Retail leopard install on 2009 White MacBook

[Fezzasus]

I have a nvidia white macbook turning up in a few days, it's missing it's hard disk and install disks so I will need to use a retail edition of leopard.

I would like to know if there are any issues with doing so. Are the nvidia macbooks running a newer build of leopard?

[Tallest Skil]

They have to be 10.5.5 or higher. I don't know what the retail disks have hit by now.

[Chundles]

They have to be 10.5.5 or higher. I don't know what the retail disks have hit by now.

The NVIDIA white MacBooks need 10.5.6 or higher as they shipped with iLife '09 out of the box, not as a drop in kit.

Retail disks are 10.5.6 however I can't guarantee the build on the white MacBooks (2009 version) isn't a special, later build of the software that isn't on the 10.5.6 retail disk. I doubt it though.

[Fezzasus]

Thanks. I'll give the latest retail disk a go (but am slightly bummed I can't use the spare 10.5.0 disk I have).

Failing that, I have the install disks for a macbook pro unibody which should have the drivers on. There's probably some open firmware trickery I can do to make it install on a macbook.

The next issue is deciding which one to keep. Geekbench says my 2.2 GHz Santa Rosa edges out the 2.0 GHz nvidia in terms of raw processing power but with Snow Leopard around the corner, I think a better GPU will make for a big performance increase.

[old-wiz]

You can always get new install disks from Apple for about $40 which will include iLife and Leopard. Call Apple and ask about fulfillment disks.

[darngooddesign]

Geekbench says my 2.2 GHz Santa Rosa edges out the 2.0 GHz nvidia in terms of raw processing power but with Snow Leopard around the corner, I think a better GPU will make for a big performance increase.

The newer one supports 4GB ram over the 2 in your Santa Rosa. That may matter to you.

[Fezzasus]

The newer one supports 4GB ram over the 2 in your Santa Rosa. That may matter to you.

My santa rosa can use all 4GB