Best OS X version for iMac Mid-2007

[arnavvr]

So I've been in a bit of a dilemma. I have this 9 year old iMac that I've had for a long time. For quite a few years I was running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard on the machine, which was one of the most rock solid OSes that I have run to date on the machine. But then apple started offering free upgrades to OS X 10.9 Mavericks. That OS was useable but still not as great as Snow Leopard. Then I upgraded to El Capitan. This is when shit hit the bed. Constantly getting the beachball (Mac people will know what I am talking about) So I wanted to downgrade the OS. I was thinking about going to 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, but I was thinking if I could go to something newer? Maybe 10.8 Mountain Lion? 

 

System Specs:

-Mid 2007 iMac 24in

-1920x1200 High Def Display

-3GB of RAM, 4GB wouldn't post idk

-320GB HDD (This needs to be gone, just quite a procedure to do in this machine)

-ATI Radeon 2600 Pro

 

Also I have seen 6GB of RAM in the machine, please I couldn't even get 4 to post 6GB would be a dream!

 

@harrynowl 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id probably run 10.6, but its not supported. If you need new features, run 10.11.

[arnavvr]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id probably run 10.6, but its not supported. If you need new features, run 10.11.

Not Supported OS > Fast OS.

 

I'm not running 10.11. It's extremely slow on Core 2 Duo Macs.

 

How much speed will I lose going from 10.6 to 10.8?

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Not Supported OS > Fast OS.

 

I'm not running 10.11. It's extremely slow on Core 2 Duo Macs.

 

How much speed will I lose going from 10.6 to 10.8?

A fairly noticeable amount. I would stick with Snow Leopard and upgrade to 4GB. For the record, the config for 4GB of RAM requires 6 GB in the motherboard. It's that way for a lot of Apple PCs. Several Macbooks, to get 3GB RAM, needed 2*2 GB DIMMs.

[arnavvr]

4 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

A fairly noticeable amount. I would stick with Snow Leopard and upgrade to 4GB. For the record, the config for 4GB of RAM requires 6 GB in the motherboard. It's that way for a lot of Apple PCs. Several Macbooks, to get 3GB RAM, needed 2*2 GB DIMMs.

Ok I bought a 4GB Upgrade Kit a while ago. It wouldn't post with 4GB. The System had originally shipped with 1GB of RAM so put 2GB+1GB of RAM into the system and it posted. As for getting Snow Leopard, do I just buy a disc on eBay? And are most applications supported on 10.6.8? What about 10.7? Honestly I would like the newest OS without slowdowns.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, arnavvr said:

Ok I bought a 4GB Upgrade Kit a while ago. It wouldn't post with 4GB. The System had originally shipped with 1GB of RAM so put 2GB+1GB of RAM into the system and it posted. As for getting Snow Leopard, do I just buy a disc on eBay? And are most applications supported on 10.6.8? What about 10.7? Honestly I would like the newest OS without slowdowns.

If you don't need OSX, linux would probably me faster. With the old os's you can 't run chrome, and will have to use firefox. I have a 10.6 server dmg if you want it. PM me and i will give in the moring.

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Ok I bought a 4GB Upgrade Kit a while ago. It wouldn't post with 4GB. The System had originally shipped with 1GB of RAM so put 2GB+1GB of RAM into the system and it posted. As for getting Snow Leopard, do I just buy a disc on eBay? And are most applications supported on 10.6.8? What about 10.7? Honestly I would like the newest OS without slowdowns.

Interesting. May have not been supported, who knows. Yes, you can get a disc on Ebay. Most browsers are ending support for Snow Leopard if they haven't already. It's pretty old. I do believe 10.7 is a little better but it's been awhile since I've had access to a Mac that old.

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you don't need OSX, linux would probably me faster. With the old os's you can 't run chrome, and will have to use firefox. I have a 10.6 server dmg if you want it. PM me and i will give in the moring.

I've never had a Mac where the wireless card worked straight out of the box in any Linux distro, especially one of the older era like OP's but that's just my experience.

