Sorry, but you have a real dinosaur here. We recently discovered that we should have loaded the newer versions of Mac. We have a macbook pro version 10.4.11. Where and how do we begin?

Start by reporting: Apple Menu > About this Mac. We need model number and RAM. This is mine:

Actually ... also report "More Info". Report only the information I have shown, NOT the serial number:

The first thing you really should do is to compare your Mac to the list of Mac supported by the variuos new versions of OS X to find out exactly what it is possible to upgrade to for it.

In the mean time you can call Apple and order a Snow Leopard DVD and upograde to that. Once there you should do the uodates to 10.6.8.

Of course the first step is to backup.

Allan

It would help if you might tell us exactly what model you have. It's pretty old probably around 2006 0r 2007. You may be able to upgrade it to Lion if it's a Core 2 Duo processor, but if not then Snow Leopard is the limit. See below:

Upgrading to Snow Leopard

You must purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.

After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.

Snow Leopard General Requirements

1. Mac computer with an Intel processor

2. 1GB of memory

3. 5GB of available disk space

4. DVD drive for installation

5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;

fees may apply.

6. Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and

terms apply.

Upgrading to Lion

If your computer does not meet the requirements to install Mountain Lion, it may still meet the requirements to install Lion.

You can purchase Lion by contacting Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download. You will get an email containing a redemption code that you then use at the Mac App Store to download Lion. Save a copy of that installer to your Downloads folder because the installer deletes itself at the end of the installation.

Lion System Requirements

1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,

or Xeon processor

2. 2GB of memory

3. OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)

4. 7GB of available space

5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.

I would advise that you backup any data you wish to retain because you will need to erase the drive before upgrading. If you know nothing about backup and restore then see the following:

Basic Backup

For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:

1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;

2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is used to

manage backups and to restore backups.

Time Machine requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the drive being backed up.

Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):

1. Carbon Copy Cloner

2. Data Backup

3. Deja Vu

4. SuperDuper!

5. Synk Pro

6. Tri-Backup

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.

Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;

1. Cool Drives

2. OWC

3. WiebeTech

4. Firewire Direct

5. California Drives

6. NewEgg

All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

You are losing me when you say that you can load Snow Leopard without loading all the other versions of OS X.

You only work with one version of OS X at a time unless for some strange reason you want to work more then one. Then of course you are going to have to have a partition or extra hard drive for each additional version of OS X you want. Multiple versions of OS X is something that should only be considered when everything else fails.

As to determination of what version of OS X you Mac will support if you can give use the information Steve359 asked for we can figure that our for you very quickly.

Allan

Model number, for example MacbookPro8,2 gives a better starting point.

When you say "Model 2.2" do you mean the model identifier is 2,2 or do you mean the CPU is a 2.2 GHz speed? If it is the latter, then it may well be a mid/late 2007 model that could run Mountain Lion.

But in any case you will need to add more RAM. The mid/late 2007 model could handle up to 6 GBs of RAM. Earlier models than that would be 3 GBs of RAM. To upgrade to Lion or Mountain Lion would require at least 2 GBs of RAM. Snow Leopard requires only 1 GB of RAM (what you now have installed.)

Erasing a drive is no scarier than turning on the computer. I'm sure you've erased audio or video tapes at some point in time. Same idea only faster on the computer. And, then you are going to make a fresh installation of Snow Leopard (to start.) It will be just like you are just taking it out of the box.

I'm not next door, but I am here.

Many are staying at SL intentionally. Partly due to many PowerPC applications not working under Lion and MountainLion. Use this list to check applications you use: http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

You have 1 GB RAM. 667 is the memory speed.

You MBP will not run Mountain Lion. It can only run Lion.

Allan

You have 1 GB of RAM now, and you can upgrade to 2 GBs or 4 GBs. In the case of the latter only 3 GBs will be useable by the system.

So, you can easily run Snow Leopard as is or add some more RAM to make for improved performance when multi-tasking. This should be fine for your uses.