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Leopard on an iBook G4 - Is it worth it?

steelphantom

steelphantom

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 15, 2005
555
1
I have an aging iBook (1.33gHz G4, 1GB RAM) and I'm wondering if I should even bother upgrading to Leopard. I guess I should wait to see what other people's experiences are, but I'm just curious. Will Leopard take up too much of my poor iBook's resources? I don't even want to buy it if it's going to run much slower than Tiger.
 
aging? i have the same model (but with 1.5GB of ram) this machine is well above the requirements for 10.5, i plan on upgrading and from what i've heard PowerPC machines actually gain speed with leopard, i think its totally worth it
 
of course its worth it!! i have the same exact model too. im getting leopard first day! i cant wait :)
 
And my old 1 Ghz iBook?

How about a 1 GHz iBook with 1.12 GB RAM?

As excited I am about Leopard, I'm hesitant to upgrade. Maybe my iBook will run it, technically, but I also ocasionally use apps like Final Cut on it. I don't want Leopard to suck my RAM and processor dry and leave nothing left for these apps.

Maybe it's time to upgrade my Mac, but I won't have the money until maybe late next year. I really haven't been more excited about a Mac OS X release in years.
 
I'm buying a family pack to upgrade my Intel iMac, son's Macbook and my G4 iBook (1.5GB). From what I understand, it will work fine and even improve my iBook's performance... Since I need the family pack anyway for the iMac and the Macbook, I might as well throw it on my iBook; if it doesn't work well on the iBook, I'll just reinstall Tiger from the recovery disk that came with it...:)
 
Well, it seems like most of you think that Leopard will actually run better than Tiger on an iBook. I think I'll still wait and see how things go for those who do upgrade before I decide whether to buy Leopard.
 
steelphantom said:
Well, it seems like most of you think that Leopard will actually run better than Tiger on an iBook. I think I'll still wait and see how things go for those who do upgrade before I decide whether to buy Leopard.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Bump this thread on Saturday if you want and I'll provide initial impressions of Leopard performance on my iBook (1.33 GHz, 1.5 GB)... :)
 
Thanks dborja

dborja said:
Sounds good. Bump this thread on Saturday if you want and I'll provide initial impressions of Leopard performance on my iBook (1.33 GHz, 1.5 GB)... :)
Click to expand...

Thanks dborja. I have the exact same iBook; the last version of the iBook G4 1.33 GHz with 1.5 GB of memory. I look forward to hearing your experiences with Leopard.
 
JoeCanadian said:
Thanks dborja. I have the exact same iBook; the last version of the iBook G4 1.33 GHz with 1.5 GB of memory. I look forward to hearing your experiences with Leopard.
Click to expand...

Will do. I'm about to install in a few minutes. I'll post initial results tomorrow morning.

I bought the family pack and was able to talk myself into three shirts! My wife, our son and I will be advertising Leopard tomorrow!:)
 
installed on my ibook early today...absolutely flies, definitely recommended
The menu bar isn't transparent, time machine background doesn't 'move' but other than that it's nice and speedy.
 
The Man said:
How about a 1 GHz iBook with 1.12 GB RAM?

As excited I am about Leopard, I'm hesitant to upgrade. Maybe my iBook will run it, technically, but I also ocasionally use apps like Final Cut on it. I don't want Leopard to suck my RAM and processor dry and leave nothing left for these apps.

Maybe it's time to upgrade my Mac, but I won't have the money until maybe late next year. I really haven't been more excited about a Mac OS X release in years.
Click to expand...

wouldnt final cut run slow regardless
 
Sky Blue said:
installed on my ibook early today...absolutely flies, definitely recommended
The menu bar isn't transparent, time machine background doesn't 'move' but other than that it's nice and speedy.
Click to expand...

What iBook do you have, Sky Blue?
 
Anyone on a last-gen iBook (the one with the Radeon 9550)? Is the menu bar transparent / does Time Machine have the moving background? Other impressions?
 
Objectivist-C said:
Anyone on a last-gen iBook (the one with the Radeon 9550)? Is the menu bar transparent / does Time Machine have the moving background? Other impressions?
Click to expand...
i have that exact model
the menu bar is partially transparent just like this one http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1722115312&size=o
i honestly havnt even used time machine yet because i am still taking things off my external hard drive which had the backup on it.
 
jamesi said:
wouldnt final cut run slow regardless
Click to expand...

Yes, what's your point? If it runs, it runs. Editing works great. Some effects need long rendering times. But I do not have the luxury to be picky. If Final Cut runs on my 1 GHz iBook, why not? I'm just using it to learn the app. When I upgrade my Mac later next year, I will have mastered Final Cut editing. That's the only thing that counts. Besides, a little inconvenience of speed only makes you more determined and lets you learn to be efficient with whatever tools you get.
 
If you're not doing anything too demanding, Leopard on a G4 with 512mb RAM is fine (running off of an iPod no less!). Give it 1.5gigs and I think it'll fly
 
Anyone install on a 1ghz Aluminum Powerbook yet?

I want to upgrade but really don't want this already aging machine to feel any older as its my primary home mac.

However, I'm tempted to run leopard since i'm upgrading my G5 powermac at work and regularly sync the two.
 
It's good to hear that iBooks are doing well. I have an iBook G4 1.2 GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM (maxed out). When Tiger came out, I read somewhere about the technical details (maybe Ars?) where they mentioned that every iteration of OS X actually runs faster on older hardware, rather than the other way around. So I'm looking forward to a speed bump after installation.
 
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