Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can I Install Leopard (10.5) on a new 21.5"/27" iMac?

H

huskermania

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 6, 2008
35
0
So basically, I need a more powerful Mac to run the Adobe Production Suite CS4, but I can't use Snow Leopard because it crashes like crazy. So now with Snow Leopard out, I'm going to need to install Leopard on a new iMac. I talked with one of the sales reps online and they said that you cannot use Leopard on a new iMac. She also said it would void the warranty. Now I find this pretty dumb, so I'm asking you guys.

I'm also going to need 8GB of RAM in it as well. Will 8GB of RAM work in an iMac under Leopard? Thanks for your help.

--Alex
 
So am I pretty much out of luck? Will it brick the computer so I won't be able to use it anymore?
 
huskermania said:
So am I pretty much out of luck? Will it brick the computer so I won't be able to use it anymore?
Click to expand...

No, it will NOT brick your mac. What might happen is that the old OS wont work properly. However, you can fix it by formatting the drive and installing Snow Leopard.
 
Eldorian pointed out to me that I could indeed install Leopard on a brand new 2.26ghz Mac Mini that only came with Snow Leopard.

You have to check the release date of the Mac.

The 2.26 mini first came out a year ago, with Leopard.

I bought one in summer right before Snow Leopard came out, so had the original Leopard Mac Mini discs.

Family member got a new 2.26 mini this week, came only with Snow Leopard.

I brought over my OEM OS discs for my mini, and erased their hard drive and voila, it is running Leopard.

But do want to say that I tried to boot my mini with a Retail Leopard disc for something else last week.

That disc was leopard 10.5.1. It WOULD NOT BOOT.

If you get a 21.5 iMac check to make sure the revision was released before Snowleopard came out in September 09, and try to get Apple or someone to send you the Leopard oem discs for that machine.

I'd explain to them the reason is, is that some of the apps that worked on previous versions do not work on Snow Leopard.

And of course, 8 gigs will show up on Leopard.

The other alternative is to get a slightly used iMac that is still under warranty, that someone bought before September 09.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FacetiouslyWry
California said:
Eldorian pointed out to me that I could indeed install Leopard on a brand new 2.26ghz Mac Mini that only came with Snow Leopard.

You have to check the release date of the Mac.

The 2.26 mini first came out a year ago, with Leopard.

I bought one in summer right before Snow Leopard came out, so had the original Leopard Mac Mini discs.

Family member got a new 2.26 mini this week, came only with Snow Leopard.

I brought over my OEM OS discs for my mini, and erased their hard drive and voila, it is running Leopard.

But do want to say that I tried to boot my mini with a Retail Leopard disc for something else last week.

That disc was leopard 10.5.1. It WOULD NOT BOOT.

If you get a 21.5 iMac check to make sure the revision was released before Snowleopard came out in September 09, and try to get Apple or someone to send you the Leopard oem discs for that machine.

I'd explain to them the reason is, is that some of the apps that worked on previous versions do not work on Snow Leopard.

And of course, 8 gigs will show up on Leopard.

The other alternative is to get a slightly used iMac that is still under warranty, that someone bought before September 09.
Click to expand...

You forget that the 21.5 and 27 inch iMacs were introed in Oct 2009, and SL was released in Aug 2009. There never has been a 21.5 or 27 inch iMac with Leopard.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FacetiouslyWry
I use CS4 on my iMac in Snow Leopard. The only thing that crashes on me regularly is Flash. Save save save, not a big deal.
 
I read somwhere that some guy succesfully installed Leopard on 27" Mac this way:
- He's got in his office 24" Mac with Leopard
- He installed fresh installation on Leopard 10.5.7 on that machine (keep in mind: NOT 10.5.8)
- He made a disk image of Mac 24" drive after installation
- Now, he cloned that disk image into a new 27" Mac
- Everything was working, except audio
- He used software update to update to 10.5.8, and everything is working perfectly (including audio).

Keep in mind that I didn't test this myself, so I can't guarantee anything.
But you can try and post some info here.
I'm thinking to buy 27" Mac and do the same, because some of my clients use InDesign CS and InDesign CS2, I can't push them to update, so I must deliver files in their InDesign version.
I managed to have InDesign CS & CS2 & CS3 & CS4 all together in Leopard, but never in Snow Leopard, so that's why I must stay on Leopard.

So, any other advice or tutorial is more than welcome.

Forgot to say: The guy has the same video card (GT 120, I believe) on both 24" and 27" Mac, so this makes whole process easier.

Cheers!
 
CAN I INSTALL LEOPARD ON A 21.5 / 27 Imac?

Helloo
I am running the Imac 21.5 on an external 250GB HD. I boot from the external HD with OS 10.5.8 and all my apps are on the external HD. I have only noticed that the Magic Mouse only has the scroling function, but I usually use a Kensington Cordless Optical Trackman. I am running Logic Studio 8, Filemaker Pro 7, Appleworks, Office, and several other apps.
In my next incarnation I plan to Install Logic Studio 8 with the sample library plus other sample libraries, Battery 3 with its sample Library, maybe some other apps. I expect this will yield much better speed performance, but there was a big boost in performance already. I was using the same external HD with a 2.16 Ghz Macbook 13.5" without any problems. The Macbook was a lot slower and only had 2GB Ram. I now have 4GB ram. I have another 4 GB to install, but this works very well.
I have heard that Filemaker Pro 7 and Appleworks will not work on Snow Leopard 6.2, so I am currently using this setup. I may upgrade as needed later, but right now I cannot aford to upgrade.
The bottom line is, you can put it all on an external HD and boot from the external HD, but you will sacrifice some functionality. There may be drivers available for the Magic Mouse and maybe some other, but that is not important to me. The SPEED BOOST and the additional RAM will make a huge difference. The Processor speed will also help a lot.
Have fun
Frank
 
  • Like
Reactions: FacetiouslyWry
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back