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Downgrade 10.6 to 10.5 MBP core i5

C

contrakid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2007
17
0
Has anyone downgraded a MacBook Pro core i5 or i7 to 10.5.X

I have an expensive print workflow system that will only run with 10.5 and below but really need to upgrade my MacBook Pro as its on its last legs.

I have successfully downgraded a Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel Xeon from 10.6 to 10.5 and have had no problems but just wondering if it has been done with MBP i5 or i7 yet!

Cheers people
 
contrakid said:
Has anyone downgraded a MacBook Pro core i5 or i7 to 10.5.X

I have an expensive print workflow system that will only run with 10.5 and below but really need to upgrade my MacBook Pro as its on its last legs.

I have successfully downgraded a Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel Xeon from 10.6 to 10.5 and have had no problems but just wondering if it has been done with MBP i5 or i7 yet!

Cheers people
Click to expand...

I don't think you can downgrade the i5/i7 series of MacBooks as 10.6.3 included processor support. But maybe share the printer from the mac pro over the network and add it to the 10.6 computer thereby having your mac pro as a middle man. That might work
 
No you can't downgrade it. You can't load a lower operating system on a Mac than the one that originally shipped with it.
 
mrkramer said:
No you can't downgrade it. You can't load a lower operating system on a Mac than the one that originally shipped with it.
Click to expand...

mmm.. you didn't read all my first post then. I have already done it with a Mac Pro that i purchased a couple of months ago. Came with 10.6 and now is running smoothly with 10.5.8
 
keantan said:
I don't think you can downgrade the i5/i7 series of MacBooks as 10.6.3 included processor support. But maybe share the printer from the mac pro over the network and add it to the 10.6 computer thereby having your mac pro as a middle man. That might work
Click to expand...

Thanks for you help but its not that sort of printer. Its a £60,000 workflow system that runs a java application that talks to a server. And it is not compatible with OSX 10.6 only 10.5 but i need to run it on my MBP as it also links into CS5 apps etc.
 
Constantine1337 said:
Did you think about emulating 10.5.x on something like Sun's VirtualBox?
Click to expand...

Yes i did, the system will also run on Windows so could run vmware also but the problem is the system works in conjunction with Acobat Pro so i think i would have to install that in there also. I suppose i could do this but its just all that extra mucking around plus extra CPU power these emulators will use.
 
I don't think you can downgrade the i5/i7 to Leopard as the OS probably won't support the architecture but have you tried seeing if there's a software patch for the problematic apps?... just a thought.
 
bigjobby said:
I don't think you can downgrade the i5/i7 to Leopard as the OS probably won't support the architecture but have you tried seeing if there's a software patch for the problematic apps?... just a thought.
Click to expand...

Yes there is an upgrade for the problematic apps, it costs £24,000 but we do not want to spend out on this as we are changing the system in the next 12 months to another manufacture etc.
 
contrakid said:
mmm.. you didn't read all my first post then. I have already done it with a Mac Pro that i purchased a couple of months ago. Came with 10.6 and now is running smoothly with 10.5.8
Click to expand...

Most likely you had one of the models that originally shipped with 10.5.x you didn't specify which Mac Pro you have. 10.5 doesn't have support for hardware that was released after 10.6 came out.
 
the lowest version of OSX you can "downgrade" to is the version that was shipped with OSX.

I've tried this a number of times on a number of macs and they've all failed. If your MBP was shipped with 10.6, you'll not be able to load 10.5. That version simply does not have the drivers needed for the core i5 laptop.

As others stated, you'll be better off running 10.5 in a virtual environment.

Check out insanely mac, there are threads there for getting osx running on vmware and I've read you can now do it with virtualbox.
 
mrkramer said:
Most likely you had one of the models that originally shipped with 10.5.x you didn't specify which Mac Pro you have. 10.5 doesn't have support for hardware that was released after 10.6 came out.
Click to expand...

