core 2 duo imacs run Lion OK?

[Fank]

My scenario -

I have three intel core 2 duo imacs, one 17" blonde, one 20" blonde, and an aluminum. They all run just fine, thank you, in SL.

The two older 'blonde' imacs have 2 gigs of ram; the aluminum 2 1/2 gigs.

If I buy a 4 gig ram kit from macsales, for about $63, I can make all three imacs have 3 gigs of ram.

Will my imacs be able to run Lion OK (without it bogging down)? I KNOW what the minimum system requirements are, 2 gigs of ram and a core 2 duo.

 

[PurrBall]

My 2009 C2D iMac runs it fine.

 

[Charcoalwerks]

My Moms 2007 white iMac runs Lion fine with 2 gigs.

 

[product26]

My Moms 2007 white iMac runs Lion fine with 2 gigs.

and your mom only checks her email, bank account and facebook right?

 

[GimmeSlack12]

My 2.4 GHz 2008 iMac 24" runs Lion great. Wish I could add more than the 4gb max though.

Actually can I get 6gb into this thing somehow?

 

[Spike88]

Upgrading each older iMac to its MAX memory is a good thing. SL (for average home users with NO gaming) seems to run best at minimum 6 GBs. Best meaning its System Memory stats is showing Swap File = 0 and Page Out = 0. Which means NO disk thrashing - which slows down the entire system.

If SL is currently running great, then why upgrade to Lion (then ML this fall)? If it ain't broke, then why screw with it?

 

[fhall1]

Mine (see sig) runs Lion fine - but at 8GB, I have installed the max RAM it'll take.

 

[peglegjack]

My 2007 2.4GHz iMac runs great on Lion, though I did add 6 GB of RAM.

Suspect it'll do just as well with Mountain Lion too.

 

[bawbac]

Core Duo ~= Mac Mini. It runs Lion just fine.
You may need to maximize your RAM though since Lion is a RAM hog.

 

[Charcoalwerks]

and your mom only checks her email, bank account and facebook right?

No she does a lot in iPhoto and Ps CS3. Nice ASSumption though.

 

[xplnusa]

My 09 C2D runs it great. I ran it with the original 4G until recently upgrading and it ran great the whole time.

 

[Fank]

Thanks for the replies/input.

Am considering upgrading for iCloud - in particular for my daughter's iMac and to sync with her iphone and 'new' ipad.

I believe 4gigs is max ram for all three imacs.

 

[Nandifix]

4 gigs will work great as the current iMacs only come with 4gigs now. However the processor will stop you doing intensive things like video editing or gaming !

 

[Fank]

4 gigs will work great as the current iMacs only come with 4gigs now. However the processor will stop you doing intensive things like video editing or gaming !

Hmmm, the aluminum is used for some video editing, and Photoshop in CS5. Barely meets system requirements to run PS now.

I've pretty much given up gaming on those imacs unless I'm playing FlatOut2 in bootcamp (driving game I used to play) or feeling nostalgic for Unreal Tournament.


I also have a 3.06ghz imac if I want to run games. 8 gigs of ram. But that's my wife's imac.