Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard for my iMac G4 20” 1.25GHz

[FocusAndEarnIt]

Hi everyone,

just picked up a 20” iMac G4. It currently has 1.25gb RAM and an 80gb HDD. I have another 1gb stick on order and also plan to put atleast a 128gb SSD drive in next week once the RAM comes in.

it is currently running Tiger. Besides losing Classic support, why would you recommend staying on Tiger versus Leopard? What advantages or disadvantages would I get from upgrading to Leopard?

personally I am partial to Tiger, and not crazy about the UI changes introduced with Leopard. But, if Leopard opens up more doors for my iMac to be useable in this day and age, I would strongly consider upgrading to it. Anybody have any thoughts?

 

[eyoungren]

As with anything, it all depends on how you intend to use the Mac.

Do you plan on networking with PCs? Leopard is better. Plan on using your iMac as a printserver? Leopard is better. Want to run the last version of 'X' universal app? In most cases, you'll need Leopard.

The code that makes Leopard slower than Tiger is the features and improvements that Tiger doesn't have. If you don't need them then stay on Tiger. But if you do, there are ways to optimize Leopard so that it's a quick as it can be.

 

[Raging Dufus]

Personally I would stay with Tiger on that machine. I like to run Leopard on every system that will run it well because of expanded software options and an overall better video experience due to Quicktime 7.7 (unavailable in Tiger). But the biggest problem with Leopard vs Tiger is that the Leopard UI depends to a much greater degree on Core Image, and the GeForce FX 5200 graphics card in your iMac can't handle it. So, your CPU takes a hit by having to make up for what the graphics card lacks in processing power. This performance penalty can be mitigated somewhat by changing certain parameters of the UI, but it cannot be eliminated.

I have a 12" PowerBook with a slightly faster G4 than your iMac, and the same graphics card. I use Tiger on it, because it's overall a snappier, less heat-producing experience.

 

[Amethyst1]

I'm partial to Tiger's UI too and stay away from Leopard as my main driver unless the machine in question has a Core Image-capable GPU. I had Leopard on my 1.5 GHz 12" PowerBook and it always felt "heavy" and sluggish, even with things like the 3D Dock turned off (which makes a noticeable difference already). And I hate the opaque grey menu bar, it's just hideous IMHO. Tiger was snappier and felt "right". That was with 1.25 GB RAM and a decent HDD. Classic sucks on Panther and Tiger so it's out of the equation IMO anyway. However, as stated Leopard generally can run more and newer versions of applications so if you want to run something that requires it... This is why I dual-boot, mostly spending my time in Tiger and (only) booting to Leo when necessary.

 

[Project Alice]

I usually run Leopard on everything that can run it. Which is technically anything with a G4. I would agree with what the others are saying here though. What's your use case? On most machines, I dual boot them both, including my iMac G4 17" 1GHz. Mine has a Geforce4 MX. Leopard for me runs fine on Geforce 5200 machines, though it is true the CPU is the one doing CoreImage. I have three 12" 1.5GHz PowerBooks and they all run Leopard on them without Tiger and they run fine.
The Geforce 4mx however, does not work well on Leopard. I'm not sure why, but there are always graphics anomalies and artifacts especially on the dock. This has been replicated on the two machines I have that use that chip; the iMac G4 and my 867MHz 12" PB. On those machines, I generally stick with Tiger.
The only time aside from that is when I want classic.

Also I wanted to add that on my "primary" portable (a 1.5GHz 15" PowerBook, 128MB Radeon 9700M) Leopard actually runs better. It has a dualboot with Tiger on an SSD. Tiger runs way hotter for some reason, and TenFourFox is very, very noticeably slower. I'm not sure why.
Also G4FanControl only works in Leopard on that machine, not in Tiger. Which might explain the heat.

 

[dlopan]

I have 1 G4 running Tiger server and 1 G4 running Leopard, soon to be 1 more running maybe leopard