It was a Mac Pro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon MB871B/A purchased from Apple in June 2010 and it did come with OSX 10.6 installed and on DVD install.
 
contrakid said:
It was a Mac Pro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon MB871B/A purchased from Apple in June 2010 and it did come with OSX 10.6 installed and on DVD install.
Click to expand...

Those models originally shipped with Leopard, which is why you were able to "downgrade" from 10.6 to 10.5.

Officially you should not do this on Macs that originally (as in, "when the revision first appeared") shipped with SL. It can cause some major stability issues.
 
maflynn said:
the lowest version of OSX you can "downgrade" to is the version that was shipped with OSX.

I've tried this a number of times on a number of macs and they've all failed. If your MBP was shipped with 10.6, you'll not be able to load 10.5. That version simply does not have the drivers needed for the core i5 laptop.

As others stated, you'll be better off running 10.5 in a virtual environment.

Check out insanely mac, there are threads there for getting osx running on vmware and I've read you can now do it with virtualbox.
Click to expand...

Ok how many times do i have to say it is possible because i have done it many times in the pass.

Last one being a Mac Pro Tower 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon MB871B/A purchased from Apple in June 2010 and it did come with OSX 10.6 installed and on DVD instalL.

It is possible but it takes some playing around to do it. You can't just install from DVD's or Timemachine.
 
miles01110 said:
Those models originally shipped with Leopard, which is why you were able to "downgrade" from 10.6 to 10.5.

Officially you should not do this on Macs that originally (as in, "when the revision first appeared") shipped with SL. It can cause some major stability issues.
Click to expand...

OK thanks Miles that helps.
 
contrakid said:
Ok how many times do i have to say it is possible because i have done it many times in the pass.

Last one being a Mac Pro Tower 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon MB871B/A purchased from Apple in June 2010 and it did come with OSX 10.6 installed and on DVD instalL.

It is possible but it takes some playing around to do it. You can't just install from DVD's or Timemachine.
Click to expand...

How many times do we have to say you can't do it. Here is the information on your Mac Pro. If you look there you can see that it originally shipped with 10.5.6 and there were no hardware changes between that time and when you bought it, so 10.5 still has support for that hardware. there have been hardware changes with the MacBook Pro so 10.5 won't support it, it wouldn't support a newer Mac Pro either.
 
I think your only option is to run 10.5 virtually. Seriously, what serious developer makes software that costs that much and can't keep it up to date with the machines to run it? Just got me wondering, that's all.
 
Does the Macbook Pro need upgrading or just replacing because of wear and tear?

How about a reconditioned older MBP?
 
mrkramer said:
How many times do we have to say you can't do it. Here is the information on your Mac Pro. If you look there you can see that it originally shipped with 10.5.6 and there were no hardware changes between that time and when you bought it, so 10.5 still has support for that hardware. there have been hardware changes with the MacBook Pro so 10.5 won't support it, it wouldn't support a newer Mac Pro either.
Click to expand...

Sorry we were obviously talking at cross wires as i thought you were talking about the actual Mac Pro i purchased could not be downgraded if it came with 10.6 not the first release of that model etc.
 
Hisdem said:
I think your only option is to run 10.5 virtually. Seriously, what serious developer makes software that costs that much and can't keep it up to date with the machines to run it? Just got me wondering, that's all.
Click to expand...

The company is a German Company called Heidelberg and they make litho printing presses plus other systems that work around them.

As i said there is an upgrade route to make it work but we have been quoted £24,000. This is the reason we are moving to another system made by Kodak.

I may try playing around with Java again.
 
jdavtz said:
Does the Macbook Pro need upgrading or just replacing because of wear and tear?

How about a reconditioned older MBP?
Click to expand...

The MBP shuts down is do anything that pushes the CPU unless i run cool book controller and limit the processor speed etc. and even then it will shutdown if i convert lots of large jpegs or watch any HD video.

It also will only run for about 2mins on battery.

If i'm going to spend i'm going to get the best i can as i will be on other system soon and my MD will not understand why i want to upgrade so soon again. Had this MBP for 5 years i think now!
 
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