I'll like to know what is mac os x 10.5 leopard like and what are great feature that leopard bring for an ibook g4 mid 2005. What are the system requirements for mac os x 10.5 leopard?
iBook, Mac OS X (10.4.2), iBook g4 2005
Leopard 10.5 Technical Requirements - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3759
Information about your Mac:
http://www.apple-history.com/ibook_g4_mid_05
Mac OS X 10.5 - General requirements:
Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
512MB of memory
DVD drive for installation
9GB of available disk space
Further information:
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP517
Practical note:
It is possible to install OS X 10.5 on a Mac with half the speed, RAM and disk space that Apple stipulate but below 500 MHZ and 1 GB of RAM performance will be considerably impaired. I have used OS X 10.5 on a 733 MHz G4+ with 1.5 GB of RAM for several years and I am very happy with it. My standard install information follows:
Backup first
It is always best to have a full bootable backup before you upgrade. If you fail to do this you will be unable to return to this OS if you decide you don't like the new OS. Also there is a slight chance that an install could lose everything on the Mac. The backup must be to an external hard disk. Preferably use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable backup of the whole disk.
Erase before the install
Once you have a bootable backup on an external disk it is best to erase the internal disk with the new installer DVD before you install.
During the install
Preferably do not import any data or preferences from earlier OSs during the install process as this can reintroduce bugs.
OS numbers and names
OS X 10.4.x - Tiger
OS X 10.5.x - Leopard
OS X 10.6.x - Snow Leopard
OS X 10.7.x - Lion
OS X 10.8.x - Mountain Lion
More about Macs
The Apple History site has specifications for every Mac ever produced: http://www.apple-history.com/
Upgrade to Leopard
Those wishing to upgrade to Leopard should be aware that install disks can be expensive unless you contact Apple. Details: http://lowendmac.com/deals/best-os-x-leopard-prices.html Standard Leopard installers impose several hardware limitations including speed and RAM size but all these restrictions can be overcome. Google for details. Leopard works well at 500 MHz with 1 GB of RAM and many happy users have less than this.
Upgrade beyond Leopard
OSs beyond OS X 10.5.8 require an Intel processor. If in doubt check this: Click the apple at the top left of your screen and select 'About this Mac'. This will give you your OS number. Then click 'More Info' to see which processor you have. If it says PowerPC you cannot upgrade to Snow Leopard and above. If you have an Intel Mac it is well worth upgrading to Snow Leopard now and then considering other options after that. You can buy Snow Leopard here: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
Upgrade beyond Snow Leopard
Information about upgrading Snow Leopard to Lion or Mountain Lion: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD256Z/A
Important
Check that your Mac complies with any requirements. If you are not in the US you should use the Change Country link at the bottom of Apple pages.
It is possible to install OS X 10.5 on a Mac with half the speed, RAM and disk space that Apple stipulate but below 500 MHZ and 1 GB of RAM performance will be considerably impaired.
I have a fresh installation of 10.5 on a 1.2 GHz Powerbook with >1GB RAM, not too dissimilar from the OP's (and this topic or very related ones have been posted several times over the past week by the OP so I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned before). No other software. No other files. Just the clean install on a freshly formatted drive (with write zeros to test for integrity). Leopard c..r..a..w..l..s... It takes several minutes to boot. I would NOT recommend it for the OP's system. It may just be the slow hard drives found in laptops.
These things are subjective and perception may depend upon experience with other computers.
The disks are slightly slower and probably have smaller caches.
I suspect that in order to reduce battery energy drain there are more electronic compromises affecting bus speed and overall performance.
With your experience I doubt that you have been fooled by the quite long initial spotlight hit on the OS.
Typically portables hibernate and others don't but I am not sure how this affects boot time.
Portables may reduce speed for operations perceived to be background only.
OS X 10.4 and 10.5 fail to perform daily, weekly and monthly maintenance tasks as intended - see:
http://links.zero.eu.org/os-x/period/
I would like to know why some Mac portables appear slower than desktops with processor speeds half theirs.
My ibook 4's Hardware Overview
Machine Name: iBook G4
Machine Model: PowerBook6,7
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.5)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.33 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.9.3f0
Serial Number: 4H53********
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Version: 1.0
serial number blocked out for protection ~ Lester1234
What is Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard like?
