Can I update my 2008 Macbook to current specs?

You do not, necessarily, need to run Linux.

That OP is making confusing and conflicting recommendations.

If you are running older, expensive software under OS X 10.5.8 Leopard, it will continue to run under OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, due to OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard's use of a special IBM PowerPC emulation software that was part of OS X 10.6, but is no longer part of later OS X versions.

These are avaialble without having to install Linux on your Mac.

Depending on the type of apps you are currently using under OS X 10.5.8, for later versions of OS X, their ARE both free, open source options and cheaper pay options for many older, pricey apps that no longer work on OS X 10.7 Lion and later OS X versions.

There are free, open source Office style apps for later versions of OS X.

Alternate image editors that CAN replace Photoshop

Drawing/painting apps that CAN replace older versions of Illustrator, Corel Painter, AutoDesk AutoCAD.

Open source apps that can process RAW image files and replace Adobe Lightroom for many features.

So, if you decide to upgrade your OS X versions to the pay version OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion, there ate many options for different older third party software apps.

Another thing you will need to do is the versions of Apple Safari that runs under OS X 10.8.5 is no longer supported and is unsecure.

The ONLY up to date and secure web browser for OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion is the Waterfox web browser.

For all of your other older software, there are cheap, cheaper of free near equivalents to be found in Apple's Mac App Store for OS X.

Good Luck to You!

So in order to get our old macbooks to the current os, we need to purchase those multiple upgrades you listed above - we can't update straight to the current version?
I was hoping to be able to connect my iphone 5s so I can manage music and photos.

jnabnz wrote:

So in order to get our old macbooks to the current os, we need to purchase those multiple upgrades you listed above - we can't update straight to the current version?
I was hoping to be able to connect my iphone 5s so I can manage music and photos.

The versions AFTER Snow Leopard 10.6 require the Applications -> App Store app to download the newer operating systems. The App Store was shipped with Snow Leopard 10.6.6.

Since you are pigging backing onto an existing thread, we do not know what version of OS X you are currently running, as you haven't told us that, nor what hardware. So we cannot tell you if Leopard 10.5 is as far as you can go (PowerPC hardware limit), or if it is Lion 10.7 (hardware/firmware that will not run 64-bit OS), or if it is El Capitan 10.11, or if you can upgrade to Sierra 10.12.

Hi,

I have the same circumstance as e.tucker. So in a nutshell. I have to purchase 2 softwares? One is Mountain Lion because of longer life span than Snow Leopard. Second is Linux Mint so that other incompatible issues from Yosemite can be addressed? Thanks.

Choose About this Mac from the Apple menu, click on More Info, and compare the model identifier with MacBook5,1; this is the earliest MacBook capable of running Yosemite. If your Mac can't, it can run Lion.

Neither Yosemite nor Lion support PowerPC software such as Microsoft Office 2004; you'll need to buy a Mac OS X 10.6 DVD to upgrade to either, but don't need to buy any other intermediate versions.

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Yosemite will work, However, You are on Leopard not Snow Leopard so you have to purchase a valid Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion license in order to install Yosemite. If you go this route make sure you back everything up completely incase you need to revert. Snow Leopard is the last OS X with Rosetta for older software but Mountain Lion has a longer life time left.

• Hardware Requirement: MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
• However, some Software Features will not work. Read the page: https://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

OS X Yosemite page

OS X - Upgrade to Yosemite - Apple Support

If you find that you can not upgrade to Yosemite due to all of your installed Programs not being compatible or have to spend a lot of money to upgrade them I would suggest installing a Linux Distribution. I prefer Linux Mint but you can try any distribution.

I would Suggest using Bootcamp to create another bootable partition and install Linux Mint (Cinnamon, Mate, KDE, XFCE). If you want it to look like Mac OS X you can then install the macbuntu package. You can also run Linux Mint Live from a USB stick instead of installing it to your Hard Drive.

This is a great way to test and then use if you like or delete if you don't and try another option. Linux Mint is the Most used Linux Distro and is based on Ubuntu which has the largest repository of free open source programs available. If you need a program like MicroSoft Office you can use Open Office or Libre Office which comes preinstalled with most Linux Distributions. Almost anything you need can be found on Linux.

Download Linux Mint:

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

Linux Mint on the MacBook Pro

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1643

MacBuntu

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/326

How to Create a Bootable USB Stick on Mac OS X

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx

OS X is Based on Linux version called BSD.

http://www.freebsd.org/

Older Mac Machines are very nice and still work great so preserve them and their functionallity with Linux.

I'm facing the same problem as e.tucker. I'm just wondering if you can upgrade from Leopard straight to Mountain Lion? or do you need to install Snow Leopard and then upgrade through each cat before getting to Yosemite? I don't mind buying one license, but I wouldn't want to purchase each cat just to get an up-to-date OS.

You need to upgrade to 10.6.3 and then 10.6.8; from 10.6.8, you can go directly to 10.7.5, 10.8.5, or 10.10.2 depending on your wishes and what the Mac supports.

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