Mac 10.4.11 to l'a test OS. Possible?

[Racineur]

Hi, a friend of mine has this: iMac 2010 OSX10.4.11, Intel 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GO 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Of course there's a lot her computer cannot do and does not do. What would be the easiest and fastest way to upgrade her machine to at least Maverick. If even Maverick would stutter, Mountain Lion would be fine considering she does mostly e-mail, Safari, Facebook and Word. Can we by any chance think about Yosemite?
Thanks for your hints

Racineur

TITLE: "LATEST"

 

[CoastalOR]

Hi, a friend of mine has this: iMac 2010 OSX10.4.11, Intel 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GO 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Of course there's a lot her computer cannot do and does not do. What would be the easiest and fastest way to upgrade her machine to at least Maverick. If even Maverick would stutter, Mountain Lion would be fine considering she does mostly e-mail, Safari, Facebook and Word. Can we by any chance think about Yosemite?
Thanks for your hints
Racineur

The specs in this post do not make sense. The lowest OS for a 2010 iMac is OS 10.6.3.
2007 did support as low as OS 10.4.10 with a 2GHz processor.

Assuming that it is a 2007:
You can install the latest OS, but it may be too much for the older hardware without hardware upgrades. I recommend going no higher than OS 10.8.5 since it can still be purchased from Apple for $19.99 (delivered via download).
Maverick is no longer available from the Apple App Store unless it was previously "purchased". It is the same problem for Yosemite.

 

[Racineur]

Hi, thanks for your reply. The infos given by my friend must have been wrong. Her iMac is 2008 actually. You were spot on. I thought about Mountain Lion. This is the OS on my 2013 iMac and it runs smooth with no problems. I'm checking on the Apple Store. Thanks again.

The specs in this post do not make sense. The lowest OS for a 2010 iMac is OS 10.6.3.
2007 did support as low as OS 10.4.10 with a 2GHz processor.

Assuming that it is a 2007:
You can install the latest OS, but it may be too much for the older hardware without hardware upgrades. I recommend going no higher than OS 10.8.5 since it can still be purchased from Apple for $19.99 (delivered via download).
Maverick is no longer available from the Apple App Store unless it was previously "purchased". It is the same problem for Yosemite.

 

[matreya]

If the iMac has only 1 GO of RAM (that's french for GB) then the latest OS you can install on it is 10.6.8.

 

[BrettApple]

I've got a base model 20" 2007 iMac that shipped with OS X 10.4.10 (and I still have the disc for it) that is currently running the latest release of OS X El Capitan with zero problems. However, to get to that point it will need to be upgraded to 4GB of RAM (about $40 USD) and either use another Mac to create a USB installer or buy a copy of Snow Leopard and then use the App Store to get to 10.11. An SSD also helps a ton, but isn't completely necessary.

From what I remember, Snow Leopard was super fast on it, Lion slowed it down. ML fixed that up, Mavericks was alright and I ran that for a long time, then Yosemite slowed it down again, and El Capitan brought it back up to speed. It runs about like Mavericks did with the translucency disabled. The GPU kind of holds it back when running external monitors with all the new GUI effects on but it's workable. With the SSD installed it boots up in less than 20 seconds and apps open super quick. But that would be an investment if you're not the DIY type, and iMacs aren't the easiest thing to work on if you haven't done it before.

First though, it'll need more RAM to run much of anything smoothly. 4GB would be the sweet spot for it. Then get a copy of Snow Leopard or ML and you can then use the App Store to get to the latest OS if she wants to.

 

[r6mile]

Hi, thanks for your reply. The infos given by my friend must have been wrong. Her iMac is 2008 actually. You were spot on. I thought about Mountain Lion. This is the OS on my 2013 iMac and it runs smooth with no problems. I'm checking on the Apple Store. Thanks again.

I'm not sure that's correct either. I think this is a 2007 iMac (maybe purchased in 2008). In that case, first priority is to upgrade the RAM - you can go up to 6GB in this model (though 4GB should be plenty and you can get 2x2GB sticks for cheap). I would also highly recommend installing an SSD in this iMac as it will make a world of difference (assuming you are comfortable with performing the upgrade).

As for the OS, since you say you have a Mac, I would just use your computer to create an El Capitan installer. I run it on a bunch of older Macs and it runs great - one issue with older versions of OS is that apps may no longer be compatible (like latest version of Firefox, etc.), so IMO you always want to go with the newest. It's not like with Windows where later OS run badly on older computers - OS X is optimised so that it generally runs well on all sorts of machines (assuming you have enough RAM).