09-09-2009, 03:14 AM

I have got an old iBook 1.2ghz 512m Ram 12" but it came with Leopard so my options are to put another 1gig in it and / or downgrade to Tiger or Panther

Will the 1g ram make a big difference or will downgrading make the same difference or do both?

The main use it playing spotify on it and using web and filemaker

Tim

09-09-2009, 03:38 AM

1 gig extra Will make a difference, will it suffice ... I don't think so, I've had
an iMac G5 of 1.6 GHz with 1.5 gigs and I thought it was still
slow. But that's a decision up to you.

Hope this helps

09-09-2009, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by timboellis

I have got an old iBook 1.2ghz 512m Ram 12" but it came with Leopard so my options are to put another 1gig in it and / or downgrade to Tiger or Panther

Will the 1g ram make a big difference or will downgrading make the same difference or do both?

The main use it playing spotify on it and using web and filemaker

Tim

I'm not 100% sure of what your trying to do...adding more ram is not always the cure for all problems. Apple recommends a minimum of 512 meg of ram for OS 10.5 Leopard:

Requirements for Mac OS X v10.5

...and your computer has that. But maybe adding another 512meg of ram couldn't hurt...and I guess while you're at it you might as well max it out at 1.5gig.

1.0 gig of ram for you iBook will run you $39.99 + shipping:

1.0GB (1024MB) PC2100 DDR 266MHz 200... (OWC2100DDRSO1024) at OWC

But depending on what you want to do...the older 1.33 G4 CPU & onboard graphics may still limit you.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

09-09-2009, 09:23 AM

More RAM never hurts. If the hardware is old, you can always run Linux on it and slim down the distro to work swiftly with your hardware. Not sure what your applications are but, they may not be re-compilable for Linux.

09-09-2009, 01:44 PM

Well I have the option of running either Panther/Tiger or Leopard on My iBook

However I am guessing that Panther would be the better option for speed etc. but Tiger would be more compatible.

All I plan to use on it is Filemaker/MS Office and web browsing that it.

Any suggestions on the best OSX to us

09-09-2009, 02:34 PM

There probably will be people who'll say Leo, but I would go for Tiger...

But really, judging from your last post, you know what you're talking about, so it's really up to you.

hope this helps

09-09-2009, 08:54 PM

Just IMO ... you know how opinions are ... lol

But if you are running the iBook 12" it will only take 1 stick of ram and that will give you (hmmm.. now I have to think) .. on board ram is 256MB and it will accept a 1GB pc2100/pc2700 stick for a total of 1.2GB of ram.

I have had numerous iBooks running Tiger (a few less running Leopard) and with less memory and they run perfectly fine.

I would not go back to Panther as you will lose compatibility. Safari and even FireFox will not have the add-in's for online video's or other surfing eye candy..

again this is just my opinion again but Tiger runs great on the G4 PPC.. even with lesser memory configurations than you are purposing but then again I have really never run in to problems with Leopard on these machines either.

Just do not expect to uses Hulu to watch your tv shows. The G4's with the limited Video Processors and limited VRam just can not keep up with Adobe Flash 10..


Tis too bad that Leopard is the end of the G4 erra as Snow Leopard will only run on intel based processors CE's Geekbook: OS X Leopard Running from an iPod

09-09-2009, 09:52 PM

I would go with Tiger...10.4.11.

- Nick

09-10-2009, 03:59 AM

Thanks for all your feedback going with Tiger in the end never realised there would be compatibility issues.

I have Snow Leopard on my Mac Mini, the iBook is more or less to show the work i have done on my Mac Mini to clients that about it.

Thanks

TIm

09-10-2009, 04:27 AM

What I would do no matter what OS you install is go ahead and upgrade the RAM as it will help in many ways. Then try 10.5 Leopard and see how it works for you. If it's still a bit draggy for your tastes, Go to Tiger 10.4.11.

Panther is old. Safari with Panther will not go properly to a lot of sites. It crashes on the Haiku OS site for one. You can use Firefox but only an older version as newer versions of Firefox will only work on Tiger and up. Tiger is way too old and no more updates. There are issues that will never be patched. Tiger is still getting updates and will run most of the new applications that are universal. Safari in Tiger can be upgraded to the latest Safari 4 where Panther is stuck with a VERY OLD version.

10.4.11 will be your best bet if after more RAM Leopard is still slow to you.