Updated Leopard requirements to exclude 800MHz systems
Just weeks ahead of its public launch, Apple Inc. has updated the minimum system requirements for its next-generation Leopard operating system to exclude 800MHz PowerPC-based Macs, AppleInsider has learned.
The Cupertino-based company has yet to officially announce the hardware requirements to run Leopard, due out in October, but had long stated in developer documentation that the software would require "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (800MHz or faster) or G5 processor."
According to people familiar with the matter, engineers for the company recently determined that Leopard installs on 800MHz PowerPC G4 systems ran "too slow." Support for those systems was subsequently pulled from the most recent pre-release copies of Leopard, which inform testers that the software "cannot be installed" on those computers.
Instead, Leopard will now require Macs with "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz or faster) or G5 processor." Other system requirements include a DVD drive, built-in FireWire, at least 512MB of RAM (additional recommended), and at least 9GB of hard disk space.
Though seemingly mild, the 67MHz increase will exclude a handful of Mac system, namely the 800MHz PowerBook G4 (Titanium), 800MHz PowerMac G4 (Quicksilver), 800MHz iMac G4, 800MHz iBook G4, and 800MHz eMac.
Looking ahead, those people familiar with Apple development cycles speculate that Mac OS X 10.6 will exclude support for PowerPC-based Macs entirely, requiring that users have one of the company's Intel-based systems which first began making their way to market in early 2006.
Over the weekend, Apple provided developers with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard build 9A559. The build contained only two known issues and is believed to be one of the first candidates for release.
The Cupertino-based company has yet to officially announce the hardware requirements to run Leopard, due out in October, but had long stated in developer documentation that the software would require "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (800MHz or faster) or G5 processor."
According to people familiar with the matter, engineers for the company recently determined that Leopard installs on 800MHz PowerPC G4 systems ran "too slow." Support for those systems was subsequently pulled from the most recent pre-release copies of Leopard, which inform testers that the software "cannot be installed" on those computers.
Instead, Leopard will now require Macs with "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz or faster) or G5 processor." Other system requirements include a DVD drive, built-in FireWire, at least 512MB of RAM (additional recommended), and at least 9GB of hard disk space.
Though seemingly mild, the 67MHz increase will exclude a handful of Mac system, namely the 800MHz PowerBook G4 (Titanium), 800MHz PowerMac G4 (Quicksilver), 800MHz iMac G4, 800MHz iBook G4, and 800MHz eMac.
Looking ahead, those people familiar with Apple development cycles speculate that Mac OS X 10.6 will exclude support for PowerPC-based Macs entirely, requiring that users have one of the company's Intel-based systems which first began making their way to market in early 2006.
Over the weekend, Apple provided developers with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard build 9A559. The build contained only two known issues and is believed to be one of the first candidates for release.
Comments
That drops my daughter's iMac from the list. My plan though is to install it anyway by putting it in Firewire Disk Target mode and install it from another system. I wonder how my Tangerine iBook will work with Leopard.
Even if you use Firewire Target mode to install it, during bootup it will say "Your system isn't supported." You will have to wait for XPostFacto (did I say it right) to come out with a hack.
Intel Mac for 10.6? WOW that's sooner then I expected. I thought it would be G5 required for 10.6 then Intel for 10.7. All those people who bought systems in first half of 2005 prior to Intel announcement, will be SOL only 4 years after there system was new and even less for people who bought a new PowerPC Mac in 2006.
Besides, Apple makes decisions on supported hardware based on the standard configurations when they were originally shipped. Almost in all cases adding RAM makes them faster than higher-specked standard configuration.
There could be other reasons like CPU/GPU integration but that is a problem that they will need to address on older Intel hardware as well (especially minis).
Ah, one more thing: if they plan a new filesystem (bootable ZFS or something) that may be a blocker: PPC hardware uses different partition map!
Even if you use Firewire Target mode to install it, during bootup it will say "Your system isn't supported." You will have to wait for XPostFacto (did I say it right) to come out with a hack.
No! When the mac is attached as a FireWire disk the installer will check the hardware it runs on, that is, the computer to which the disk is attached to. The only thing you can not make is to install OS on PPC mac from Intel system - the installer will assume incompatible partition map and install the wrong OS version anyway (at least for Tiger, they are different)
it's relevant to note that leopard is the most significant upgrade to os x that apple has ever done. even then, it still supports most macs since late 2002, which puts the lifecycle of those machines at almost 5 years exactly. it's sad to see those machines get dropped, as mac hardware tends to last forever, but tiger is still very usable, and most new apps that will require leopard are probably gonna be a bit too steep to run on machines that old anyways.
The Steve is being awful generous to let any G4 users install Leopard on their Macs.
I know of old Macs with their users still happy on OS 9. I even have a friend with a PowerBook 100 in great condition and still runs on System 7 (I think) although it is showing signs of poor battery power retention.
My own iMac G5 20" will be happy to see out its days on a diet of Leopard. Actually, its this very feature, that made me comfortable with going with the iMac in the first place.
You can get a lot of years out of an Apple system. I was even tempted recently to bid on a working Apple Lisa, a developers model (Lisa XL), but pulled out for a lack of space to present it. It went for about $1100.
