# Upgrading mac mini from 10.4.11 to 10.5.6 and higher



## Dream Druid (Sep 9, 2009)

I have a mac mac mini 07 how do I upgrade from mac 10.4.11 to 10.5.6 and higher I do not have any of the mac cat family installed phanter or tiger or mobile me I simply wish to instal i Life 09 

Thank you for your time


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## DeltaMac (Sep 9, 2009)

Your 10.4.11 is the OS X version known as Tiger...
To upgrade, you need to purchase an OS X 10.5 or higher.
You can also purchase a Snow Leopard Box Set, which includes both iLife, and iWork in addition to Snow Leopard.
You also end up with a bonus of more free space on your hard drive. Mine got over 10GB of space back after the upgrade to 10.6


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## Dream Druid (Sep 9, 2009)

Thank you for this information just to clarify I can do two things either buy a whole new mac mini with i life 09 or get the Snow Leopard Box Set ?

Dream Druid


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Sep 9, 2009)

You can do two things to upgrade your existing Mac mini:

1) Purchase a retail copy of 10.5 Leopard and install it.
2) Purchase a retail copy of 10.6 Snow Leopard and install it.

You must pay for any "major point" upgrade.  Any time the number immediately following the "10." changes (as in 10.*4* to 10.*5*), you must purchase the upgrade.  Any "minor point" upgrades (the numbers that follow the major point, like 10.4.*8* to 10.4.*9*) are free and available through Software Update.

Purchasing a new computer will not allow you to upgrade anything on your old Mac mini.  The software that ships with a new Mac computer will be incompatible with your old Mac mini, and even if it were compatible, the license agreement prevents you from installing the OS on two Macs from one set of CDs/DVDs.  The rule of thumb is one retail copy equals an installation on one Mac.  If you have two Macs, purchase two copies.

The Family Pack is different -- it allows you to install on up to 5 Macs that are located in the same household with one DVD.

iLife came separate from 10.5 Leopard, and must be purchased separately, but came with the Leopard Box Set (if I recall correctly, that there was a Leopard Box Set).  iLife comes with the Snow Leopard Box Set, but not with the $29 Snow Leopard Upgrade set.


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## Dream Druid (Sep 9, 2009)

I have purchased i Life 09 and realised my mistake is their any way I can purchase the snow leopard that is in the mac box with out buying the mac box ?


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## DeltaMac (Sep 9, 2009)

Yes, Snow Leopard is available separately.


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## Dream Druid (Sep 10, 2009)

I contacted the mac help line and found out I have to get leopard not snow leopard and they did not have any leopards in stock so I will have to search for a leopard if you know where I can buy one on line that would be great even better if I can download it.

What I am rally after is just a movie system that is some what better than i Movie and mac compatable 

again thank you for your time and knowladge

Dream Druid


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## nixgeek (Sep 10, 2009)

THat doesn't make much sense considering you have an Intel-based Mac mini (especially if released in 2007).  I wonder if this person that gave you this information misunderstood you and thought you wanted the $29 copy of Snow Leopard, which supposedly requires an already-installed copy of Leopard.  According to Apple, if you get the Mac Box Set you can perform a full, clean installation of Snow Leopard without having to have Leopard already installed.  Plus, this way you would get the iLife Suite and iWork included.

And no, you can't legally download Leopard or any retail verson of OS X.  It's also against the forum board rules to discuss such things.  Best to purchase the Mac Box Set for your Mac mini and you should be set, unless you feel that you need a newer Mac mini with Snow Leopard preinstalled.


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## Doctor X (Sep 10, 2009)

Dream Druid said:


> . . . that would be great even better if I can download it.









Anything downloadable is usually piracy and "not discussed HERE."  I would not recommend buying such--if it was legitimate--since you will need the disk should something go wrong with your computer software later.  You have to boot off the *Installation Disk*.

However, there ARE cheaper versions of *Leopard* that are legitimate.  MAKE SURE YOU ARE BUYING A RETAIL DISK, because some [*CENSORED*--Ed.] will sell you a cheap machine-specific disk which will not work on your machine.

--J.D.


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## Dream Druid (Sep 11, 2009)

All I want to do is up grade my mac mini here are my mac mini details

I have a mac mini 07

my memory is 512 mb (mac box set is 1g of memory which I do not have and 11g of free space which I do have) 

my version is Mac X  10.4.11 

According to apple I need to have a 1g memory to install the mac box set and the nice guy on the phone said I needed to get leopard NOT snow lepard to get my system to up grade where can I get leopard legaly


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## DeltaMac (Sep 11, 2009)

We're just guessing here - so, could you go to your Apple menu, then click on About this Mac, then tell us what the processor information shows? If you have an Intel Core Duo, and not a PowerPC, then you can be OK with Snow Leopard. If you have a PowerPC, then Leopard is the maximum for you. In any case - and even if you don't upgrade your software at all - upgrading your RAM memory is a Good Thing&#8482; to do. The memory is cheap, although upgrading a mini is a tricky proposition. If you upgrade to Leopard, you will be hampered by low memory all the time, and you WON"T get good performance. If you have an Intel processor, you can upgrade to at least 2GB, which is good for Snow Leopard.
You can do a search at the usual web sites for Leopard, if you need to settle for that.

The price for a new Leopard has jumped right up.
http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Version-10-5-6-Leopard/dp/B000FK88JK
Try eBay, but be careful that you get the same type of commercial box!


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## fryke (Sep 11, 2009)

Unless you go to a reseller where they simply still have some leo boxes. We certainly didn't up the price. Was 189 CHF, is 189 CHF.


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## Dream Druid (Sep 11, 2009)

I have a processor 1.66 ghz Intel Core Duo and 1 processor and 2 cores 

not sure what they mean but that is some further info 

Dream Druid


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## DeltaMac (Sep 12, 2009)

It means that Snow Leopard would be fine, after you upgrade the RAM memory to 2GB. You only need 1 GB, but memory is too cheap to stop with the minimum


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