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So... What about Mac OS X Leopard?

Drew017

Drew017

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 29, 2011
1,254
11
East coast, USA
I just upgraded from an iBook G3, running Tiger, to a G4, running Leopard. This is actually a pretty big upgrade for me... My old iBook has only 384 mb of ram, while the newer G4 has almost 800 mb. The processor speed is almost 2 times that of my G3. So... My question is- how is Leopard on the G4? (speed, capability...)
 
Which G4 do you have?
My 17" 1GHz iMac G4 is supposed to be here this week or 1st part of next week and it's preloaded with Tiger with 768MB RAM.

After reading a few posts on here that got my thinking, I may toy with the notion of putting a small SSD into it.
 
I've got quite a few G4s. I say if you've a G4, put Leopard on it. Much more usable. Make sure you have at least 512MB of RAM though, but you'll get slowdowns as you run out of memory, so make sure you put in at least 1GB.

It's much slower than Tiger on a 466MHz G4 with 1.5GB of memory, but I found it worthwhile.

It's fine on a 1GHz G4 with 512MB of memory, but with 1GB it's even better.
 
OP, if you have copy of Leo, the best is to try it out. No one can tell you better how it "feels" than yourself. How many peeps, that many opinions in this matter.
For some on 500 MHz G4 Leo is acceptable, for other not.
 
Well, I have a 1.33 GigaHertz iBook G4, with 784 MB of RAM, with a 60 GB HD, and (I Haven't received it yet- I got it online) I am sure that it will run fast. I just want opinions!
 
Drew017 said:
Well, I have a 1.33 GigaHertz iBook G4, with 784 MB of RAM, with a 60 GB HD, and (I Haven't received it yet- I got it online) I am sure that it will run fast. I just want opinions!
Click to expand...

I used to have the same iBook as you, but with 1.25 GB of RAM. For me, it just didn't cut it on Leopard even with that. It worked fine, but it just wasn't as fast as Tiger was, nor were the new features of any use to me. It wasn't painfully slow, but it wasn't close to quick either. It really started to lag if you had more than 3 or 4 apps open at a time, routine for most people I would think. I went back to Tiger and never looked back. Most G4's will run Leopard just fine, but if you want the epitome of fast on these old birds, Tiger is the way to go IMO.
 
Cassie said:
but it just wasn't as fast as Tiger was, nor were the new features of any use to me.
Click to expand...
This is the important thing, Tiger was much faster than Leopard on my 466MHz G4, but I used/liked/needed the extra features as it was my main computer for a while while made it worth it/tolerable.
 
Drew017 said:
Well, I have a 1.33 GigaHertz iBook G4, with 784 MB of RAM, with a 60 GB HD, and (I Haven't received it yet- I got it online) I am sure that it will run fast. I just want opinions!
Click to expand...

I had a Powermac G4 dual 1.42ghz 2GB RAM and G4 single 867mhz 1.5GB RAM and Leopard sucked on both- finder very laggy.

I found Leopard was fine on a Powerbook G4 1.67Ghz 1.5GB RAM and a G5 2.1Ghz 1.5GB RAM iMac.

I'd stick with Tiger for your iBook.
 
Drew: i just sold same machine a month or so ago (but had max 1.5 gig ram)...

-believe it or not but geekbench scored better with leopard then tiger...and unlike quasinormal i thought leopard ran faster then tiger in eveyday real terms....
-and being able to run latest itunes,modern safari (which ran faster then even tenfour and camino browsers) was enough for me
-1 gig stick of ddr sodimm ram can be found for not bad pricing and worth the upgrade...and easy install
http://www.ifixit.com/Browse/iBook_G4

now don't expect it to be modern fast (even a atom netbook will blow away a ibook G4) but it still can be very useful and everyday computer if you don't over expect things...

-a few tips...try turning off dashboard and spotlight...and use lite programs (mactubes,seashore)
-for me after installing leopard and updating itunes you need to go search/install QuickTime770 in order for itunes to work (auto update won't work to find qt 770)
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL761
 
Jethryn Freyman said:
This is the important thing, Tiger was much faster than Leopard on my 466MHz G4, but I used/liked/needed the extra features as it was my main computer for a while while made it worth it/tolerable.
Click to expand...
Exactly, it just depends on whether or not the new features and ability to run newer programs are worth the sacrifice in speed. Like I said, Leopard is way more than usable on a G4, but there will be those moments where you find yourself waiting for the OS to catch up to you. I got used to the instant response speed of Tiger and Leopard just seemed slow in comparison, and spaces and all that stuff just isn't useful to me. I love Tiger, the UI, the design, the speed and the simplicity and that's why I stick with it to this day. But, I know I'm a minority and all the new features of more current OS X iterations are loved by many, and it's worth getting new hardware and upgrading. To each their own.
 
Well, I personally really like Leopard OS... Much better than tiger. I guess it will be pretty fast... even my old iBook G3 booted faster than our 2010 HP with Windows 7, and this newer g4 has a processor a half a gigahertz faster. I also really like spotlight and dashboard, and (thanks for the tip) but I think I'll continue to use them.
 
OK- this is my own opinion after I got my iBook G4...

1- The 14 inch model is awesome! Much better than the 12 inch. It almost has the feel of a macbook. I'd like to have a higher res. display, though- 1024/ 768 seems a tad too big.
2- Leopard runs almost four times faster than Tiger on my old g3, which I gave to my brother. Apps open in 2 or three bounces, unlike my G3, which open stuff in like 6 or 7.
3- Time machine is great on my reformatted 2GB USB Drive. I only backed up my home folder. However, I'd like to know how to get the animated background in the "Time Portal", as my G4 doesn't have it.
4- All the newer apps open faster also (like Safari 5 and iTunes) and Youtube video watching and Flash is almost as good as any newer Mac.
5- DVDs play very well, and all video is very smooth.
6- The Xcode developer tools work great, and (so far) the small apps that I've made are even compatible with Mac OS X 10.7!

Conclusion- Leopard is (by FAR) a 100% better operating system than Tiger, and my G4 is (also by FAR) a 100% better and faster computer.

I think that anyone who has an iBook G4, or any other G4 should definitely get Leopard!

PS- Does anyone know how to get a translucent menu bar, and the Time Portal animation? Or the Dashboard Ripple? Thanks!
 
Drew017 said:
PS- Does anyone know how to get a translucent menu bar, and the Time Portal animation? Or the Dashboard Ripple? Thanks!
Click to expand...
I don't think you can if your graphics card doesn't support those things. Otherwise you could turn on the fancy menu bar in the Appearance preferences.
 
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