What is the most up-to-date OS I can run on a Power PC G4?

I am using an older Power PC G4 laptop (867MHz) and the performance has dropped off a lot lately.

Assuming there may be increasing incompatibility between this machine and current browsers and other software, I'm wondering if upgrading the OS would help.

I'm running OS 10.3.9 at the moment and would appreciate any advice/suggestions concerning the OS options I have.

I tried recently to install 10.4.6 using a friend's Sys disks, but this didn't work.

Not sure if the computer was looking for some more recent version of the OS to reference before installing, or what.

I'd be grateful for suggestions/advice.

Thanks,

downesdesign.

downesdesign said:

I am using an older Power PC G4 laptop (867MHz) and the performance has dropped off a lot lately.

Assuming there may be increasing incompatibility between this machine and current browsers and other software, I'm wondering if upgrading the OS would help.

I'm running OS 10.3.9 at the moment and would appreciate any advice/suggestions concerning the OS options I have.

I tried recently to install 10.4.6 using a friend's Sys disks, but this didn't work.

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You can run Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" on a system 867MHz or faster, although since your CPU meets the bare minimum, you may need to max out your RAM to keep it from crawling. Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" should run quite superbly, as long as you have at least 256 MB of RAM.

Your friend's system disk was probably for a particular machine, or maybe it was the Intel version. You should try to get your hands on an OEM version for PowerPC.

I agree. However, I would recommend a retail version of Tiger or Leopard. An OEM may not work for your Mac, as they are machine specific, and if you ever upgrade your Mac, it would become obsolite.
If you need any help on what to upgrade, post your specs for your G4. (screen size, ram installed, etc.. We'll be happy to point you in the right direction.
Also, IMO, Leopard is much better than Tiger. I recently upgraded myself and have not been disappointed. (don't get me wrong though, Tiger works extremely well)

As Soulwar states Leopard is much faster and very stable but does require more RAM, suggest the full maximum depending on the model.

Soulwar said:

I agree. However, I would recommend a retail version of Tiger or Leopard. An OEM may not work for your Mac, as they are machine specific, and if you ever upgrade your Mac, it would become obsolite.

Click to expand...

Oops! I meant to suggest the retail version. I thought it was the same as OEM.