# Snow Leopard work on Intel Core duo?



## supanatral (Aug 24, 2009)

My brother has the first generation of the iMacs that has a Core duo processor (not Core 2 Duo). Will snow leopard work on it?

On Apples site, it says that you need a Intel processor to run Snow leopard, but then below it says you need a 64bit processor which is what he doesn't have.


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## earthsaver (Aug 24, 2009)

Core Duo is compatible with Snow Leopard. Only won't support 64-bit operation. Will work fine in 32-bit.


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## supanatral (Aug 24, 2009)

By the sounds of it, he will be missing quite a few applications like quicktime and stuff like that. Would it be worth upgrading him?


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## earthsaver (Aug 24, 2009)

supanatral said:


> By the sounds of it, he will be missing quite a few applications like quicktime and stuff like that. Would it be worth upgrading him?



What do you mean "missing"? 64-bit and OpenCL support are the only missing pieces for a Core Duo system. No applications will be missing.


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## DeltaMac (Aug 24, 2009)

Those applications won't be missing!
Having 64-bit code does not automatically mean that app will ONLY work on a 64-bit system.
Don't forget, there is only one Mac that will boot by default to 64-bit, and that's the newest Xserve....
All other Macs boot by default to 32-bit kernel. If only a tiny number of Apple's apps will run, then Apple wouldn't be able to sell many SL upgrades.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Aug 24, 2009)

Short answer: you're fine with Snow Leopard.

_Any_ Macintosh computer with an Intel processor (doesn't matter which: Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Xeon, etc.) and 1GB of RAM can and will run Snow Leopard.

No matter which computer you're running it on, the applications installed and usable will be identical.  Nothing will be missing from one computer that's included on another.  As stated before, just because an application supports 64-bit processes does not mean that it won't run on a 32-bit system.  If it can't run in 64-bit space, it will run just fine in 32-bit space.


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## mkeily (Oct 27, 2011)

I'm thinking of picking up a used Mac Mini with 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo.  This prevents me from upgrading to Snow Leopard, right?  It is already upgraded to Leopard.

If true, then does anyone know if the CPU can be upgraded anywhere?  Thanks.


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## earthsaver (Oct 27, 2011)

You can find Mac mini CPU upgrade reports and guides at XLR8YourMac. Search the page for core solo. http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/mac_mini_core_2_duo_swaps.html#storytop


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## MisterMe (Oct 27, 2011)

mkeily said:


> I'm thinking of picking up a used Mac Mini with 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo.  This prevents me from upgrading to Snow Leopard, right?  ...


No, that is not correct. According to the A History of Apple Computers website, the first Intel-based Mac mini--the one with the 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo--can be upgraded to MacOS X 10.6.8. Lion is not supported, but Snow Leopard is most definitely supported.


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