Will Leopard run well on 1GH PowerPC G4 w/1.5GB RAM?
Kids are using my old "lamp style" iMac and still running Tiger. Some of the new software (Safari 5) requires Leopard. Will I notice anything different if I upgrade? Slower, faster? Should all the software that we currently use still work ok? Please advise.
Thanks.
20" iMac G5 (iSight),
Mac OS X (10.4.11),
- 17" iMac G4 FP - 2 iPods - iPhone 3g 16GB
Yes, you can run Leopard. It isn't much faster than Tiger. Some of your software may require upgrading. You will need to check the versions you have to determine if they are compatible.
Leopard ran OK on my Mom's iMac G4/1.25GHz 1GB system (17" lamp style iMac).
Now my Mom only did things like email, web surfing, video iChat, and maybe printed something from time to time.
With respect to video iChat. When my Mom upgraded (like last month) to a new 21.5" iMac core 2 duo/3GHz 4GB system, her iChat video quality jumped up a great deal. I think it was the faster CPU that made this improvement.
My main Mac is a PowerPC G4 AGP 400MHz - purchased new in early 2000. Years ago I popped in an OWC Mercury Extreme G4, running at 1.2 GHz, and added RAM to arrive at 2 GB SDRAM.
I've installed every OS X release up to Leopard 10.5.8. Each release was an improvement over the previous one, in speed and overall performance.
As Kappy said, application software may need to be upgraded in order to perform well (or even perform at all!) under 10.5.8. Some features of applications like iPhoto and iWork no longer work with the stock ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics card, but I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Mac Edition card waiting in the wings.
I've installed 10.5.8 on 2 family eMacs which have better graphics processors - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - than my G4 AGP. Sometimes I use an eMac to accomplish some tasks in iPhoto or iWork.
Of couse, I'm at the end of the Mac OS trail with this machine, but after 10 years (and a recent power supply fan replacement), it still performs all that I ask of it.
I installed Safari 5 a few hours ago, and it's a noticeable improvement over v4.x
Your question is reminiscent of the same dilemma I had. I have a Quicksilver 2002 with Dual 1 GHz processors and 1.5 GB of RAM. I like that Leopard runs a lot of the newer software but I noticed a slower performing Mac with it. I installed Tiger back on it and I am much happier. In the meantime I'll buy a faster video card to take advantage of Core Image. When I can afford a new Mac I'll buy one. I hope you do well in your decision. Good luck.
