Which OS for iBook PowerPC G4?

[DanK104]

I have a 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 iBook, that I'm giving to a friend. I want to reinstall system software on it, but am wondering which version would be best: I know that newer ones do more, but might also be slower... Any suggestions? I now have 10.5.8 on it. Can this computer handle 10.6? or would it be too slow?

It has a 55GB hard disk ("60GB") and 1.5 GB RAM.

I do have all the OSX's on disk...

Thanks for comments!
Dan

 

[adcx64]

You can't run 10.6 on a PPC Mac. Leopard is your only real option unless you wanna be skimped out of newer apps with Tiger which will only run slightly faster. My iBook with similar specs runs Leopard like a dream. Re install if it's running slow.

 

[mike457]

The best you would be able to do is Leopard, 10.5.8. While older systems would be faster, Leopard gives you the most bang for buck in terms of ability to run software, more recent versions of web browsers and so forth. I'd go with that.

 

[4JNA]

depends on what you want to do with it i guess.

if you need the newer/latest versions of stuff, then you are stuck running 10.5.x (leopard).

if you just want it to run the basic osx stuff, the i would vote for 10.4.x (tiger).

have the same laptop, use it most days, works great. mine (in my opinion) runs faster with tiger than it did with leopard, i use it for basic surfing/email and such, and it does that really well. one of my favorite laptops ever actually.

best of luck with the upgrade/downgrade/install....

 

[4JNA]

forums upgrade dupe. oops.

 

[tom vilsack]

with those specs it should handle leopard np...in fact if you ran geekbench in tiger and leopard (leopard would post a slightly better score)...also leopard can runs newer versions of intunes...were tiger will not work with latest ipods,itouch ect

-i would do a clean install of leopard (zero option erase disk utility first
-then i would create two partitions (second being about 10gigs) then i would restore leopard dvd to that partition (reason being...faster install,but mainly so friend can reinstall using option key if all goes wrong
-then i would do a install (leaving out lang translations,additonal fonts,printer support)
-then when done,make simple user name with no password (so friend can then make his own)
-update update update (time to make some coffee)
-install tenfourfox browser (turn on flash...about:config...tenfourfox.plugins enabled


your friend will have a great computer!

 

[jparenti]

Speaking from experience (seeing as how this post is being typed on a 14" iBook G4 1.42 Ghz with only 768MB of RAM), 10.5.8 will run just fine. If you've got the RAM maxed like you said, I'd say your friend would be happier with a newer version of the OS able to run slightly more modern versions of software.