OS Upgrade

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Level 1

0 points

OS Upgrade

My sister has an older iMac and she has asked me to help her upgrade her OS. Unfortunately, I'm a Windows guy, so I don't have much experience with MAC OS upgrades.

She has Leopard currently installed (10.5.8) and as I understand it, I need to purchase Snow Leopard from the Apple store and after I get that installed, then I can upgrade to El Capitan (no charge).

1. Is this sequence correct?

2. Are there any problem areas that I need to be wary of while doing the upgrades (i.e. will she lose programs/data, do I need to backup her system prior to the upgrade, etc.)?

Thank you!

Posted on Feb 1, 2016 11:00 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,863 points

Feb 1, 2016 11:05 AM in response to Cultcab

1. Yes, if she's using a mid-2007 or newer iMac and it has at least 2GB of RAM.

2. Click here and check the applications for compatibility; in addition, she should have a backup in case something goes wrong or she wants to revert.

(139060)

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

239,105 points

Feb 1, 2016 11:15 AM in response to Cultcab

So we know more about it...

At the Apple Icon at top left>About this Mac, then click on More Info, then click on Hardware> and report this upto but not including the Serial#...

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac7,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 6 GB

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.21f4

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Answer 3

Cultcab Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 13, 2016 1:10 PM in response to BDAqua

I was finally able to get my sister's iMac updated with Snow Leopard, but I wasn't able to install El Capitan because she only has 1GB of RAM in her system. How difficult is it to upgrade it to 2GB? I have done this a few times on Windows systems but never on a MAC.

Here is the hardware overview:

Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac7,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.0 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 1 GB

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B03

SMC Version (system): 1.20f4

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Answer 4

Apr 13, 2016 1:25 PM in response to Cultcab

Is it this model?

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-2-duo-2.0-20-inch-alu minum-specs.html

If so, it officially supports 4GB (6GB unofficially). You should go for at least 4GB, if you want to run El Capitan efficiently. Here's info from one vendor

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac/Intel_Core_2_Duo

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