Lion on late 2006 iMac- any drawback?

[Asuriyan]

Hey all,

So I decided to dust off my iMac 5,1 (white C2D model, 2.33GHz, 2GB RAM) for the kids to play with. I know it will run Lion but I'm generally pretty happy with 10.6.8 in terms of stability, security and performance (even on a machine this old), so I'm wondering if there's really any point considering the potential for performance loss.

I do have ML on my current computer (rMBP) but for what my kids will be doing I don't know how beneficial running a newer version would be. The biggest difference for my usage is trackpad gestures, and I do have a spare Magic Trackpad I would be connecting.

I'm pretty sure I have some DDR2 sticks lying around I could stick in- it will support a maximum of 4GB, correct? I'm assuming that would be the biggest boost if I do decide to make the plunge.

Any other advice from one of the three people in the world to still have this beast lying around their basement?

 

[iDutchman]

I actually just sold my 20" iMac 5,1 2.16Ghz with 4GB's of Ram (the base late 2006 model).

I ran great on Lion. No drawbacks at all. I definitely recommend doing so.

I sold it because I have no use or space for it. If it wasn't for that, I would have kept it. Loved it to death. Beautiful machine. Sold it for €300,- <-- pristine condition!

 

[r6mile]

I have a 17" iMac 2.0 C2D, with 3GB of RAM and an SSD, which I'm currently using as my main (read: only) machine, with OS X Lion. It runs fabulously, I can only think of advantages in running Lion. This machine still has a lot of power in it yet.

 

[thedeske]

Agree with the others. The 06 is still a great machine. Had one a few months ago doing scan duty with 10.6.8. Lion runs fine for basics. Perhaps a bit slower for certain tasks, but not enough to worry about.

 

[Asuriyan]

Great! I found some RAM that should work and I'm going to give it a shot tonight.

Thanks for the input, guys!