Can my Mini handle Tiger?

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I bought a Mini in June 2005 (which I've since handed over to my sister when I bought my PowerBook the following October)...

Right now it's the only computer with internet access, so since I was on it, it got me thinking. It's a Q88 Mini with a 1.42GHz G4 processor, 256MB of RAM and an 80GB Hard Drive. Can it handle Tiger? A friend of mine told me that Tiger's a big step up from Panther (10.3.9-right?) therefore it's more taxing on the system. Would I have to upgrade my RAM if I wanted to jump to Tiger? Because a RAM upgrade is not in the cards financially right now. Just wondering if it would work. Also, my sister doesn't do any demanding tasks on her computer that would take up a ginormous amount of memory. She basically just uses Safari, Word and iTunes. If I were to get it back I'd upgrade the memory before getting on with my video editing... Thanks for your help guys! :)
 
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It would work fine. Tigers minimum requirments are 256mb RAM so you'll me fine. It would probably work on my iBook G3!
 
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i would upgrade the mini to at least 512mb before upgrading to tiger
 
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I'll second EDIT-XTREEM - upgrade the RAM. My sister is running Tiger just fine (including Photoshop CS2) on a G4 400MHz with 768MB of RAM. I was stunned, I tell you, but it's absolutely fine!
 
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I would put more ram into it instead of paying for tiger and then put leopard on it when that coms out.. so put a $200 stick in there (like 1gb if you can) which would put you at 1.25 gb which would really improve system performance and get you ready for 10.5 in a few months. So you won't have to spend the money on tiger.
 
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I would put more ram into it instead of paying for tiger and then put leopard on it when that coms out.. so put a $200 stick in there (like 1gb if you can) which would put you at 1.25 gb which would really improve system performance and get you ready for 10.5 in a few months. So you won't have to spend the money on tiger.

Valid point, thanks PBG4. If I were to buy one copy of Leopard in the spring (that's when it's being released, no?) would I be able to put it on all of my Macs or would it recognize somehow that it's being used on multiple systems and lock up or something of that nature? I have two desktops (one running Panther, one Tiger) and a Powerbook running Tiger that I'd love to upgrade when I'm able.
 
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I believe you would be able to, technically, use it on all of the computers, but it would be illegal to, as you ae purchasing one license, which means one computer. Maybe a family pack would be better then?
 
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A family pack is only $50 dollars more (something like that?) and it has 10 licenses.
 

rman


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I believe the family pack is a five user license.
 
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You are correct, good save.
 
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Tiger worked fine on my old G4 733Mhz Power Mac with 640mb RAM. 256mb is the minimum, but you need 512mb to get the most out of it really.
 
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Tiger worked fine on my old G4 733Mhz Power Mac with 640mb RAM. 256mb is the minimum, but you need 512mb to get the most out of it really.

I'd say you need 512mb for it to run somewhat efficiently, but at least 1gb to get the most out of it.
 
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I'd say you need 512mb for it to run somewhat efficiently, but at least 1gb to get the most out of it.

Really? Two of my computers are running Tiger, one with 512MB and one with 1GB and both perform equally well.
 
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Your other two Macs don't necessarily have the same hardware components and probably are speedier than the Mac Mini...
 
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And it really depends what you want to do and how long you want to keep it. I knew I could've just upgraded to 1gb in my Macbook, but I want to keep it for 3+ years (I bought it seven months ago) so I decided to go with 2gb. I figured I'd eventually max it out anyway
 

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