Help with old mac

If I buy a Apple iMac MA876LL/A 20", which has Tiger, can I use a Lion upgrade disk? Can I even run lion? Of yes, how so?

tristan439 said:

If I buy a Apple iMac MA876LL/A 20", which has Tiger, can I use a Lion upgrade disk? Can I even run lion? Of yes, how so?

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Answers to your questions can be found here:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/246175-os-x-lion-faqs.html

...you must be running Snow Leopard vs 10.6.6 or later....

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So Must I buy to install lion? Link to it please. (I'M running 10.4 Tiger)

tristan439 said:

If I buy a Apple iMac MA876LL/A 20", which has Tiger, can I use a Lion upgrade disk?

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There is no Lion upgrade disk. At this point Lion is download only...but there is supposed to be a "thumb drive" purchase option in the near future.

- Nick

OK then, how would I upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard?

To go to Snow Leopard, you can purchase the $29 10.6 DVD. Only way I know. You are supposed to own 10.5 Leopard though to use the $29 DVD.

tristan439 said:

OK then, how would I upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard?

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First you purchase a 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade disk & install 10.6. Then update to OS 10.6.8 (via software update). Then download Lion (OS 10.7) via the Mac App Store ($29.99).

This all assumes that your iMac is capable of being upgraded to Snow Leopard & Lion.

- Nick

Click the Apple, then on about this Mac. Which CPU does it have? If it's a Core Duo, no, if it's a Core2Duo, yes. The Core Duo is not a 64-bit CPU and Lion requires that to install.

From what I could find, it looks like your model should support Lion. But, before you buy you may want to consider this:

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 $929
Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 processor - Apple Store (U.S.)

or for just a bit more you could have this

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 $1019
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC309LL/A?mco=MjMwMTc4ODE

Depending on how much they are asking for the iMac you are looking at, these could be better deals. They come with full new warranty and Apple refurbs are often indistinguishable from new.