[Atticus]

Hey, gang:

I have a friend who just bought an iPhone. She owns a five-year-old G4 iMac with OS 10.3.9 (the iMac with the half-spherical base). She has an older version of iTunes and a result, she can't use her iPhone with her Mac. She claims that she is unable to install iTunes 8.0. Obviously, this is because her current system configuration is too old.

What are her upgrade options here? I'm hoping she doesn't have to buy a new Mac. My guess is that her machine does NOT support Leopard. Or if it does, what does she have to do first to get to Leopard? Or can she upgrade to a slightly older version of iTunes that still supports the iPhone?

SO--in sum: a user with a 3G iPhone, but an old G4 iMac. Needs to be able to use iPhone with iMac, so needs updates. But has no idea what the updates might be. I have no idea, either.

Thanks!

Atticus

PS--If this off-topic topic is in the wrong forum, please move as necessary.

[mattw]

Atticus, on September 22nd 2008, 06:59 PM, said:

Hey, gang:

I have a friend who just bought an iPhone. She owns a five-year-old G4 iMac with OS 10.3.9 (the iMac with the half-spherical base). She has an older version of iTunes and a result, she can't use her iPhone with her Mac. She claims that she is unable to install iTunes 8.0. Obviously, this is because her current system configuration is too old.

What are her upgrade options here? I'm hoping she doesn't have to buy a new Mac. My guess is that her machine does NOT support Leopard. Or if it does, what does she have to do first to get to Leopard? Or can she upgrade to a slightly older version of iTunes that still supports the iPhone?

SO--in sum: a user with a 3G iPhone, but an old G4 iMac. Needs to be able to use iPhone with iMac, so needs updates. But has no idea what the updates might be. I have no idea, either.

Thanks!

Atticus

PS--If this off-topic topic is in the wrong forum, please move as necessary.

If the iMac is one of the later 1.0 or 1.25GHz models you can run Leopard but you will need to check the amount of RAM installed first. It needs to have been upgraded to at least 512MB (I would really recommend 1GB). If it is one of the earlier 700 or 800MHz models you can't install Leopard directly so you would have to either use a hack or target disk mode if you want to use Leopard. The best option for these models really is tracking down a copy of Tiger (maybe second hand?) although you will have to check if the iMac has DVD reading capabilities (some of the first models were CD writers only). Like Leopard, Tiger was sold on DVD although multiple CD versions do exist as Apple ran a program to exchange the media.

[Atticus]

mattw, on September 22nd 2008, 02:18 PM, said:

If the iMac is one of the later 1.0 or 1.25GHz models you can run Leopard but you will need to check the amount of RAM installed first. It needs to have been upgraded to at least 512MB (I would really recommend 1GB). If it is one of the earlier 700 or 800MHz models you can't install Leopard directly so you would have to either use a hack or target disk mode if you want to use Leopard. The best option for these models really is tracking down a copy of Tiger (maybe second hand?) although you will have to check if the iMac has DVD reading capabilities (some of the first models were CD writers only). Like Leopard, Tiger was sold on DVD although multiple CD versions do exist as Apple ran a program to exchange the media.

Thanks!

She has the 1.25Ghz model, I think. Don't know how much RAM she has installed. So, in theory, her iMac should be able to run Leopard....? Can she upgrade from 10.3.9 directly to 10.5 Leopard, or does she HAVE to do so via Tiger?

Atticus

[the Battle Cat]

Atticus, on September 22nd 2008, 10:59 AM, said:

PS--If this off-topic topic is in the wrong forum, please move as necessary.

This topic was in the correct forum but it was posted on top of my foot so I moved it off my foot. Please watch where you post.

[mattw]

Atticus, on September 22nd 2008, 07:31 PM, said:

Thanks!

She has the 1.25Ghz model, I think. Don't know how much RAM she has installed. So, in theory, her iMac should be able to run Leopard....? Can she upgrade from 10.3.9 directly to 10.5 Leopard, or does she HAVE to do so via Tiger?

Atticus

Yes the 1.25GHz models will run it. You can go straight to 10.5 from 10.3.9 - backup important files just in case something goes wrong with the upgrade install and you end up doing an archive and install or erase.

[The Liberator]

I am sure people have already said it, but here is the link for the requirements of iTunes 8: link.

Liberator HD 1.

[Atticus]

Liberator HD 1, on September 22nd 2008, 09:53 PM, said:

I am sure people have already said it, but here is the link for the requirements of iTunes 8: link.

Liberator HD 1.

Thanks, guys! Yeah, she has only 10.3.9, so iTunes 8 ain't gonna fly. I also found out she has only 256MB of RAM, so Leopard probably won't work, either, without a significant memory upgrade. She does have a DVD drive, so that's good.

Battle Cat, your foot is where?

[The Liberator]

Is it possible to somehow buy Tiger, or not? You could buy it second–hand, but the money spent might not warrant the purchase though.

Liberator HD 1.

[teflon]

you can get it on ebay pretty cheap. After all, theres plenty of people whove bought Tiger to upgrade from Panther, but have now moved on to Leopard.

[the Battle Cat]

Atticus, on September 22nd 2008, 08:02 PM, said:

Battle Cat, your foot is where?

::BC points:: What, are ye blind as well as daft??

[The Liberator]

teflon, on September 23rd 2008, 09:06 PM, said:

you can get it on ebay pretty cheap. After all, theres plenty of people whove bought Tiger to upgrade from Panther, but have now moved on to Leopard.

Would you think it is worth it? If the price is right (pun intended ), then yes I would buy it.

Liberator HD 1.

[Tesseract]

Yep, some RAM and a discount copy of Tiger would be my recommendation too.

[teflon]

Liberator HD 1, on September 23rd 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Would you think it is worth it? If the price is right (pun intended ), then yes I would buy it.

definitely. Whilst 10.3 was great, and finally achieved the level of OS performance that OS X had been lacking up until then, 10.4 was another fairly large step (as is shown by how it managed to be the OS for 2 years, whilst Leopard has numerous questionable "features" which are pointless or steps backwards) forwards.

but, you are combating price on ebay here, where some people are determined to charge a premium. Also, watch out for system DVDs, which wont install on the iMac.

you could always spring for leopard, as depending on where you look, you might not be able to find tiger for a reasonable price.
With regards to leopard, youll see a certain amount of performance lost, but if you turn off certain things, like Time Machine and the 3D dock, the experience should be fairly pleasant.

[Atticus]

the Battle Cat, on September 23rd 2008, 09:39 AM, said:

::BC points:: What, are ye blind as well as daft??

Oh, right, it's up my #@$%!

Atticus

[the Battle Cat]

Atticus, on September 23rd 2008, 10:42 AM, said:

Oh, right, it's up my #@$%!

Atticus

And apparently a wee bit numb too.

[yo-mike]

Ha Ha! My eMac 1.25 can spank the iMac 1.25! !!!