15" G4 Question

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Hey everybody, long time lurker, first time poster.

I just inherited a G4 Powerbook from a friend. It's a little beat up, but it's mainly going to be a test mule for me (I'm debating picking up a 24" iMac but I'd like to spend a little time with OSX before dropping $2500). Right now its running 10.1.5 and has half a gig of ram. I'm just curious what's the most recent version of OSX I can run on it? If I have to I'm fine with sticking with its current OS, but ideally I'd like to get to Tiger unless that'll just bog down my machine.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any help/suggestions you guys can throw my way.
 
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List some more specs for a clearer answer, but it should run Tiger decently if it's a G4.
 
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J3ffro
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Sorry, I'm about to show my windows dependence. Where do I find out more about the machine? Looking around (wikipedia's not a bad reference it turns out ;D) it seems like it a titanium powerbook. When I open "About this Computer" under Finder it doesn't mention what kind of processor, I only know its a G4 from the label below the bottom of the screen.

It's funny, I've been tooling around with it for an hour or so and even though the design is 5 or 6 years old I'm blown away by it. I'm typing this on my Dell laptop which is about 6 months old (having a few wireless network issues with the Mac right now otherwise I'd be testing it out) and truly the actual hardware of the Powerbook seems much...better. I guess I'm preaching to the choir here, just seems interesting how night and day the comparison is.
 
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Sorry, I'm about to show my windows dependence. Where do I find out more about the machine? Looking around (wikipedia's not a bad reference it turns out ;D) it seems like it a titanium powerbook. When I open "About this Computer" under Finder it doesn't mention what kind of processor, I only know its a G4 from the label below the bottom of the screen.

It's funny, I've been tooling around with it for an hour or so and even though the design is 5 or 6 years old I'm blown away by it. I'm typing this on my Dell laptop which is about 6 months old (having a few wireless network issues with the Mac right now otherwise I'd be testing it out) and truly the actual hardware of the Powerbook seems much...better. I guess I'm preaching to the choir here, just seems interesting how night and day the comparison is.

Far top left corner you should see a little blue apple in the menubar.. click on it.. the drop down menue should have a few different options. click on "about this mac" it should pop up with a window telling you the chip speed etc.. you can also click on more info in that window that pops up to get more specs..
 
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J3ffro
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That's what I meant, not finder, the Apple window. When I click on that it brings up a smallish window with no other buttons to press. Just says

Mac OS X
Version 10.1.5 (when I click on that it turns to Build 5S66 and if I click again it gives me the serial number)

Memory: 512 MB
Processor: PowerPC G4

Apple Computer, Inc. 1983-2001



That's all the info it gives me. Also I just realized this part of the forum is for hardware only, and since this is kind of a hardware/software hybrid question sorry if it is in the wrong place. A little out of it from jet lag.
 
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That's what I meant, not finder, the Apple window. When I click on that it brings up a smallish window with no other buttons to press. Just says

Mac OS X
Version 10.1.5 (when I click on that it turns to Build 5S66 and if I click again it gives me the serial number)

Memory: 512 MB
Processor: PowerPC G4

Apple Computer, Inc. 1983-2001



That's all the info it gives me. Also I just realized this part of the forum is for hardware only, and since this is kind of a hardware/software hybrid question sorry if it is in the wrong place. A little out of it from jet lag.


do you know if this PB came with 10.1.5 stock or has it been upgraded to that? I called my local apple store to try and get some info for you.. the "genius" I spoke to gave me some decent info.. he stated that the 1ghz PB's shipped with 10.2. So if you are running 10.1.5 and it shipped that way your chip is a 400ghz-800ghz chip...
 
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That sounds like a 800mhz Tibook if thats what it all came stock with. Ehh, not a great starting point with Macs (its like 4 generations old) but it should be able to handle 10.4 or 10.5

If my AppleTV can do it, I don't see why your g4 can't.
 
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I'd dump 10.1 as soon as possible. I think it was the free OS X beta.

This post by caribiner23 has a link to a Dutch site (with English) that will give you all kinds of info on your machine, especially if you paste in the serial number. It told me the week mine was made, and where.
 

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