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General discussion

G4 users may want to read my findings on Leopard

Oct 27, 2007 1:10PM PDT

Note: I've posted this to inform other G4 users on how well Leopard runs on a G4 machine, since by the next OS release, G4's are bound to cleaned off of the compatibility chart Sad .

Okay, I have successfully gotten Leopard onto my iMac G4, which barely meets the requirements as it is. 1Ghz and 756MB of RAM is cutting awfully close, but after solving the blue screen of death (or birth), Leopard is up and running for me.

I have noticed that performance is somewhat reduced compared to Tiger and that according to iStat Pro, the CPU is just working hard for everything. It says that the CPU is constantly running and that the user (me) is using roughly about 30% of its power (or in the 20-40% range). It jumps around a lot, but the only thing running is iStat in the Dashboard. Also, Spotlight fails to complete indexing the HD within a reasonable time. Recently, it finally decided to give me an estimate of 3-4 hours to complete it. My MBP did it in less than 10 minutes if I recall correctly. But you can't compare a dual-core Intel laptop to a 1Ghz PPC desktop with one core and less than half the clock speed.
Even though the system is in a constant state of flux at best, it still runs OK. Some programs take awhile to load, but most are not sluggish, which surprises me. I think the only sluggish program is Photo Booth, which runs on my G4 now with my old Firewire iSight camera. But that's too be expected I suppose, since I think it was made for the Intel machines. Maybe it was on the G5 with iSight... but perhaps that's wrong.

Anyhow, most G4 users that meet the specs should be OK, not great, but OK. If you have a nice iBook with the 1.4Ghz CPU and however much RAM it takes, even better I guess. Powerbook users shouldn't have too much of a problem. In short, G4 Macs will run Leopard pretty well, but your monitoring programs are going to say otherwise depending on your configs (iStat). Intel users will probably get more of a kick out of the bells and whistles, so I'm in luck with having both Happy .

Again, most stuff runs well, so you shouldn't have too many problems. But if you want to keep it plain and simple, Tiger well most definitely save you any trouble. Cheers.
-BMF

Discussion is locked

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Let's not compare that to ...
Oct 28, 2007 2:18AM PDT

Some 1.o GHz, 768 RAM machine that you put Vista on.

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You could, but Vista isn't the same as OS X is it?
Oct 28, 2007 2:41AM PDT

I didn't say it didn't run. It runs pretty well for an old G4; the CPU is messing around, but it's doing good. I haven't had any problems with it, but I was just saying that G4 users are at the line. Vista has its own problems that are in the system, not each machine, though many of them do have problems I guess.

Apple's just trying to get everyone on Intel. Some of us are okay with that, but it makes are older and very useful machines not as useful anymore. I bet they could have done something to allow more PPC compatibility, but they went with this course anyway.
-BMF

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You could extend that to old PCs.
Oct 28, 2007 3:51AM PDT

I've heard that before but what to say to that person with some 100 MHz PC with 32MB RAM?

Sorry, let's let people who use old hardware keep using it and not enter into their debate. For me I enjoy the less than few year old hardware...

Bob

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Your point...?
Oct 28, 2007 5:21AM PDT

I don't see a point to this anymore.

Look, I just put up a thread for G4 users like myself who are interested in running Leopard. I have a 1Ghz machine (I think we all know) and reported how it ran and its status with Leopard, since G4 machines will probably not be supported by the next OS upgrade in years to come. My machine was pretty close to being pulled off the charts, but it wasn't, so I decided to upgrade it. Hopefully, someone with a similar machine and wants Leopard will find some use out of it. I was never intending to compare it to Vista or a PC.

People with old hardware will not need to investigate this and such, considering they can't run it, unless they buy a used G4 that is.
-BMF

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It's on that hariy edge.
Oct 28, 2007 6:03AM PDT

And we see the same effect on most combo's of old hardware and newer OSes. It's good your machine survived and is usable.

Have you considered looking at swapping out the old slow hard disk for a cheap speedup?

Bob

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I have, but I haven't tried to yet. My iMac needs quite a
Oct 28, 2007 6:26AM PDT

few boosts. If I read an article on Apple Support right, I can have 1GB of RAM in it, so I should swap the 256MB for another 512MB stick. I have thought about taking out the 80GB HD and putting in a much larger one like a 200GB if it could handle it. Maybe just a 120GB will do, but I'm not sure.

I may try to upgrade it when I decide to go get iLife and iWork, since I need to upgrade to those and I need them on disk. Then, I need to get an original AirPort Card, which I have been unable to get from a friend who doesn't have a spare anymore. Apparently, he took in one a wrecked iBook that had one installed and the Apple techs took it out without replacing it. Pity, I could have used it, but I'll just get it online.

I'm going to check out some stuff on my G4. If you have some recommendations for a new HD and a RAM stick, I'd be happy to listen in. Thanks Bob.
-BMF

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The original drives were 4200 RPM...
Oct 28, 2007 7:20AM PDT

And one of my cheap boosts (PC or Mac) was to slip in the slightly faster 5400 RPM drive. Usually this gives more boost than they suspect since the cache in the drive as well as the RPM boost give the machine quite the payoff. I've used those 50 and under buck drives from geeks.com and newegg.com

Bob

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Know how much storage it can take?
Oct 28, 2007 9:13AM PDT

I wonder if 7200 would be too high for it... would be nice. Well... if I can get one of them, that'll work, and then I'll swap a 512MB stick for the currently residing 256MB stick. I don't expect this too drastically improve anything of course, but it may help some. The added storage in the HD will definitely help me out. I'll look up the specs on my G4 and see what I can trick it out with Wink . Thanks,
-BMF

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I never use the 7200s.
Oct 28, 2007 10:17AM PDT

I then have to worry about possible heat issues. Your choice. As to size there are web sites about that.

