I can't upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion

You have the first Mac Pro, released in 2006. Read > http://www.apple.com/osx/specs OS X Mountain Lion requires an Early 2008 or later Mac Pro, so you can't upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion without a hack

Lion 10.7.5 runs fine for me and I'll skip ML. The only reason I see for 10.8.3+ is support for new graphic cards, little or none besides - it is 64-bit kernal and 64-bit drivers.

You can't change from EFI 32-bit to 64-bit.

You can find 2009's for a good price in most cases, though some countries (not US) are very high priced still. Apple sells 2010 refurbished in the Apple Store Specials dept. Or an iMac might do for some users.

But with upgrades, you can get a lot more out of yours, just not 10.8 and above. And I would wait and save and maybe in a year but in the meantime, RAM is cheap, SSDs are very helpful, and a new GPU probably in order. Some even do cpu $100 2 x 5345/5355s to have 8-core.

You will need to buy a 2008+ Mac Pro to run any OS newer than 10.7.5

Stick with 10.6.8 unless you have software that requires 10.7, there are ways to make iCloud work with 10.6

Upgrading to 10.7:

You CAN Upgrade to 10.7 if you wish.

But it is "put away" so that Users do not get their cats confused and buy the wrong thing. Call store support (in the US) at 1-800-MY-Apple or the appropriate number is your region, and they can arrange to sell you a download code.

One problem upgraders to 10.7 face is that PowerPC-only Applications supported by Rosetta in 10.6 are no longer supported under 10.7.

The top six are:

AppleWorks 6

FileMaker Pro 6

Eudora 6

PhotoShop and other components of Adobe CS2

Microsoft Office 2004 including Word and Excel

Quicken 2007 (but there is a US$15 Lion compatible upgrade available from Intuit

More than a few Users have hated the transition to 10.7. You would be well advised to install it on a new drive or a different drive, and retain your 10.6 system drive intact.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

One problem upgraders to 10.7 face is that PowerPC-only Applications supported by Rosetta in 10.6 are no longer supported under 10.7.

The top six are:

AppleWorks 6

FileMaker Pro 6

Eudora 6

PhotoShop and other components of Adobe CS2

Microsoft Office 2004 including Word and Excel

Quicken 2007 (but there is a US$15 Lion compatible upgrade available from Intuit

More than a few Users have hated the transition to 10.7. You would be well advised to install it on a new drive or a different drive, and retain your 10.6 system drive intact.

The TOP SIX* running in Coherence Mode in Parallels 8 (with Snow Leopard Server and Roseeta installed) for use in 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mt. Lion:

[click on image to enlarge]

*Actually Quicken 2007 for Lion/Mt. Lion is a complete Intel rewrite and not an upgrade, so there is no purpose for Quicken 2007 to be on this list. Also, many people still use Freehand MX, which should be the sixth on this list...

MlchaelLAX wrote:

The TOP SIX* running in Coherence Mode in Parallels 8 (with Snow Leopard Server and Roseeta installed) for use in 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mt. Lion:

Very expensive option compared to a $30 Apple DVD.

MacMiniPro wrote:

MlchaelLAX wrote:

The TOP SIX* running in Coherence Mode in Parallels 8 (with Snow Leopard Server and Roseeta installed) for use in 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mt. Lion:

Very expensive option compared to a $30 Apple DVD.

That is of course a relative term: "very expensive option."

As I recall, your original suggestion was a bit more than $30: "You will need to buy a 2008+ Mac Pro to run any OS newer than 10.7.5"

In fact it is only $20 for Snow Leopard Server (telephone orders only at 800-MY-APPLE) and at most $79 retail for Parallels; cheaper if shopped on the internet.

Also, I do not know what $30 Apple DVD you are refering to...

Lastly, although my reply was to show Grant that the "Top Six" can run in a Lion world, my reply to Grant also is educating the OP as to options to continue to run his PowerPC apps in a Lion/Mr. Lion world ("dual-booting" being another option). Most Snow Leopard users have no idea that they continue to run PowerPC apps due to the transparency of Rosetta.

MlchaelLAX wrote:

As I recall, your original suggestion was a bit more than $30: "You will need to buy a 2008+ Mac Pro to run any OS newer than 10.7.5"

Actually thats false information.

The suggestion was to stay with 10.6

$19 for 10.6.3 DVD "Snow Leopard"

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Which is required to upgrade to anything further.

Lion runs well, so well, that I was surprised when I did (but I would not have back in 2011 when it came out, no way and too many issues, some of which were not patched and fixed until 10.7.4 and 7.5).

There is/was a 2GB 'tax' to Rosetta as well as it being 32-bit and having to do its own inefficient memory juggling and getting in its own way at times. Like putting XP running inside if you will. PowerPC is afterall the past.

MacMiniPro wrote:

MlchaelLAX wrote:

As I recall, your original suggestion was a bit more than $30: "You will need to buy a 2008+ Mac Pro to run any OS newer than 10.7.5"

Actually thats false information.

The suggestion was to stay with 10.6

Staying with Snow Leopard was your 2nd suggestion; go back and reread it:

"You will need to buy a 2008+ Mac Pro to run any OS newer than 10.7.5" (emphasis added).

If you merely wanted to state the facts, you should not have personalized it by direction: "A 2008+ Mac Pro is needed to run any OS newer than 10.7.5"

In any event, the options are the OP's choice, and I see you've backed away from your comparative claim to a "$30 Apple DVD" which is what drew my attention to your post in the first place.

MlchaelLAX wrote:

Staying with Snow Leopard was your 2nd suggestion

Actually, that is false information.

The first line was a statement of fact saying that if he needs to use 10.8 he will have to buy a 2008+ model.

The suggestion was that he keep his current machine and use 10.6

MlchaelLAX wrote:

and I see you've backed away from your comparative claim to a "$30 Apple DVD" which is what drew my attention to your post in the first place.

Please stop trying to distort my words for your own misdeeds and trying to pull me under your bridge.

I'll let your words speak for themself!

You were the one whose misdeed was to claim my suggession was a "very expensive option compared to a $30 Apple DVD;" a statement that did not sustain challenge.

He did not suggest buying a new computer, he suggested staying with 10.6

"You will need to buy" is indeed a statement of fact.

"Stick with" is a suggestion.

You misunderstood what he said. Move on already and stop cluttering up the thread! Thanks!

OM617.952 wrote:

He did not suggest buying a new computer, he suggested staying with 10.6

The OP clearly indicated he wants to run Mountain Lion. If MacMiniPro's only suggestion was to continue to run Snow Leopard, then that suggestion was merely personal, not directed to the OP and hence off-topic.

UPDATE: I will ignore the remainder of your post, added after I replied to your original post.