10.4 or 10.5 for Powerbook 1.25GHz, 512MB RAM, and 80GB?

[mox123]

just wondering whether tiger or leopard would run better in an almost 6-yo powerbook? Would 10.5 be resource-draining for the powerbook with these specs?

Also, should it run older versions of iLife, Microsoft Office, etc.. to keep it running snappier?

Is it worth it to spend some money to upgrade the RAM? If so, what kind of RAM and what is the maximum that it can take? Obviously the machine is out of warranty at this point...

Many thanks in advance!

 

[bartelby]

With such little RAM I'd say Tiger.

If you can afford to max out the RAM then do it regardless of which OS you use.

It can take 2GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM

 

[MultiFinder17]

If you don't upgrade the RAM, stick with Tiger. If you do plan on bumping up the RAM (preferably maxing it out), then it'll run Leopard more than fine.

 

[chrismacguy]

It also depends on what you want to do with it, if you just want to use iPhoto/iTunes and Word Processing / Basic Tasks, then its your choice (a 1.67Ghz PBG4 with 512MB does these fine under Leopard, in my experience), otherwise definitely Tiger with that little RAM.

 

[mox123]

oh kewl. I guess I will stick with Tiger then. Just basic web browsing, word processing, and emailing for the most part. It seems like it would still be a perfectly good second machine at home to use for non-technical stuff to throw away...

Another quick question: why is PC2700 RAM even more expensive than the newer DDR2? i recently upgraded my Penryn classic MBP to 4GB for only $48. Don't seem that I can do the same for this older machine...

 

[Firefly2002]

oh kewl. I guess I will stick with Tiger then. Just basic web browsing, word processing, and emailing for the most part. It seems like it would still be a perfectly good second machine at home to use for non-technical stuff to throw away...

Another quick question: why is PC2700 RAM even more expensive than the newer DDR2? i recently upgraded my Penryn classic MBP to 4GB for only $48. Don't seem that I can do the same for this older machine...

because DDR hasn't been in production for a while so quantities are smaller

plus i imagine it costs them more to keep somethin they don't use much anymore and sell less of

 

[mox123]

ahhh...that makes sense. should have upgraded the RAM earlier i suppose before the supply of DDR gets limited. c'est la vie

thanks so much for all the responses!