Bob

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Apple made them standard, and apparently that's what it has.
Oct 28, 2007 11:00AM PDT

I didn't know. Oh well. I'm not going to swap it after all. Sorry to bother you about it.
-BMF

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Whoa. This can't be right. I thought that the G4 took the
Oct 28, 2007 9:23AM PDT

original AirPort Card, and not the Extreme. If I had known that, I would have bought one at the Apple Store on Friday Sad .

http://lowendmac.com/imacs/imac17b.html

? The article says that they could have 7200 drives... Hmph... I can't find any info on the iMac about the speed, so I'm going to assume that it has the 7200rpm in it. System Profiler didn't give me much help.

Any tips?
Thanks,
-BMF

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try this link
Oct 28, 2007 9:49AM PDT
http://www.ifixit.com/

This site will give you recommendations of what can go into your G4. I picked out my new HD from this site and bought it from somewhere else for $50 less. I did use their instructions (including the screw identification sheet) to tear apart my laptop and got the job done in about 2 hours.

grim
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Sorry grim, but I'm talking about a desktop
Oct 28, 2007 10:59AM PDT

G4. The flat-panel. iFixit does only laptop and iPod stuff so it doesn't apply here. But thanks for the input. Apparently, I just need to up the RAM, get an AirPort Extreme card at Apple, find an iMac Bluetooth Module that I'm missing, and wipe the drive. Then I can get everything running right. My HD must be 7200rpm, since in the desktops, they're always that way, or at least, the current and more recent ones have been.

At least my G4 serves as a good testing machine for Leopard LOL. When I'm done with it, it'll last for quite a few more years I believe.
Thanks for your inputs,
-BMF

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that site had airport extreme cards for $30.
Oct 28, 2007 1:13PM PDT

They were used, but a very good deal.

cheers

grim

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Thanks, but I gotta go to my Apple Store anyway, so I'll get
Oct 28, 2007 1:31PM PDT

an AirPort Card when I get there. I need to get iLife and iWork to upgrade my Macs, and also so I can have them on disc when I wipe out my G4 and reinstall everything on a clean drive. Then I may buy some RAM for the G4, though it's expensive there. Another problem with the RAM is I have two PC2100 modules or something like that and for my iMac model, Apple is only offering the other 512MB PC2700 modules instead. I read you can't run both together, only one or the other. So I could plunk down $300 for 1GB of RAM when I could get another 512MB PC2100 stick somewhere else... not worth $300 at all, so I probably won't :-P.

I need a new Bluetooth module for it too, but I'll have to find it online. I think one site I found has them for the G4. I'll ask my Apple tech about some of that stuff. Too bad I can't just trade it in for a new 24 inch one Happy . That would rock. 2.8Ghz and a bunch of loaded goodies... I can wait for the new Mac Pros and the new (hopefully coming) MacBooks without an optical drive or the 12 inch MBP. Who knows if they will come out soon, but I'm optimistic about Apple stuff.
Thanks for the inputs everyone,
-BMF

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I could be mistaken, but many PC2700 chips...
Oct 28, 2007 2:05PM PDT

... are backward compatible to PC2100. At least the sodim chip I put in my iBook was. I got a gig sodim chip on sale for $79.99 US. It was a decent brand, but I can't recall what it was.

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Hmm... well I read that my iMac couldn't handle both at the
Oct 29, 2007 7:31AM PDT

same time. I'm not interested in finding it out and possibly ruining my machine. Thanks or the tip though.
-BMF

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I'm installing 10.5 now on an 15" iMac 1ghz (USB 2.0)
Oct 30, 2007 1:51PM PDT

I picked this up off Craigslist for my Mom for $325. Was pretty much unused as some girl had it because it "looked cool" I added 1 GB of memory (Kingston PC 2700) on sale at from Circuit City for $59.95. I think with 1.25 GB of RAM it should run OK. I'll run it for a day and post a follow up. She will use it for internet, email , iPhoto, Pages, and iChat. If its too sluggish I'll go back to Tiger, but I'd like to be able to have the remote screen feature in Leopard as Mom tends to screw up settings and then go into a panic and she's 1500 miles away.

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A 15 inch iMac with USB 2.0... nice.
Oct 30, 2007 2:28PM PDT

I wish mine could have more RAM, but it's running okay. Leopard may run faster on yours since mine is older and has less RAM and USB 1.1. Lucky. I can only have 1GB of RAM on mine, and apparently, Grim was right about the backwards compatibility. My Apple techs told me that the G4 could actually take the faster, 2700 sticks since it runs the slower 2100 sticks, meaning it could take faster sticks and run okay but not the other away around. Hope you can understand my gibberish LOL.

Leopard works okay for mine, but it doesn't seem to like all the bells and whistles. I'm going to start to leave it running and working for awhile until it adjusts better. Then when I can, I'll go get a 512MB stick to fix it up some and get something for its no Wi-Fi problem. Now my techs say it can't take the Extreme cards, which I had thought before anyway. They suggested I get the Wireless Airport plugin thing that hops on networks and does the AirTunes thing. I may just have to do that though $100 isn't too nice. Oh well. Good luck with your G4, though don't expect it to cruise without a bruise LOL. Tiger runs much better on it I believe. I'll decide what to do with it once I clean out the drive and put some fresh installs on it.
-BMF