how to upgrade from osx 10.5.8 and what to upgrade to?

[williethefish]

Hi, I am wondering how to and what to upgrade my Imac from osx10.5.8 .

Thanks, willie

 

[cwa107]

Hi there Willie. Since the iMac has been around through several generations, it's hard to say exactly what your options are without a little more detail.

If you click the Apple menu and choose "About this Mac", it should display some vital statistics. What would really help is to know what type of processor (CPU) your iMac has, how much memory (RAM) and the hard disk space. Often you can also tell a lot by the model identifier (usually expressed as "iMac 7,1" or something to that effect). At the very least, knowing what year it was made can be very helpful.

More information here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201634

 

[williethefish]

Thanks for your reply, it's iMac 7.1 - 2GHz intel core 2 duo - 1 gb memory not sure what year it was made.

willie

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the model info. Upgrading your computers OS is not quite as simple as "What to upgrade to?". Your iMac can run the latest Mac OS (10.11). But with only 1gig of ram…it certainly needs a ram upgrade…and…if you have any user installed apps…you can bet they will not run with the latest OS version.

Your OS upgrade options are:

- 10.6 ($19)…not really supported any more
- 10.7 ($19)…could be unsupported soon
- 10.8 ($19)
- 10.11 (Free)

* Nick

p.s. FYI. OS support for 10.5.8 was over lonnggg ago!

 

[williethefish]

Hi, Are you telling me it's time to get a new computer or is it worth getting someone to look at this one and upgrade?

Thanks for your advice, Willie

 

[cwa107]

My dad has the same machine and it works quite well for him on 10.10 (Yosemite). Personally, I'd bump the memory up to 4GB, replace the hard drive with an SSD and you should be able to get a few more years out of it. If you're not game for making those upgrades yourself, there are many places that can do it for you (you may have to mail it away) or look to YouTube for video tutorials.

 

[williethefish]

Many thanks, I will have to look into the cost and make a decision based on the outcome.
Thank you for your time and advice, Willie

 

[pigoo3]

Hi, Are you telling me it's time to get a new computer or is it worth getting someone to look at this one and upgrade?

It is an older computer (2007)…but not necessarily saying it's immediately time to start shopping for a new computer. If it can still do what you want it to do…with no serious performance issues…then not necessarily time for anything new.

What I am saying is…this computer is seriously low on ram…and is running a pretty old OS version. If an OS upgrade is desired/needed…then a ram upgrade is certainly needed.

Of course the big question is (since this computer is running an OS version 6 versions older than the newest available)…why the sudden desire to upgrade?

- Nick

 

[williethefish]

HI Nick, My wife has bought a new vinyl cutting machine and its not supported on our imac and every time I log in to my email it tells me to get a more recent version of safari, hence the interest in upgrading. As you can probably tell I have been happy to plod along without changing anything on the computer for quite a number of years because as long as everthing works why change and I also know very little about how to change things.
Thanks Willie

 

[chas_m]

Nick may not necessarily be saying it's time for a new(er) computer, but I will.

Nearly nine years old ... yes, you should get a new(er) computer. It doesn't have to be brand spanking new, it can be a refurb, but any money AT ALL you put into it beyond the $20 for the Snow Leopard upgrade (which you'll need to do any of the other upgrades) is more than the machine is worth, and would -- at best -- make it relevant for a year or two.

It's long past time for a new(er) computer. Congrats on getting nine years out of your present one.