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Tiger or Leopard on Imac G4 with 512MB RAM
- Thread starter asifnaz
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If you value speed, go for Tiger.
If you value features such as Time Machine and better compatibility with newer applications, go for Leopard.
One word of advice - 512 MB RAM isn't all that much, especially for Leopard.
If you value features such as Time Machine and better compatibility with newer applications, go for Leopard.
One word of advice - 512 MB RAM isn't all that much, especially for Leopard.
If all you're really planning on doing is watching some video from a DVD or something, with only 512MB RAM, I might suggest Panther instead. OS X 10.3.
You can't run Office 2008 on Panther, but you can run Office 2004.
For your situation I would not suggest Leopard.
You can't run Office 2008 on Panther, but you can run Office 2004.
For your situation I would not suggest Leopard.
I've no experience of running Leopard on only 512Mb RAM but I have run Leopard very successfully on 768Mb.
If you genuinely only want to watch SD video and use Office 2008 then Tiger is more than adequate - and if you want to take advantage of best software options don't go below Tiger. For SD video apart from the built in QuickTime, VLC, MPlayer and Coreplayer are all more efficient players.
If you genuinely only want to watch SD video and use Office 2008 then Tiger is more than adequate - and if you want to take advantage of best software options don't go below Tiger. For SD video apart from the built in QuickTime, VLC, MPlayer and Coreplayer are all more efficient players.
I have both Tiger and Leopard installed on 2 of my PowerBook G4s. Tiger is probably the most efficient OS with only 512Mb to be installed on a PowerPC, plus it has Classic OS9 support. You need 1.5Gb of ram to run Leopard relatively smooth and acceptably well. I have it on my 15" DSLD which is the fastest G4 PowerBook I have. The other one being a broken G4 1.5Ghz with a broken lower memory slot which only gives me 512MB runs slow as molasses with Leopard. Even Tiger is slower with only 512MB; was faster with 1Gb ram before it got dropped and now can only recognize 512MB. Leopard doesn't have Classic support. Tiger supports SD video playback and MS Office 2008 and I have them installed on my PowerMac G5 and prefer than booting into Leopard. The only time I use Leopard is when I need to browse with the Leopard Webkit Safari browser on my G5.
Thank you for your advice .I realize 512mb is just not enough for leopard . What kind of ram Imac g4 uses ? Like ddr2 or ddr3 etc . Those rams are cheaply available . For now I think I should install tiger and then after ram upgradation to 2gb I may like to clean install leopard .
There is a website called everymac.com that gives you an idea of what you will need memory wise. Some iMacG4 can allow you to take you up to 1Gb of ram using DDR SDRAM, though some can go unofficially to 2Gb using PC2700 DDR ram. Some iMacG4 max out on Tiger.
This is your model - 2Gb max DDR RAM - though you have to open it up to access the second slot:
everymac.com
iMac G4/1.0 15" "FP" (USB 2.0) Specs (iMac USB 2.0, M9285LL/A, PowerMac6,3*, M6498, 1990): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the iMac G4/1.0 15" "FP" (USB 2.0). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.