[arnavvr]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

Interesting. May have not been supported, who knows. Yes, you can get a disc on Ebay. Most browsers are ending support for Snow Leopard if they haven't already. It's pretty old. I do believe 10.7 is a little better but it's been awhile since I've had access to a Mac that old.

Ouch, Mavericks seems the latest for Google Chrome. Mountain Lion seems perfect. Last Apple OS before iOS integration made it slow  

[arnavvr]

@STRMfrmXMN Wow putting an SSD in is a whole lot of work... https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2134+and+2211+Hard+Drive+Replacement/8968

[arnavvr]

Hmm. @STRMfrmXMN How much of a better Mac would this be? Friend is selling for $550

 

-Late 2012 Mac Mini

- 2.3Ghz Core i7

-16GB RAM

-1TB Hybrid Drive

 

I should be able to use the iMac as a monitor correct?

[harrynowl]

29 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Hmm. @STRMfrmXMN How much of a better Mac would this be? Friend is selling for $550

 

-Late 2012 Mac Mini

- 2.3Ghz Core i7

-16GB RAM

-1TB Hybrid Drive

 

I should be able to use the iMac as a monitor correct?

It will poo on it. I'd wager that El Capitan 10.11 would run decent on an SSD. 

[arnavvr]

6 hours ago, harrynowl said:

It will poo on it. I'd wager that El Capitan 10.11 would run decent on an SSD. 

It's not that I can't buy an SSD for this machine. Have you seen how hard it is to take the HDD out of this machine?

[STRMfrmXMN]

8 hours ago, arnavvr said:

@STRMfrmXMN Wow putting an SSD in is a whole lot of work... https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2134+and+2211+Hard+Drive+Replacement/8968

It's no easy task for sure.

 

8 hours ago, arnavvr said:

Hmm. @STRMfrmXMN How much of a better Mac would this be? Friend is selling for $550

 

-Late 2012 Mac Mini

- 2.3Ghz Core i7

-16GB RAM

-1TB Hybrid Drive

 

I should be able to use the iMac as a monitor correct?

Pretty sure that a Nehalem i7 (or is that Sandy Bridge?) would be a huge upgrade.

[arnavvr]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

It's no easy task for sure.

 

Pretty sure that a Nehalem i7 (or is that Sandy Bridge?) would be a huge upgrade.

 

It's a Sandy Quad. I'm going to install 10.6.8 tonight. Can I use 10.11 backups on 10.6.8?

[STRMfrmXMN]

12 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

It's a Sandy Quad. I'm going to install 10.6.8 tonight. Can I use 10.11 backups on 10.6.8?

I have absolutely no idea

[arnavvr]

6 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

I have absolutely no idea

Oh this is going to take the entire day. Time Machine estimates 9 hours  

[STRMfrmXMN]

4 minutes ago, arnavvr said:

Oh this is going to take the entire day. Time Machine estimates 9 hours  

Aren't hard drives fun 

[arnavvr]

1 minute ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

Aren't hard drives fun 

Especially old 5400rpm ones...

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 minute ago, arnavvr said:

Especially old 5400rpm ones...

Glhf my friend

[arnavvr]

The iMac as an upgradeable CPU... I might do it.

 

@STRMfrmXMN

[jimistephen]

If that's the case than you can certainly try it. If you're going to go that far up grade the drive also. You just need to see what socket you have and make sure that OSX will work with it. If not you could always through linux or Unix on it, if you don't NEED the ios/watch os integration. 

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, arnavvr said:

The iMac as an upgradeable CPU... I might do it.

 

@STRMfrmXMN

Check that the CPU heatsink and PSU can handle it first.

[arnavvr]

@STRMfrmXMN Can do it with a bootable USB? I have a Flash Drive I could use.

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 minute ago, arnavvr said:

@STRMfrmXMN Can do it with a bootable USB? I have a Flash Drive I could use.

Well, yes and no. You need to get the DMG for 10.6 and you can't get it from the App Store anymore so... Yes it's possible to install OSX via a USB flash drive but no you can't really do it without some magical resource.