Upgrading Mac OS X 10.5.8?

[Hearne Lake]

I'm inexperienced and hesitant about making changes to our Mac. We purchased this Mac with a business, had never used a Mac before.
Our Mac is an iMac8,1. Is it possible to upgrade this Mac with newer software? I've checked to see if their are any updates, but the message says, no updates at this time.
A few months ago we tried to update our Skype program but discovered that our operating system is too old for the new Skpe requirements, we have been unable to use Skype since then.
I would really appreciate some help with this, but am not a very techie type person so you would need to "dumb" it down for me.

Thanks

 

[honestone]

First of all, please confirm that you are using OS 10.5.8. If so, that's rather surprising a "check" by you would say something liek "no upgrades available".

Assuming you are using OS 10.5.8, you can upgrade your machine to the newest version of the OS, Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), which just came out about a week ago. But, you first need to upgrade your machine to Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.0, and then to OS 10.6.8. Here is an explanation that explains how to do all that:

"Upgrading to Snow Leopard

You can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.

After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mavericks if your computer meets the requirements.

Snow Leopard General Requirements

1. Mac computer with an Intel processor

2. 1GB of memory

3. 5GB of available disk space

4. DVD drive for installation

5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
fees may apply.

6. Some features require Apple’s iCloud services; fees and
terms apply."

In order to upgrade to Mavericks (OS 10.9.5) or Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), you will need to increase your memory, to at least 2 gig. Depending on what type of processing you do with your iMac, you should consider upgrading the Ram to at least 4 Gig, and if you want, you can upgrade to its' maximum, 6 gig. Here are the instructions on how to do that:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac Intel 24-Inch EMC 2134 and 2211 RAM Replacement/8966

Once the RAM upgrade has been completed, you can then upgrade from Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.8, to Yosemite, OS 10.10.0. Here is the information about doing that:

https://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

One thing you MUST do for the first upgrade, from OS 10.5.8 to OS 10.6.0 to 10.6.8, is to FIRST make a backup of your OS 10.5.8 "system". You can use the "freeware", earlier version of SuperDuper! (download link http://superduper.en.softonic.com/mac).

Once that is done, and everything is OK, perform the upgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.6.8, as described above.

Next, you will need to backup the OS 10.6.8 "version" of your system. You can use the newest version of SuperDuper for that (download link http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper).

Once that is done, and OS 10.6.8 is running fine, you can then upgrade to Yosemite.

Finally, you will need to insure that all your third party applications are first compatible with Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.8), and then with Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), if you decide to go that far.

 

[Hearne Lake]

First of all, please confirm that you are using OS 10.5.8. If so, that's rather surprising a "check" by you would say something liek "no upgrades available".

Assuming you are using OS 10.5.8, you can upgrade your machine to the newest version of the OS, Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), which just came out about a week ago. But, you first need to upgrade your machine to Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.0, and then to OS 10.6.8. Here is an explanation that explains how to do all that:

"Upgrading to Snow Leopard

You can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.

After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mavericks if your computer meets the requirements.

Snow Leopard General Requirements

1. Mac computer with an Intel processor

2. 1GB of memory

3. 5GB of available disk space

4. DVD drive for installation

5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
fees may apply.

6. Some features require Apple’s iCloud services; fees and
terms apply."

In order to upgrade to Mavericks (OS 10.9.5) or Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), you will need to increase your memory, to at least 2 gig. Depending on what type of processing you do with your iMac, you should consider upgrading the Ram to at least 4 Gig, and if you want, you can upgrade to its' maximum, 6 gig. Here are the instructions on how to do that:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac Intel 24-Inch EMC 2134 and 2211 RAM Replacement/8966

Once the RAM upgrade has been completed, you can then upgrade from Snow Leopard, OS 10.6.8, to Yosemite, OS 10.10.0. Here is the information about doing that:

https://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

One thing you MUST do for the first upgrade, from OS 10.5.8 to OS 10.6.0 to 10.6.8, is to FIRST make a backup of your OS 10.5.8 "system". You can use the "freeware", earlier version of SuperDuper! (download link http://superduper.en.softonic.com/mac).

Once that is done, and everything is OK, perform the upgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.6.8, as described above.

Next, you will need to backup the OS 10.6.8 "version" of your system. You can use the newest version of SuperDuper for that (download link http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper).

Once that is done, and OS 10.6.8 is running fine, you can then upgrade to Yosemite.

Finally, you will need to insure that all your third party applications are first compatible with Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.8), and then with Yosemite (OS 10.10.0), if you decide to go that far.

Thank you very much for your quick post.

 

[Hearne Lake]

When I select software update, the message I receive is;
your software is up to date
software update doesn't have any new software for your computer at this time.
When I select about this Mac, it shows version 10.5.8

 

[honestone]

Oh well, not sure why you are getting that message, but as I stated above, you can upgrade the OS. Just make sure to do the backups where I stated they need to be done. In fact, whether you upgrade or not, you need to be doing backups. I do mine once a week. And by using SuperDuper!, if there are issues that prevent one from using their machine, one can start up from the backup, do a restore from it, and be up and running (for most issues that arise). I had an incident happen with my Mac Mini about 2 months ago, where I was having a strange issue on one site only after I had downloaded a program to try and help out someone. Well, I did not want to try and find out why, as I did not need the program. So, I just booted from the SuperDuper! backup I had done two days earlier, restored my system from it, an dI was up and running quickly, hassle and error free!

 

[Alfredo]

Thank you very much for the very clear instruction. I have one more question: After the upgrade do I have to install the Adobe CS4 or Final Cut Pro again or do these programs remain on the computer? Thank you!

 

[honestone]

Assuming things go well with EACH upgrade (that's why you must make the appropriate backups first), the original versions of Adobe CS4 and Final Cut Pro that you now have remain as is. But, you'll need to determine if the version of each one you have needs to be upgraded or not with each newer OS you upgrade to. This link talks about Final Cut Pro and upgrades:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201237

As for Adobe CS4, this link has a number of further links you can visit to see how to upgrade:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=H...-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=lsarVLHPC4rbaJf9gogF

 

[Hearne Lake]

I'm hoping you can help me with a printer question. Since upgrading fully to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 we appear to have lost compatibility with our HP Deskjet 5550. do you know if this printer is possible to set up for use now?

 

[honestone]

I'm hoping you can help me with a printer question. Since upgrading fully to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 we appear to have lost compatibility with our HP Deskjet 5550. do you know if this printer is possible to set up for use now?

Via a google search for "HP Deskjet 5550 and Mac OS 10.6.8", this link looks like it can help you:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printe...c-I-can-t-print-to-my-HP-5550-DNT/td-p/895723

The last post in that exchange, by an individual called "PrintDoc" (also shows an "icon" for "hp support" is what you should follow.

Another discussion from those links is this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4077608

Not sure which one is better.