How to upgrade 10.5.8 to Snow Leopard

[the profit j]

Greetings

I just purchased a new Imac and would like to give my 2007 model to my daughter. I cleaned it out and restarted from the original Apple supplied disc. Now as I try to upgrade it wont let me go to 10.6 without purchasing Snow Leopard from Apple. The purchase is not an issue but can anyone tell me if I have to continue to purchase each successive upgrade until I get to the one just before El Capitan? Perhaps a better path to my goal?

I have already increased the memory a while back.

Thanks

Jeff

 

[honestone]

After you purchase Snow Leopard (you should be getting the last version of Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.8), any further OS upgrades will be free. Just make sure that whichever OS you upgrade to (including Snow Leopard), that all your apps (mostly third party ones) are compatible with the OS you are moving to.

Regarding El Capitan (OS 10.11), this article talks about it, and in particular, what machines it can be used on:

http://www.macworld.com/article/298...ything-you-need-to-know-about-os-x-10-11.html

Note that it says mid-2007 iMac or newer. (I suspect intermediate OS versions, ie, LIon, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, and Yosemite, could have similar restrictions). You'll need to check that out yourself.

Finally, once you get OS 10.6.8 on the iMac, and after your daughter is comfortable with it, it would not be advisable to "jump" directly to El Capitan (now at V 10.11.1, but there is a V 10.11.2 in beta testing now). It would be better to move to a more intermediate OS, like Mavericks. The last version of Mavericks was 10.9.5, and similarly, the last version of Yosemite was 10.10.5.

 

[the profit j]

After you purchase Snow Leopard (you should be getting the last version of Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.8), any further OS upgrades will be free. Just make sure that whichever OS you upgrade to (including Snow Leopard), that all your apps (mostly third party ones) are compatible with the OS you are moving to.

Regarding El Capitan (OS 10.11), this article talks about it, and in particular, what machines it can be used on:

http://www.macworld.com/article/298...ything-you-need-to-know-about-os-x-10-11.html

Note that it says mid-2007 iMac or newer. (I suspect intermediate OS versions, ie, LIon, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, and Yosemite, could have similar restrictions). You'll need to check that out yourself.

Finally, once you get OS 10.6.8 on the iMac, and after your daughter is comfortable with it, it would not be advisable to "jump" directly to El Capitan (now at V 10.11.1, but there is a V 10.11.2 in beta testing now). It would be better to move to a more intermediate OS, like Mavericks. The last version of Mavericks was 10.9.5, and similarly, the last version of Yosemite was 10.10.5.

 

[the profit j]

Honestone

Many thanks. You have provided me with just what I needed. The reason that I got the new Imac was upgrading to El Capitan really wreaked havoc with the old one. Really slow and problems with IPHOTO and ITUNES.

I will order Snow Leopard straight away!

Thanks again

Jeff

 

[honestone]

Honestone

Many thanks. You have provided me with just what I needed. The reason that I got the new Imac was upgrading to El Capitan really wreaked havoc with the old one. Really slow and problems with IPHOTO and ITUNES.

I will order Snow Leopard straight away!

Thanks again

Jeff

Glad I was able to help!

Regarding the old iMac, you might want to consider 1) upgrading the internal drive to an SSD, and 2) upgrading the RAM. That will definitely help when your daughter upgrades to the more "robust" OS versions. If you can let us know the exact iMac model she has, I can point you to some sites that will show how to do such upgrades.

 

[the profit j]

Greetings Honestone

Thanks for following up on this. I got Snow Leopard and the upgrade went smoothly. As for the "exact" iMac, here are the specs.

Model identifier: iMac 8.1
Proc. name: intel core 2 duo
Proc. speed 2.4 GHZ
# of Proc. 1
Total # of cores: 2
L2 cache: 6mb
Memory: 2mb
Bus speed: 1.07 GHZ
Boot rom version: 1m81.00c1.boo
SMC version (system) 1.29f1

That's everything I could find. I hope it's not information overload.

Thanks much
Jeff

 

[honestone]

Thanks for that information. That machine actually originally comes with 1 gig of RAM, so an upgrade to 2 Gig was done. It can be upgraded to 6 gig of RAM. Also, the original hard drive inside is 250 gig, and spins at 7200 rpm (typical maximum speed for a hard disk). You can upgrade to an SSD, and an SSD upgrade will definitely make a difference in terms of speed! If you ever want to see what it takes to do either (or both) of those upgrades, just let me know, and I can point you to specific sites that show how to do it.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

As a point of clarification: 4GB RAM officially per Apple, 6GB RAM real-world.

C

 

[the profit j]

Thank you for the clarification Mr. Cooper. And to Honestone. I say, point away my good man!

Jeff

 

[honestone]

Thank you for the clarification Mr. Cooper. And to Honestone. I say, point away my good man!

Jeff

OK, Jeff, here is the guide on how to upgrade the RAM:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+20-Inch+EMC+2133+and+2210+RAM+Replacement/990

For installing an SSD, it "seems" to be somewhat challenging, and I have yet to find a "definitive" guide on how to do it.