best os for iMac G5

And cheaper, even, than to rent a time machine to travel back to '05 to get a California receipt. Add in the cost of a new G5, which will then be obsolete in less than two years. Even if you buy AppleCare, it will have expired in '08.

What no-one in this thread has mentioned :

it's not only your computer you must consider, it's your existing software. IF you happily run apps such as Office 2001, or FileMaker Pro pre-7, or Adobe CS or Photoshop pre-Intel, or Quark Xpress that won't run natively in Intel ... and you can't afford to spend between $1k - $3k upgrading them ... then you NEED to buy a computer before Lion comes along, as Lion will not support Rosetta, and you need Rosetta to run your existing software.

So, if you're hooked on a G5, you really need Leopard as it's the latest OS you can run. But if you were to buy a second-hand Intel Mac, you could run as far as Snow Leopard and still run all your existing software in Rosetta if necessary.

Choices :

1. Run a G5 with Leopard - low outlay but gradually the system will leave you further and further behind
2. Buy a second-hand Intel iMac (running Leopard or Snow Leopard) - more outlay but it will future-proof your existing software, at least for a few years
3. Wait for the latest iMac with Lion - huge outlay as not only will that be expensive in itself but you may have to upgrade a lot of your software

Excellent point. It's what I've been reminding people about in the Snow Leo and Intel iMac forums. Scary to think that if my 21.5 had to be replaced, I'd lose all my PPC apps.

I know! I've tried to future-proof myself to some extent - I now have FileMaker Pro 10, and I understand that TextEdit opens and saves all versions of Word, and I've imported all my old Entourage emails into Mail - but that still leaves Photoshop Elements 6 stranded. At least my out-of-date iLife '06 would be upgraded free with the latest machines!