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alent1234

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
i'll be getting a free Mac Mini from someone and i'm not sure of the version of OS X on it. As far as I can tell it has a G4 CPU in there. if it's Tiger then i wanted to buy a copy of Leopard. Will Apple still sell a copy or is fleabay my only path?
 

Winni

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,207
1,196
Germany.
i'll be getting a free Mac Mini from someone and i'm not sure of the version of OS X on it. As far as I can tell it has a G4 CPU in there. if it's Tiger then i wanted to buy a copy of Leopard. Will Apple still sell a copy or is fleabay my only path?

You will still find it on Amazon, eBay and plenty of others place. Probably even in Apple's online store - after all, there are generations of Macs out there that cannot run Snow Leopard.

However, believe me, you do NOT want to install Leopard on a G4 Mac Mini. In my experience, you need at least 2 GB of RAM and one of the fastest G4's (1.67 GHz) to run Leopard at acceptable speed. The G4 Mac Mini is limited to a maximum of 1 GB RAM and, in best case to a 1.5 GHz CPU (Silent Upgrade). Most G4 Minis either have a 1.25 or a 1.42 GHz CPU.

I've tried it on a couple of G4's, and only my 17" PowerBook ran Leopard well enough. I reverted the 12" PowerBook G4 with 768 MB RAM and a 17" iMac G4 with 1 GB RAM in our house back to Tiger. Leopard -crawled- on that iMac.

But talking about Tiger: The first generation of Mac Minis was still sold with Panther. So don't be surprised if you don't even have Tiger on that computer.
 

maccompaq

macrumors 65816
Mar 6, 2007
1,169
24
i'll be getting a free Mac Mini from someone and i'm not sure of the version of OS X on it. As far as I can tell it has a G4 CPU in there. if it's Tiger then i wanted to buy a copy of Leopard. Will Apple still sell a copy or is fleabay my only path?
My sister has the fastest G4 Mini that was running Tiger. Her son installed Leopard on it, and it now runs so much slower, and she is not happy with it. She does not have the Tiger DVD Installation disc. Her son in CA gave her the Mini when he upgraded to an Intel Mini and a Macbook Pro. She lives in the Midwest and would not know how to install an OS even if she had the disc. I can't help her since I live 1700 miles away.
 

lilgto64

macrumors member
Apr 13, 2009
36
0
Ohio
actually 2GB

You will still find it on Amazon, eBay and plenty of others place. Probably even in Apple's online store - after all, there are generations of Macs out there that cannot run Snow Leopard.

However, believe me, you do NOT want to install Leopard on a G4 Mac Mini. In my experience, you need at least 2 GB of RAM and one of the fastest G4's (1.67 GHz) to run Leopard at acceptable speed. The G4 Mac Mini is limited to a maximum of 1 GB RAM and, in best case to a 1.5 GHz CPU (Silent Upgrade). Most G4 Minis either have a 1.25 or a 1.42 GHz CPU.

I've tried it on a couple of G4's, and only my 17" PowerBook ran Leopard well enough. I reverted the 12" PowerBook G4 with 768 MB RAM and a 17" iMac G4 with 1 GB RAM in our house back to Tiger. Leopard -crawled- on that iMac.

But talking about Tiger: The first generation of Mac Minis was still sold with Panther. So don't be surprised if you don't even have Tiger on that computer.

Although Apple's tech specs claim a 1GB max for the iMac G4 - you can actually put 2GB in there (have not tried it myself yet but have a couple machines which may get at least 1.25GB soon). Note, however that one of the two slots is user-accessible and takes an SO-DIMM while the other is not meant to be user serviceable as it requires a lot more disassembly - and takes a full desktop style DIMM.

I had 10.5 on an iBook G4 1.0GHz and it was okay - a bit slower than 10.4 had been but I had a bunch of RAM in that machine.

If the iMac has never been upgraded then it likely has 10.2.x on it - which is almost ancient by computer standards.

If it has 10.4 on there and lots of RAM I would say be happy with it. If it has less than 10.4 get more memory (if it will fit) and if you can get 10.4 try it out. If you have access to someone with multiple versions of OS X you could try out a couple versions - a clean wipe install should only take about an hour.
 

dacreativeguy

macrumors 68020
Jan 27, 2007
2,032
223
I installed Leopard on a 12" Powerbook G4 1Ghz/512MB with an upgraded 7200 rpm drive and it runs pretty well. Apple put 4200 RPM drives in all those old machines, so I think that is the main problem. You can upgrade the drive (since you likely only have a 40 or 80 GB drive in there anyway) and see what happens.
 

spencecb

Suspended
Nov 20, 2003
1,187
215
You can still buy it directly from Apple if you chose. Simply call AppleCare (regardless is you have if or not) and tell them you need Mac OS X Leopard be aide you have a device running iOS 4.1 and need it to sync with your Mac. They will ship you a copy at retail price.
 

FourCandles

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2009
835
0
England
Hmm. I have Leopard on two G4 machines; one an iBook 1.33GHz, one a Mac Mini 1.5GHz, both with 1GB RAM. I honesty don't have a problem with either, though they do get light use (the iBook mainly for web, email, word processing and Keynote; the Mini running headless as an server for Squeezebox, iTunes and iPhoto).
 

Johnboy00

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2010
1
0
Mac newbie related question

But isn't it also true that a G4 must have an Intel processor in order to run Leopard?:confused:
 

0007776

Suspended
Jul 11, 2006
6,473
8,170
Somewhere
But isn't it also true that a G4 must have an Intel processor in order to run Leopard?:confused:

A G4 is a PowerPC processor not an intel processor, so there are no G4s that have intel processors. But Leopard still worked on PowerPC processors like the G4 Snow Leopard was what dropped support.
 

maccompaq

macrumors 65816
Mar 6, 2007
1,169
24
Hmm. I have Leopard on two G4 machines; one an iBook 1.33GHz, one a Mac Mini 1.5GHz, both with 1GB RAM. I honesty don't have a problem with either, though they do get light use (the iBook mainly for web, email, word processing and Keynote; the Mini running headless as an server for Squeezebox, iTunes and iPhoto).

When my sister had Leopard installed on her Mini, same as yours, she hated how much slower it was than when it was running Tiger.
 

freeway29

macrumors member
Oct 19, 2010
50
0
hey mate if you still looking to buy mac os x 10.5 yes you can as i just bought 2 dvd,s of the 10.5 lepeoard dvd disc from apple themselves only cost me just over $50 Australian .
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,198
12,363
I'd suggest 10.4.11 as the best system for a g4-based Mini.

It may already have OS 10.4 on it.

Although Tiger is no longer officially "supported" by Apple, it still runs fine and should be usable for at least 2-3 more years, probably longer.
 

Euroamerican

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2010
457
322
Boise
Some day, I'm going to sell my copy of Tiger and also my 5-user copy of Leopard. I'm sure other people will do the same.
 
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