Downsides of using Panther or Tiger on a Powerbook

zoranb

Registered
I have a Powerbook G4 1.67 GHz (the oldest of the bunch and fastest) and i want to speed it up using an older OSX, so i was thinking of installing something close to what it came with, either Panther or Tiger, i think those two were the closest if not the ones. But really what will i loose if put Panther or Tiger related to now that its using Leopard?
 
I assume that you want to use your PowerBook G4 to get some work done. Just about nobody supports any version of MacOS X that is older than MacOS X 10.3.9. However, I recommend nothing older than MacOS X 10.4.11. Dropbox supports it as do other new software titles. It is also the last version of MacOS X that supports Classic.

If Classic is not an issue with you, then you really ought to consider MacOS X 10.5 Leopard. Updated to MacOS X 10.5.8, it supports the most recent PPC-compatible versions of all Mac software. Leopard is also certified UNIX 03 and stripped of Classic support. It should be your most efficient and best-performing option.

Bottomline:
  • MacOS X 10.4.11 if you need Classic.
  • MacOS X 10.5.8 if you don't.
 
Is the RAM maxed out to 2GB on that PowerBook?
That will make a large difference, if you want to stay with Leopard, and will be a Good Thing™, even if you move back to Tiger.
Panther can be a problem, depending on which 1.67 GHz model you have. The last PowerBooks came with Tiger, and Panther probably doesn't boot.
 
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