Need to buy a old(er) mac to test Leopard OS X, which will work?

Following on from my first thread,

Before purchasing a expensive Macbook Air for the boss, we need to test what it can do and XP virtualization on it,

we thought why not buy an older mac desktop or ibook to test stuff on, my question is to get the new Leopard 10.5 (which is what the Air will have installed) what older systems will run this OS without problems?

we didn't want to buy one from ebay and then find out we can not install the latest OS on it, what prices are looking at?

Any help or links would be wonderful from you experts.

Thanks

aim4support said:

Following on from my first thread,

Before purchasing a expensive Macbook Air for the boss, we need to test what it can do and XP virtualization on it,

we thought why not buy an older mac desktop or ibook to test stuff on, my question is to get the new Leopard 10.5 (which is what the Air will have installed) what older systems will run this OS without problems?

we didn't want to buy one from ebay and then find out we can not install the latest OS on it, what prices are looking at?

Any help or links would be wonderful from you experts.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Anything that is Intel-based will work. To be honest though, you may as well just get the MacBook Air and test on there. If it doesn't work out, just return it to Apple. That'd likely be cheaper than buying a "test" machine that will serve such a limited purpose. Besides, if his primary need is to run Windows software, and virtualization won't work out (unlikely), you can still use the MBA to boot directly into an installation of Windows and use it like any other Windows laptop.

Non-Intel machines will work too but need to meet the system requirements listed here.

What kinds of things are you looking at to run on your Mac that requires Windows? It may either not work under virtualization (as lifeisabeach said though, this is unlikely unless it requires 3D functionality) or there may be a Mac equivalent that is just as good.

vansmith said:

Non-Intel machines will work too but need to meet the system requirements listed here.

Click to expand...

Running Windows in an emulator on non-Intel machines is painful... utterly painful. You can't even really compare the experience with that to running Windows on an Intel-based machine under Parallels or Fusion... the hardware doesn't have to be emulated on an Intel Mac.

Yeah, stay away from any PowerPC Mac if you need to run Windows. This limits you to something 2006 and newer, which will still be rather pricey. Like lifeisabeach said, it would probably be better to just try out the Air and if it doesn't work out, return it.

lifeisabeach said:

Running Windows in an emulator on non-Intel machines is painful... utterly painful. You can't even really compare the experience with that to running Windows on an Intel-based machine under Parallels or Fusion... the hardware doesn't have to be emulated on an Intel Mac.

Click to expand...

I knew that - my bad. I was caught up in getting a machine to work with Leopard and forgot about the emulation bit. :Blushing:

Have to agree. Just get the Air. The typical Mac owner believes their computer is worth way more than it is and it seems there are enough folks willing to pay what to me are exorbitant prices for a used computer. Between the price of a used Intel machine and the labor for 'experimenting', you're already going to have the price of the Air invested before you even purchase one.

imho: If it's only for "show", and this is to be a "working" machine only using Windows on the thing or that's all he knows and is not going to learn to transition to using OS X, it's a waste of money. Get another Win machine.

thanks for the input guys.

software that he wants to run is our I.T support ToPDesk software, which is a log system for support calls, also stuff like outlook, office, Sage.

some of our clients use macs so he wanted to have OS & XP running in the system.

I looked round on ebay for macs, but the cheapest was around £200!! bit too much for testing purposes.


What if we flip this, and how about getting a top spec Windows laptop and installing OS.X virtually on the system, is that possible? or is it down to hardware issue again?


Thanks

Also, you can uninstall OS X and install XP, Vista, etc as the sole OS. Mac hardware runs Windows every bit as well as anything made by Dell or anyone else. A Mac is basically just a PC made by Apple. There's nothing special about the actual hardware other than the nameplate and the design.

Jaygray said:

Also, you can uninstall OS X and install XP, Vista, etc as the sole OS. Mac hardware runs Windows every bit as well as anything made by Dell or anyone else. A Mac is basically just a PC made by Apple. There's nothing special about the actual hardware other than the nameplate and the design.

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That'd work, or just dedicate 80% of the drive to a Bootcamp Windows install.
But still, in a business environment, unless you feel it's going to give you a ROI ...

aim4support said:

What if we flip this, and how about getting a top spec Windows laptop and installing OS.X virtually on the system, is that possible? or is it down to hardware issue again?

Click to expand...

With some minor hacking, it is physically possible to install OS X on a non-Apple machine. Such machines are commonly referred to as Hackintosh's. However, the EULA that you accept by using the OS X disc states that it may not be installed on non-Apple hardware. (you can do it, but it's against the rules)

Jaygray said:

Also, you can uninstall OS X and install XP, Vista, etc as the sole OS. Mac hardware runs Windows every bit as well as anything made by Dell or anyone else. A Mac is basically just a PC made by Apple. There's nothing special about the actual hardware other than the nameplate and the design.

Click to expand...

yes, but he does wants both OS on the mac that's the thing.

Here you go;

Intel Mac mini on Ebay