Can I use an intel Snow Leopard disc on a non intel Mac Mini

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Can I use an intel Snow Leopard disc on a non intel Mac Mini

I used to have an Intel iMac. This computer died, years ago I purchased Snow Leopard from the Apple store to upgrade since Tiger was no longer supported by browsers like Chrome, etc... Unfortunately my iMac died. I still have the OS cd. I have an old Mac Mini my dad was no longer using, this one has Leopard installed. I tried using the Snow Leopard cd to upgrade the OS, but I get an error that says that the Mac Mini is not Intel. Any way I can bypass this? I only want to upgrade it because safari is giving me trouble with youtube, extremely low etc... Other browsers don't support 10.5 anymore. Please help! 🙂 Thanks in advance for your help and Happy New Year!

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Dec 30, 2013 8:08 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,623 points

Dec 30, 2013 8:12 PM in response to Gloredo

No. No PowerPC Mac can be upgraded past 10.5.8.

(96444)

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Answer 2

Gloredo Author

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Dec 31, 2013 3:38 PM in response to Niel

Thank you :)

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

82,835 points

Jan 2, 2014 8:26 AM in response to Gloredo

The iMac Snow Leopard installer disc is only compatible with an iMac of the same age as the installer disc in question.

The Mac Mini PowerPC once upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5 can't run the Classic mode, without installing 10.4.11 or less on an external Firewire hard drive. 10.5 does NOT give Boot Camp compatibility to anything but an Intel Mac.

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Answer 4

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,960 points

Jan 2, 2014 5:13 PM in response to Gloredo

You could try a few other browsers so as to use the Mini online.

The TenFourFox mozilla-based web browser does OK in a G4 Mini running 10.5.8, see the numbered version download link at http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/ get .zip TenfourFox download for G4 mini and later G4 iBook etc here: 7450 ("G4e")

Then there is iCab, it does fairly well in several operating systems and though it is shareware, it will work OK without paying but works better if you buy a license. I haven't yet and so I see an iCab icon for awhile after I start it up. See: iCab 5.1.1 Universal Binary download here: http://www.icab.de/dl.php

Not sure what version of Flash Player plug-in that Mini may have, but it can't use the latest ones. There is an archived version at Adobe for use with older PPC Macs running Leopard 10.5. Once you get it, save any download zip files or updates to an external drive or flash-memory USB. Just in case you need to reinstall.

Did you happen to see if the Leopard 10.5 retail install DVD was around there? Try and find it because they are really handy. So are the original install-restore system discs from Apple for that Mini.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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