Upgrading Mac Ibook G4 OS to Leopard?

[Rock_Hudstone]

I have an older iBook G4 that I'd like to use for mainly for web browsing.

Is it worth upgrading the OS to Leopard 10.5?

Currently running OS X 10.3.9 and internet usage is slow and limited due to the outdated OS.

 

[apwillard1986]

I had upgraded my iBook G4 to leopard and liked it. That said I can't really tell objectively if the OS performed better. I replaced a fried hard disk with a faster drive and installed the newer OS at the same time. Not sure how much was hardware and how much was software...

At this point in the life cycle of that laptop I would upgrade it as far as it’ll go if you plan to keep it. The newer OS is going to be capable a bit longer than what you are running now.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: apwillard1986
At this point in the life cycle of that laptop I would upgrade it as far as it’ll go if you plan to keep it. The newer OS is going to be capable a bit longer than what you are running now.

It is a good machine, but many websites function poorly or not at all due to the obsolete OS.

That is the main thing I'd like to correct if possible.

 

[berniedd]

Yes, bring it up to Leopard, which will bring more life to it. A few caveats, however:

1. Your machine must be at least 867 MHz processor speed.
2. You must have 1 GB RAM or more for maximum effect.
3. When installing the newer operating system, choose a fresh install option. Installing the OS with an upgrade option will leave a lot of junk files in your hard drive.
4. Don't forget to update the new software once you're done.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: berniedd
Yes, bring it up to Leopard, which will bring more life to it. A few caveats, however:

1. Your machine must be at least 867 MHz processor speed.
2. You must have 1 GB RAM or more for maximum effect.
3. When installing the newer operating system, choose a fresh install option. Installing the OS with an upgrade option will leave a lot of junk files in your hard drive.
4. Don't forget to update the new software once you're done.

It has a 1.0 Mhz processor, 512 of Ram and can max out at 1.25 ram.

However, I've read the computer must already be running 10.4 OS to upgrade to Leopard. It is currently running 10.3.9 OS.

Do I have to get a 10.4 OS install disc and then upgrade to Leopard?

 

[Hokiefyd]

I think you may have to do it in sequence, yes.

I also have a 10.3.9 machine at home, but it's a Graphite slot-loading G3 iMac. I could upgrade to 10.4 Tiger, but that's as far as I could take it. I have a wireless card in it, and it sits in the garage and is my internet machine for out there, for things like this, Alldatadiy.com, etc.

The best browser for 10.3 is Camino, but even it is not fully-featured compared with most others. For example, I cannot load a lot of Google sites (YouTube, Google Drive, etc) because the browser is not supported. I can load a fairly old version of FireFox on it, but that doesn't work either.

Upgrading yours to Leopard would be a good idea.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I think you may have to do it in sequence, yes..

Did some more checking and I believe upgrading directly from Panther to Leopard OS is possible using a retail full install disc.

I'll max out the RAM at 1.25GB as well.

Thanks