal on it. Tiger is just fine for the average crowd. ;)

    Sam would have a whole lot more info on the matter. ;)
     
    Colton, Jun 11, 2009
    #4
  5. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

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    I would upgrade, because Leopard has a number of features I cannot live without. That said, Tiger is not bad in any way. If you can get Leopard cheap, go for it. Otherwise, wait a while and get it off eBay or something for next to nothing.
     
    Budding, Jun 11, 2009
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  6. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    I would upgrade if u can get leopard cheap, u shouldn't notice any slow down, in fact it might just be a bit faster
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Jun 11, 2009
    #6
  7. Colton

    Colton Also Proudly American

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    I cannot live without Leopard. :D Although I don't have much experience with Tiger, I can say that Leopard would be the best bet. ;)
     
    Colton, Jun 11, 2009
    #7
  8. Lethal Lottery

    Lethal Lottery Notebook Betrayer

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    Nah I would not bother, I mean its a power PC, not much you can do with it. Most all future applications wont even support it. Stick with tiger.
     
    Lethal Lottery, Jun 11, 2009
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  9. diggy

    diggy Notebook Deity

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    I had a G4 that I played around with at work - 1.42GHz PPC and 1.5GB of RAM. Leopard ran fairly well on it - web browsing and iTunes worked like a charm.
     
    diggy, Jun 11, 2009
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  10. Underpantman

    Underpantman Notebook Virtuoso

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    I did the upgrade on a 17" iMac G5 (1.6Ghz, 512Mb ram) mac at work recently, and it went really well. The machine runs just as well if not better now + you have the big advantages of Timemachine, faster spotlight, quicklook, better finder etc etc.
    For me as long as you can justify the cost of the OS, then its a no-brainer, leopard is better than tiger... thus upgrade.
    a
    :)
     
    Underpantman, Jun 11, 2009
    #10