I have a powerbook G4 with OSX 10.3.9. Its outdated because I had to replace my harddrive so I lost all updates. What can I do to get my G4 back up to date? What OS should I buy? I cant update anything as far as itunes or any other programs. Thanks.
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Outdated Powerbook G4
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I helped a friend fix her powerbook G4 on the weekend, we put Tiger on it which worked quite well. I felt that Leopard probably would have pushed it a bit too far and it might have ended up being much slower than in Tiger.
But maybe somebody who's got a powerbook G4 running Leopard can comment on their performance?
Fabian
When I installed leopard on my PBG4 I didn't notice any difference at all in responsiveness, neither faster or slower. I used to have 1.25GB RAM when I had Tiger and then had 1.25GB of RAM on leopard for a short while but did upgrade it to the maximum 2GB RAM however.
In fact to be honest I don't really notice a huge difference of the OS responsiveness between the old laptop and my new MBP 13". Sure web pages (especailly those with flash) load faster, and programs launch and operate more quickly, but as far as responsiveness of the OS (i.e. moving files, browsing folders, etc) it's almost the same. Spotlight does work instantaneously on the new Mac whereas the PBG4 took a few seconds to fully search but that's about it.
Ruahrc
In fact to be honest I don't really notice a huge difference of the OS responsiveness between the old laptop and my new MBP 13". Sure web pages (especailly those with flash) load faster, and programs launch and operate more quickly, but as far as responsiveness of the OS (i.e. moving files, browsing folders, etc) it's almost the same. Spotlight does work instantaneously on the new Mac whereas the PBG4 took a few seconds to fully search but that's about it.
Ruahrc
Speed comparison of Leopard and Tiger.
I currently have a 12 PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz with 1.25 GHz of DDR RAM. I am also running Mac OS X 10.5.8. I have not noticed and real difference in speed compared to Tiger. I would suggest that you upgrade to Leopard, for I feel it is far superior to Tiger on may levels.
I currently have a 12 PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz with 1.25 GHz of DDR RAM. I am also running Mac OS X 10.5.8. I have not noticed and real difference in speed compared to Tiger. I would suggest that you upgrade to Leopard, for I feel it is far superior to Tiger on may levels.
It shouldn't matter provided it is an original OSX 10.4 (aka tiger) disk set, rather then a set of DVD's that came with someone's computer. My understanding is that the OS disks that come with a laptop/desktop are system specific, but the OSX system disks that you by on their own from apple can be used on any supported hardware.
A PB G4 should be able to run 10.4 (tiger) or 10.5 (Leopard, if you go this option I would suggest maxing out your RAM). A PBG4 can NOT run 10.6 (Snow leopard, which just came out).
I have an a PB G4 that is running 10.4 and works quite well (along with my 2008 UniMBP)
Good luck!
My friend's powerbook had the stock 512MB Ram, so didn't think that'd be enough to cope with Leopard... thoughts?
It was an ancient 4 CD 10.4 Tiger pack which we then updated to 10.4.11 using the combo update available on the apple website.
Note that to upgrade you'll need about 5GB of free disk space. Tiger isn't actually that much bigger than Panther, but it uses quite a bit of space during the installation etc.
Fabian
I would definitely max out the ram if installing leopard or tiger on a Powerbook. I just recently had to replace the logicboard in my 12" G4 (8 hours later) and a new 120 gig hard drive. The 1.0ghz processor and 1.25 gigs of ram handles Leopard very nice! Of course the computer is nowhere as fast as we expect a computer to be today, but for its age its a great little machine for itunes and surfing the web. Love this little guy!
The disks for the MacBook Pro would not work, as they would only include the intel version of Tiger. You will need the PowerPC version of Tiger, so you need to get a retail version of the OS.
I just upgraded my PB12 to Leopard a couple of weeks ago (figured since we were upgrading the MBPs to Snow Leopard, I had an extra copy).
This is only a 1 GHz system with 768 MB of ram. It takes a while to boot, but I sleep it most of the time anyway. No noticeable difference in performance, but I only use it as a pseudo-netbook these days anyhow - mostly browser stuff for webmail, calendaring, and such. Anything requiring real processing power I generally do on my MBP.
My guess is it will determine what you are doing with the system, but for basic computing tasks it seems to be working fine for me.
This is only a 1 GHz system with 768 MB of ram. It takes a while to boot, but I sleep it most of the time anyway. No noticeable difference in performance, but I only use it as a pseudo-netbook these days anyhow - mostly browser stuff for webmail, calendaring, and such. Anything requiring real processing power I generally do on my MBP.
My guess is it will determine what you are doing with the system, but for basic computing tasks it seems to be working fine for me.
I've got a 1.5 GHz Powerbook G4 that's running Leopard just fine. It does feel faster than Tiger to me. I have 1 gig of RAM because one of my slots is dead, so I've got an extra 1GB so-dimm taking up space. If both my slots worked I imagine the speed increase would feel even more significant.
As you can expect, some things just take a while because it's older hardware, but it's really a tough little machine, and has served me well regardless of which OS version it's been running.
In other words, go for Leopard--there's really no reason not to. And get more RAM!
As you can expect, some things just take a while because it's older hardware, but it's really a tough little machine, and has served me well regardless of which OS version it's been running.
In other words, go for Leopard--there's really no reason not to. And get more RAM!
The dead slot in the older Powerbook situation can be fixed by some guy in Arizona who does reflows on iBooks. It is a hard ware issue... the pins get disconnected at the ram slot. They solder them back on and give you some warranty. Might be worth it to get two gigs of ram running Leopard. I think its like fifty bucks to do.
I really don't think RAM usage in Leopard is much different than Tiger. Panther was pretty easy to use without much RAM, but then Tiger and Leopard just started needing a ton. I would HIGHLY recommend at least 768Mb for both Tiger and Leopard.
Fascinating! I hadn't heard that. You don't happen to have any contact information, do you?