I have a 2007 MacBook 2GHz intel core 2 duo and i want to update to either snow leopard or lion what can ido if i have 10.4 already.

purchase a snow leopard retail disk.

brandon_seralena wrote:

i try'd installing the 10.6.4 Mac OSX install dvd that came with my 2011 iMac and it said it couldn't be installed on this computer, is that because it's only for the imac?

yes. The disks that come with each mac are machine specific. You need to purchase a retail disk.

The 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD is back in the Apple online store. You can now get it for $19.99 without having to phone the store. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

You can upgrade from 10.4 straight to 10.6 with no problems. Any program that runs under 10.4 should run under10.6. See this list for compatibility with 10.6: http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

You might have to upgrade some drivers for printers, etc.... And you will have to install Rosetta if you have any Power PC applications http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/snow_leopard_installing_rosetta/ I recently upgraded an older MacBook (model 1,1) straight from 10.4 to 10.6.

Once you are at 10.6.8 Lion is still available from Apple. You will have to call Apple Customer Care 1-800-692-7753 or 1-800-676-2775. to purchase it. Then within 3 days you will get an email with a code which you can use to download Lion from the App Store. The price is $19.99.

You must have at least a model 2,1 MacBook. Lion will require at least 2gb of RAM but really needs 4gb to run smoothly.

As for third party programs see this list for compatibility with 10.7 http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Also Lion doesn't run any Power PC programs. To see if you have any Power PC programs go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up select Applications under Software. Then look under Kind to see if any of your applications are listed as Power PC. Universal and Intel will run under Lion.

Before Mac switched to Intel processors in 2006 they used Power PC processors from 1994 to 2005. Power PC 601 through 604, G3, G4 and G5. Applications written for the Power PC processors need the application called Rosetta to run on Intel processors. This was part of the Operating System in 10.4 and 10.5 but was an optional install in 10.6. With 10.7 Lion Apple dropped all support for Power PC applications.