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Mac G4 and Leopard

M

macdude841x

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I have an old G4 that I have primarily used to run Imovie and Itunes. It's running OS X 10.2.8

Question: I want to update the operating system. Will I have any trouble updating to leopard (and skipping tiger altogether)?

Sorry for the very basic question.
 
It'll definetely be able to run on a G4. Apple has been attacking Vista because of it's high system requirements so Apple is having all machines that have been released in the past 6-7 years capable of running 10.5 Leopard.
 
G4 Specs

Thanks for your answers!

my specs:

MAC OS X
version 10.2.8

Memory: 2 GB
Processors: Dual 1.25 GHz Power PC G4

Machine Speed 1.250 Ghz
Bus Speed 167 MHz
L2 cache size 256 (times 2)
L3 cache size 2 MB (times 2)
 
Woah You said old and I thought 500mhz to 800ghz and maybe 768mb of ram. That is plenty of power. To get the pretties You'll need to post video card.
 
more dumb questions

The reason for the unfamiliarity is because I am from the dark side (the PC world). I bought this G4 and only used it for that one purpose. I have no idea even how to find out what kind of video card it has..(lame)

I hope to make the transition to the MAC complete and ultimately leave the PC world behind.


Your help is very appreciated.


..and I like Robert Goulet.
 
Ouch your still on Jaguar!

If your video card is an Ati Radeon 9000 pro, it will not have core-image, I had this video card in my Dual G4 and it wasn't that good. Go to the :apple: in the top left corner of the screen and press about this mac ->more info, and look for the graphics card in there.

The G4 PowerMac that you have is one of the most expandable G4's there ever were. www.macsales.com is the perfect place to get stuff for it.
 
digital voodoo

I have the digital voodoo 6.1b3 and also the ATI radeon card 9700.

Yes, at the time I totally overbought and now I'm glad I did (ever try editing video on a PC?...don't).

Thanks!
 
The Radeon 9700 is quite a respectable card. I believe it is the second fastest card you can put in a G4 system. The only thing better is a Radeon 9800, which I think still go for around $250. You should have no problem with Leopard.
 
What if the processor is slower? I am still running Panther and wondering whether or not I should get Tiger instead of Leopard. My computer is a 800 MHz G4 with only 256 MB of RAM. Will Leopard be a slug?
 
Kyle said:
What if the processor is slower? I am still running Panther and wondering whether or not I should get Tiger instead of Leopard. My computer is a 800 MHz G4 with only 256 MB of RAM. Will Leopard be a slug?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. 256 MB? I wouldn't even dare run Tiger on that much less Lep.

I wonder about my Mini - see specs in my sig. The 1 GB RAM is the max in the PPC minis. I have a "late 2005" so my 40 GB HD is 5400 rpm rather than 4200.
 
In regards to the comments about video cards, you can easily, YES, very easily convert a PC 9800 Pro to Mac, for cheap. Depending on your Mac you may have to tape off a few pins, but other than that, flashing it takes only a minutes and you're done, ready to go. I never owned a Mac before, did a bit of research and had no problems other than not seeing I had to tape pins for my Mac (G4 gigabit ethernet).
 
In case someone is wondering...

I had installed the 9A321 Leopard beta on the following which is quite similar to the OP Mac:
Power Mac G4 Dual 1.25 GHz (FW 800 model)
1.5 GB RAM
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro

And, it ran very smoothly, i.e. very similar to Tiger.

Only when Time Machine was copying, it had a tough time... 😉
 
As for running Tiger on an older Mac - I'm currently running 10.4.8 on a 400MHz G4 Tower AGP with 896Mb of Ram.

It seems absolutely fine to me...at the moment, but seeing as this is my first Mac I probably don't know much better.
 
Ninja Dom said:
As for running Tiger on an older Mac - I'm currently running 10.4.8 on a 400MHz G4 Tower AGP with 896Mb of Ram.

It seems absolutely fine to me...at the moment, but seeing as this is my first Mac I probably don't know much better.
Click to expand...

I've got that beat, I just installed Tiger on a clamshell iBook 300mhz G3 with 128mb of RAM and a 6gb HD. Unfortunately, 64mb is soldered onto the board so I'm upgrading the other 64mb to 256mb. Even as it sits, it surprisingly runs pretty well (just don't open more than one app at a time). OSX is definitely very old-skool friendly.
 
SteveG4Cube said:
I've got that beat, I just installed Tiger on a clamshell iBook 300mhz G3 with 128mb of RAM and a 6gb HD. Unfortunately, 64mb is soldered onto the board so I'm upgrading the other 64mb to 256mb. Even as it sits, it surprisingly runs pretty well (just don't open more than one app at a time). OSX is definitely very old-skool friendly.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is very impressive.
 
To be absolutely clear here, the technical requirements for Leopard have not been posted yet, so while one could be reasonably sure that a G4 machine as powerful as yours would meet the requirements, don't be 100% confident until Apple makes a formal announcement.
 
longofest said:
To be absolutely clear here, the technical requirements for Leopard have not been posted yet, so while one could be reasonably sure that a G4 machine as powerful as yours would meet the requirements, don't be 100% confident until Apple makes a formal announcement.
Click to expand...
I thought they have been? Right? 😕
 
G4 and Tiger

So if for some strange reason the G4 doesn't meet technical requirements, will tiger still be available? (Remember I am still running 10.2.8 and really want to upgrade as soon as possible). When they start selling leopard will tiger continue to be available?

(Sorry I am a relatively new Mac user).
 
longofest said:
To be absolutely clear here, the technical requirements for Leopard have not been posted yet, so while one could be reasonably sure that a G4 machine as powerful as yours would meet the requirements, don't be 100% confident until Apple makes a formal announcement.
Click to expand...

My guess is that it will run. Apple wouldn't screw us G4 user like that ( at least I would hope )
 
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