09-03-2009, 04:50 PM

Hey all,

I have gotton all ideas of spending a fortune on a Macbook or worse Macbook pro out of my head.

Instead to see how I take to switching (from XP) I have bought a second hand G5 Powerbook of a reputable firm on Ebay. 1.7GHz, 2 gig RAM installed with leopard.

I'm looking forward to seeing how I get on with it all.

Shame it doesn't come with any original disk. Would have liked to have Leopard on disk.

I understand Snow Leopard will not work on anything less than an Intel Mac. Is this true?

Ill keep you all updated.

Mickey

09-03-2009, 05:00 PM

There's no such thing as a G5 powerbook, so I think you're referring to a G4,
I hope they didn't tell you it was a G5....
It's true Leopard cannot be installed on anything that doesn't have an intel chip, I would stick with 10.4, but that's for you to decide.

Nevertheless it's a great machine, have fun with it...

09-03-2009, 05:05 PM

By the way, if the firm is as reputable as you said it is, I'm sure they will provide you with some kind of disk.

I sure would look into the matter if I were you...
A Mac comes with one or more disks, how else are you gonna install, or do a hardware test...

09-03-2009, 05:06 PM

Hi, sorry a G4. My mistake.

Is 10.4 Tiger? Not up with all the numbers yet. If Tiger why not Leopard? Cant the G4 run it very well?

It comes with a load of hardware pre installed.

Have a look

L7442 Apple PowerBook G4 15" - 1.67 Ghz - 2 Gb Ram on eBay (end time 03-Sep-09 21:30:00 BST)

What you think?

09-03-2009, 05:09 PM

I've had an iMac G5, and it did not run as well as it did with Tiger, yes.

Then again, I want it to run perfectly, if you prefer a nicer looking OS over a smooth running one, go for it.

But if you're interested, I have some Tiger disks if you want them...

Like I said, great machine.
I'm sure it will serve you well.

But it states it already has Leopard on it, doesn't it?

09-03-2009, 05:17 PM

Yeah thats what I was saying. It has a load of Software preinstalled.

Being from a windows background I think nothing of having to reformat my hard drive 3 times a year or at least twice. Never less than twice.

I wont be able to do this with my mac if I dont have the disks. Mind, I dont even know if this is necessary with a mac. Dont know if my brain will believe it if I tell it after all these years it doesn't.

Id be interested in the tiger disks.

09-03-2009, 05:20 PM

If you can pay me for the shipping, that will be fine, you can have the disks for free then, but do realize that it's Tiger, I believe you have Leo Pre-Installed.

09-03-2009, 05:25 PM

Hye thats most kind of you! Thank you!!

Re leo already installed if |Tiger runs better as you say Id at least like the option to try it out.

Only thing pulling me to Leo is time capsule. I like the idea of backing up all the time without knowing Ive even done it. Takes me a hour or two a month currently.

Are you UK based?

09-03-2009, 05:30 PM

Time machine is great, amen on that one... and that's why I'm urging you to think this through, once you've taken it off, there's no way of putting it back on there, short of buying a Leopard disk, wich are I believe around 80 Pounds??

And no I'm not from the UK, I'm from the Netherlands

09-03-2009, 05:43 PM

Beautiful country. I took part in the Arnhem memorial marches when I was in the Army. Ive never been so welcomed in a country before.
Mind, the sort of countries you usually get to visit when serving with the British army are not usually that good haha.

If I stick with Leo wont I need the disk just incase it goes wrong? Honestly, after coming from XP im paranoid about not having a disk to fall back on when it wont boot for whatever reason or gets plagued with virus's etc.

09-03-2009, 05:48 PM

There's always a chance some snag comes up that obligates you to insert the dvd, of course the Tiger dvd won't work, so that leaves you with little choice, stay with Leo, and buy the dvd, wich I do have but rather not sell, cause I haven't tried to full install snow Leopard yet.

Or, get the Tiger CD's for free, and not have Leo...

I'ts a predicament, isn't it?

By the way, I'm sure there's a cheaper way to get Leo on a dvd, since the SL update, they're popping up everywhere... how about the guy who sold you the PB?

09-03-2009, 05:52 PM

Ive asked the guy who sold me the PB but he doesn't deal in software.

Im also concerned as it seems certain disks only work with certain machines. As a Mac Neewbie im still finding my feet and may find this a little too much.

If someone could tell me exactly what I needed and the price was right Id probs go for it though.

09-03-2009, 05:58 PM

Well, this is my experience with Leo on my iMac G5, I had it, and replaced it with Tiger.

Now... I don't have that much software or pics or anything that I cannot afford to lose, if something goes wrong... so be it... so for me, no Time Machine.

I don't even use it now, garbles up too much space.

But if you have a lot of things on it you can't lose, and.... how the heck does it run anyway???

09-03-2009, 06:00 PM

Ahh that is the catch he has installed illegal software on the machine and will not supply discs like so many eBay dealers. You will need OS X.5 Leopard full instal DVD as it is the best trouble shooting about, and then make sure you purchase the black disc. About £50.00 or so.

iLife and iWork maybe that much all up. Also you need to find the original install discs, G4 about Panther OS x.3 as disc one will have Apple Hardware Test on it.

With 2GB memory it will run Leopard very nice which is a better OS than Tiger, especially if you want to vet into iTunes etc.

09-03-2009, 06:05 PM

He's right you know, I'm afraid my Tiger discs won't do you any good, since it's for another Mac...

If you still want them I'll send them to you for free (no catch) but you'd better take harryb2448's advice...