Tiger on an iMac G4

[markceltic]

Since I don't have my machine all maxed out like some of you I was wondering how other folks with a system like mine find the performance of Tiger.

[mattruben]

I have a very similar system to yours. I have an iMac G4 - mine is slower, with an 800MHz CPU and a 100MHz System Bus, but I have a bit more RAM - 768MB, compared with your 512MB.

Tiger runs great on my machine. It's faster than Panther in some respects, and about the same speed in others. It does slow down a little when using a lot of virtual memory. I have a little utility that shows, in the menubar, how big my VM swapfiles are. When VM size gets to 1GB, I see some slowdowns. But again, the slowdowns are no more noticeable than they were in Panther.

In sum, I'd say you're good to go, no problem.

Best,
Matt

[steven_lufc]

Tiger runs just fine on my G3 600mhz iMac with 768mb RAM so I don't think you'll have any problems.

[Timmargh]

I've got virtually the same spec (1.25GHz, 768MB etc.) and Tiger runs beautifully - no complaints.

I don't exactly max out my machine, though - Mail, Newsfire and Safari are open 24/7 with iTunes also open most of the time and either DreamWeaver or iPhoto with Photoshop.

[fryke]

Don't underestimate the power of RAM, though. 512 to 768 is a noticeable difference. I personally think you shouldn't run Tiger with anything below 768 MB of RAM, but that's a very personal opinion - and people who ain't using Adobe CS and other "high profile" applications might be okay with less RAM.
Either way: If you plan on upgrading the machine anytime soon, I'd consider upping it to a gig of memory. It helps.