Leopard on PPC G5?

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I'm in the same boat as a lot of new iPhone 4 owners (D'oh, I should have looked at the requirements) with a machine running tiger.

I've done a quick search about the upgrades, and I'm fairly sure it can be done, but I'm wondering if I should bother. My specs /should/ be in my avatar over there, so you can see what you're dealing with.

My wife uses this machine for editing video on final cut and it seems to work a treat, and for my usage too (pokerstars).

I think I have googled enough to find out that I can run Leopard on this (not the $30 disc it seems), but has anyone else does this and was it worth it? Its obviously a lot cheaper than buying a new machine, just looking for feedback from the people who know the most. I'm not too worried about any other app apart from final cut that I'm almost certain I can re-install without any issues.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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LennyTheDub
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My specs /should/ be in my avatar over there, so you can see what you're dealing with.

Not as clear as I had hoped.

Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,2
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.6 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.5f2
 
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LennyTheDub
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Forgot to point out, I have an old xp machine in the corner for streaming movies to my xbox, so I can use that for the iPhone, iTunes 10 apparently runs on xp.

That's why I want to know if it's worth the trouble to upgrade now.

Thanks again.
 
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It is worth it, but it depends on how cheaply you can pick up OSX 10.5 Leopard for
 
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Tiger has not been getting security updates for some time now, so you really should upgrade if you plan to keep using that G5

Leopard is $129 from Apple (you'll have to special order it) and it would be a good idea to get some more memory first.
 

pigoo3

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I'm in the same boat as a lot of new iPhone 4 owners (D'oh, I should have looked at the requirements) with a machine running tiger.

I think I have googled enough to find out that I can run Leopard on this (not the $30 disc it seems), but has anyone else does this and was it worth it? Its obviously a lot cheaper than buying a new machine, just looking for feedback from the people who know the most.

If you REALLY need to interface your iPhone 4 with a Macintosh computer...loading Leopard on your G5 is the LEAST expensive route...since it's pretty hard to find a used Macintosh G5 computer (iMac or Powermac) with Leopard (OS 10.5) already loaded on it for under $125 bucks.

On the other hand...getting an Intel based Mac would be better. But again...this would cost a lot more than a Leopard upgrade for your G5...since you probably can't find an Intel based Mac for less than $300-$350 (and then maybe have to add another $29) for a 10.6 install disk (if the used Intel Mac didn't have 10.6 already on it).

- Nick
 
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LennyTheDub
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Guys,

Thank you so much for your input. I was resigned to use my xp machine for the phone until I can afford a new Mac mini (wife's planned birthday present in July), but now I want to upgrade just because of the security updates. I wasn't aware that my machine might be at risk!

Does anyone know where I might find a legal copy of that disc cheaper than apple?

I know it's only $129 but with three kids, I had an expensive Cristmas.

Thanks again.
 

pigoo3

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Does anyone know where I might find a legal copy of that disc cheaper than apple?

I know it's only $129 but with three kids, I had an expensive Cristmas.

I mentioned $125 earlier because you can get a legal full install copy of 10.5 somewhere in the $100-$125 range (some folks sell them for a lot more). Rarely do they sell for less than $100.

Normally another possible option is to call Apple...and ask them to send you a replacement set of the gray disks that shipped with your computer originally. Which would only cost $15-$20 bucks. But since your 1.6ghz single processor Powermac G5 is the oldest Powermac G5 computer...it shipped with...believe it or not...OS 10.2.7! So obviously this option wouldn't be much help.

So the only viable option is to get a full install (black disk) for $100+ on e-Bay. I occasionally see a Leopard install disk pop up on Craig's List for less than $100...but this is something like once every 3-4 months.

Good luck,

- Nick
 

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