Which OS to upgrade to on Powerbook G4?

[wyattt]

I would like to upgrade my Aluminum PB G4 1.5Ghz to one of the newer OS's. I have 10,4 on my intel mini. My question is, which version 10.4 or 10.5 have powerbook users had more success with? Are there any issus to be weary of? Is it worth it to upgrade? I have searched some forums but most hits are odd little issues. I'm looking for any major issues that may detract me from upgrading. I know sometimes there are issues with lagging and increased processor usage with newer OS's. Also, would it be better to do a clean install? I don't have any data that I can't back up to Ext. hard drives. I'm pretty knowledgeable of computers, but this is my first OS upgrade as a mac user. Will I have any issues with powerbook G4 specific hardware not being recognized or anything?

Thanks for your help!

 

[mathcolo]

If all you care about is speed, I would use 10.4. A good thing to remember is that the only real difference between 10.4 and 10.5 is the eye-candy features. All the under-the-hood stuff in 10.4 can be upgraded easily.

My call would be 10.4. More native to the time... you know?

 

[wyattt]

Yeah that was what I was thinking too. I know there is a backlight issue, but other than that I haven't seen any other threads. My main desire is just to be able to upgrade my software to iwork 08, firefox 3, and other programs that require 10.4 or higher. It seems that I encounter that requirement a lot more now. Safari for 10.3.9 is horrific. I hear the version for 10.4 is nicer.

 

[11800506]

I see no reason why not to upgrade to Leopard, 10.5. I did it on my eMac with a slower processor and I also did it on a 12" 1.5 Ghz Powerbook with 1.25 Gb of Ram and it runs pretty well. While it is true Tiger will run slightly faster I think the newer features of Leopard are worth it. One I got used to using some of Leopard's new features such as Spaces and Quicklook I always miss them when I go back to Tiger. If you do decide to go with Leopard (or Tiger for that matter too) I would max out the Ram (it is either 1.25 GB or 2 GB depending on that screen size) and then you should be set. A clean install is always good but not necessary.