What is the maximum operating system of a Powerbook?

No Powerbook can upgrade to 10.6 or later.

867 Mhz, or 1 Ghz or faster Powerbooks are limited to 10.5.8. Read this tip to make sure you are ready for 10.5.8.

G4 Powerbooks with less than 867 Mhz can upgrade to Leopard with a special utility known as LeopardAssist, with some limited functionality.

G3 with Firewire maxes at 10.4.11. Read this tip for 10.4.11.

G3 without Firewire but with USB can get up to 10.3.9, however, no drive will boot Mac OS X externally, and some of those machines

won't let you install any version of 10, without the appropriate firmware, or making sure you don't have an issue with the CPU. A few whose CPU was problematic will only upgrade to 9.2.2.

G3s without USB can only go up to 10.2.8 if they are not the so-called Kanga Powerbook that was released late 1997. That Powerbook can't run anything

higher than Mac OS 9.1.

Pre-G3

Powerbooks 100 - could only go up to 7.5.5

Powerbooks 140, 145, 145B, 150, 160, 165, 165c 170, 180, 180c, Duo 210, Duo 230, Duo 250, Duo 270c- could only go up to 7.6.1

Powerbooks 190, 190cs, Duo 280, Duo 280c, 520, 520c, 540, 540c, 550c - could go up to 8.1.

Powerbook 500 with PowerPC upgrade card, 1400-5300 can go up to Mac OS 9.1.