Licence for installing Leopard on old computer

aztecmike · #1 September 22nd, 2008, 01:43 PM

Hi,

Can anyone help? I bought a new MacBook Pro a few months ago with Leopard installed. I want to install it on my old PowerBook g4 as well (from the install DVDs that came with the MacBook Pro) but it wont allow me. From reading other posts I gather that it is because it is only licenced to one computer (my MacBook Pro) and wont install on any other model.

I read about the 5 user licenced software but I dont want to have to buy another copy of the software. Is there anyway of getting a licence to install it on my old computer from the DVDs I already have? Like spending maybe another $20 rather than $200?

Any help would be appreciated!

nixgeek · #2 September 22nd, 2008, 01:55 PM

There is a family license that allows up to 5 computers within the same household to run a particular copy of OS X. However, you would need the retail copy of OS X for that as the one that ships with a particular Mac is only for those particular Macs (in other words, you can't take a MacBook Pro disc and use it on anything that's not a MacBook Pro of the same type). On top of that, the version of OS X that comes with the MacBook Pro is only for Intel-based Macs. The PowerBook G4 is a PowerPC-based Mac, so they are architecturally incompatible.

**fryke** · #3 September 22nd, 2008, 02:50 PM

That's not entirely true, though. There's a check on the installation DVD that makes it incompatible. Theoretically, it'd include all the necessary files for a PPC installation AFAIK. But that's not the subject. The problem really is that Apple does *not* have a product that lets you transform your one-computer license into a family license. You can buy the full retail version or you can buy the family retail version, but both cost 129$ or more. Since Mac OS X 10.6 probably will come out in the first half of 2009, I suggest staying on whatever system you are until then. Then you can buy the family version of 10.6 and install that on both computers.

The other question, of course, is whether your PB G4 will even support 10.5 or 10.6. From what we _currently_ know, 10.6 won't install on PPC Macs (that could still change, but I doubt it). 10.5 requires at least a PowerPC Mac running at 867 MHz or more. I don't recommend installing on anything with less than 1 GB RAM. You also have to make sure you have enough free harddrive space. For most PPC Macs, I'd suggest 10.4.11 as the operating system.