Pete
i suspect 10.6 will run on G5s at least. the community backlash would be so strong that i think apple will want to play it safe. my guess is that it will even run on late powerbook G4s.
it's relevant to note that leopard is the most significant upgrade to os x that apple has ever done. even then, it still supports most macs since late 2002, which puts the lifecycle of those machines at almost 5 years exactly. it's sad to see those machines get dropped, as mac hardware tends to last forever, but tiger is still very usable, and most new apps that will require leopard are probably gonna be a bit too steep to run on machines that old anyways.
Damn you Apple!!!!! I was hoping to run my iMac G4 800 MHz for a while longer yet. It runs plenty good enough on Tiger.
Don't tell me Apple is copying MS in bringing out more bloatware. Let's hope they manage to refine the final version enough to speed it up, before it ships.
Well I have a dual 800mhz G4 tower, which is definitely faster then an 867mhz G4. Heck the 867mhz was the mid-range and the dual 800mhz was the top of the line when I bought it, so if I could not put leopard on it I would be pretty pissed off when I could on a slower computer.
I have the same G4, and to be honest, I wouldn't install 10.5 on it regardless. Mine is over 6 years old, and I doubt that it would run teh snappy at all with Leopard. For day-2-day useability, really wouldn't run Leopard on any G4 <1Ghz - YMMV.
i suspect 10.6 will run on G5s at least. the community backlash would be so strong that i think apple will want to play it safe. my guess is that it will even run on late powerbook G4s.
If the current pattern holds, 10.6 is two and a half to three years away anyway. If you bought a G5 tower in Summer of 06, that would be about four to four and a half years before an OS is released that might not support a G5.
If it is not a major overhaul there is no need to drop PPC. If it is, it will take long time for development and PPC will become outdated anyway.
I think the situation, from marketing point of view, is as follows:
10.5, after the first couple of dot.dot updates, will become a mature and stable OS. Most likely, this will happen before Microsoft puts it's acts together with Vista and forthcoming (Feb. 27, 2008) Longhorn Server release. There are LOT's of features in Leopard which will take time to be implemented in most mainstream applications by developers. There are some unfinished areas as well: it seems Apple will not support resolution independence with 10.5.0 but it is unlikely they will put it off till 10.6. So, there is no need for Apple to urge with 10.6. They may decide a substantial update for mid 2009 or later. If this is the case, the PPC systems will be faded out gradually, at a normal pace.
I still believe (as I mentioned in previous posts on other threads) that Apple will keep it's code base cross-platform because:
- it is a huge advantage they have over Windows
- if broken, it will be huge disadvantage over Linux
If you look at processor architecture updates, they happen more often than some basic stuff deep in the OS. A lot of code in the UNIX core of Mac OS is older than current Intel and PPC architectures. Also, many people do not understand that 32 bit - 64 bit port was much harder than PPC - Intel.
Apple decided to drop 64 bit Carbon with 10.5 (at WWDC 2006 they still intended to port it). I am not sure this is final (there may be push from Adobe and others) but this is the only non-cross-platform friendly code in Apple legacy.
Damn you Apple!!!!! I was hoping to run my iMac G4 800 MHz for a while longer yet. It runs plenty good enough on Tiger.
Then just keep it running Tiger, there is nothing forcing you to upgrade. Regardless of what the minimum requirement is I suspect 10.5 will run very poorly on any G4.
No! When the mac is attached as a FireWire disk the installer will check the hardware it runs on, that is, the computer to which the disk is attached to. The only thing you can not make is to install OS on PPC mac from Intel system - the installer will assume incompatible partition map and install the wrong OS version anyway (at least for Tiger, they are different)
I meant that once you booted that un-supported Mac and not in Firewire Target mode, Leopard wouldn't boot as it would say un-supported system.
I am now starting to re-think the idea of 10.6 due fall 2009/winter 2009/2010 that this would allow for complete PPC code purging and other serious optimization of the entire OS, apps etc. This would also piss off G5 owners, and some G4 owners (PowerBook and oh ya us DP 1.25GHZ+ owners). To do this though Apple should give us the heads up at WWDC08 and state "Although we won't be talking about 10.6 today heads up that it will require an Intel based Mac" which will give people a good 18 months warning for G5 owners. Only in the extremely money tight situations (like mine) would 18 months not be enough time to save up for a new system if they/us want to continue using the latest software (since that is easier to stay on top of vs. hardware.
I'm really more concerned, though, about something that I haven't heard mentioned in a while. (I posted about this in another forum recently but haven't heard back from anyone yet.)
To those using the latest build of Leopard: Did Apple scrap the anti-phishing features that were being developed for Safari, or is there phishing protection in the latest builds? Aside from Safari, does Mail now have anti-phishing features? These features are both present in Vista's browser and mail client, and it would really pain me to see Apple slip behind in operating system security and keeping users protected. Right now, Apple's is the only major browser that doesn't have phishing protection built in, which I think is a crying shame, especially since Apple has built up their reputation of being the safer platform.
BTW, if anyone who's using the latest Leopard build is interested, I would like to have a guest on the Tech Pulse podcast to discuss some of the upcoming (and lesser-known) features of Leopard. If you're interested, please e-mail me at my first name at techpulsepodcast dot com.
~Josh