Can I Upgrade Mid-2007 mini from Snow Leopard?

[cburtt]

I use a Mac mini running OS-X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because I need Rosetta for two very old apps that I use frequently.

I bought this year's version of TurboTax and found that it requires OS-X 10.7.5 (Lion) or greater.

I've decided that I can forget about Rosetta compatibility for most work if I make a bootable 10.6 CD and restart the Mac mini from it when I need to use that's those old apps. Or, I could run them from an old MacBook maxed out at 10.6 networked to the Mac Mini's hard drive.

My question is multi-part:
1a. How well will Lion or above run on my Mac mini?
(a 'Mid-2007' [manufactured from 08/07/2007 to 03/03/2009] MB138LL/A MacMini 2.1, Model A1176 (EMC2108), Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 GHz (T5600), with 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz, and a 750.GB 7200RPM disk that's about 30% filled)

1b. I use the latest upgraded Quicken 2007 heavily. Snow Leopard's Activity Monitor shows it as an "Intel" application. I've heard that Quicken 2007 won't run on Lion because it needs Rosetta. Can such an "Intel" app still require Rosetta?

1c. Should I forget about Lion and go Mountain Lion or Yosemite? How will they run on my mini?

2a. Where can I get an installable copy of OS-X 10.7.5 (Lion)?
Apple no longer offers it, but does have OS-X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) for $19.99, but says it requires a 'mid-2009' Mac mini.
Softonic offers OS-X 10.7.5 as a download "from an external source". Is that a reliable source or will I get some malware in the download?

Does anyone have another solution … short of buying a new Mac mini?

 

[pigoo3]

I use a Mac mini running OS-X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because I need Rosetta for two very old apps that I use frequently.

If you need Rosetta…then you cannot upgrade beyond Snow Leopard.

I've decided that I can forget about Rosetta compatibility for most work if I make a bootable 10.6 CD and restart the Mac mini from it when I need to use that's those old apps. Or, I could run them from an old MacBook maxed out at 10.6 networked to the Mac Mini's hard drive.

Either of these solutions would certainly work.

1a. How well will Lion or above run on my Mac mini?

A LOT BETTER if you have apps like TurboTax what require a minimum of 10.7.5!

1b. I use the latest upgraded Quicken 2007 heavily. Snow Leopard's Activity Monitor shows it as an "Intel" application. I've heard that Quicken 2007 won't run on Lion because it needs Rosetta. Can such an "Intel" app still require Rosetta?

Check the system requirements for Quicken 2007. This will answer the question.

1c. Should I forget about Lion and go Mountain Lion or Yosemite? How will they run on my mini?

If this Mac-Mini is correctly identified as a "Mid-2007" model. Then it's max. OS is 10.7.5. So no:

- Mountain Lion
- Mavericks
- Yosemite

2a. Where can I get an installable copy of OS-X 10.7.5 (Lion)?
Apple no longer offers it…

Not correct.

OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple Store (U.S.)

- Nick

 

[cburtt]

Thanks everyone the quick replies.
I knew that going beyond Snow Leopard would lose Rosetta. That's why I never seriously considered upgrading until now. Intuit's page for my version of Quicken 2007 says it's both Snow Leopard and Lion compatible (Mt.Lion is not mentioned ... cross that bridge later), So, thanks to you folks, I've decided to max out my mini with Lion from Apple, then do my taxes, and run my Rosetta based apps on an old Intel iBook, keeping the app's data networked on the mini.
Thank you all for your advise.

 

[chscag]

So, thanks to you folks, I've decided to max out my mini with Lion from Apple, then do my taxes, and run my Rosetta based apps on an old Intel iBook, keeping the app's data networked on the mini.

Good thinking except that your iBook is PPC powered, not Intel.

 

[cburtt]

Sorry, but I misspoke. I turned it on today for the first time in while, and researched it to be a 13 inch Early 2008 MacBook 4.1, Intel core 2 duo, 2.4GHz, with 2GB RAM and 500GB 5400rpm disk. It runs Snow Leopard 10.6.8 AOK but launches and switches apps quite slowly. Probably could use more ram to reduce page swapping.

 

[harryb2448]

The 4.1 MB can handle 6GB of memory, 1 x 4g and 1 x 2GB despite Apple saying at the time of release 4GB was the maximum, and you will get a boost from that.