Can I run Leopard?

[dennisuello]

By the time you upgrade your PowerBook to run Leopard, buy virtualization software, etc, you'll be almost at the price of a decent desktop PC, which will run Windows better than a virtual machine. Buy a cheapo PC and get rid of it when you're done with school.

 

[ChuckB]

I REALLY appreciate all the replies. I'm going to see what I can dig up in the "pre-owned" world and if I can't find anything I might end up at the Apple store next week. Thanks again!!

 

[DaveInDenver]

By the time you upgrade your PowerBook to run Leopard, buy virtualization software, etc, you'll be almost at the price of a decent desktop PC, which will run Windows better than a virtual machine. Buy a cheapo PC and get rid of it when you're done with school.

This is definitely one solution. We found that it's really not quite apples to apples depending on the application. The Mac is more likely a far better machine than a really cheap PC, so if the application requires a set up in caliber of hardware, an equivalent PC to a MacBook Pro is going to set you back a lot more. The example I use is what my wife does with her notebook, which is architectural CAD (she needs Windoze for Revit, she also uses OS X native ArchiCAD). She's running a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 15" with 2GB of RAM, a Radeon X1600 chipset with 256MB of VRAM, 120GB HDD, etc. So to get something similar to that in a PC (keeping mind that this was 2006, now her MBP has pretty pedestrian specs) would be a lot more than the cost of a copy of Parallels or XP and Bootcamp. Not to mention you're dragging around two laptops all the time. BTW, her MBP + Parallels + Revit is more stable than the real Dells running XP...

 

[bigreen505]

I just loaded 10.5.5 on my 12" and it runs fine. I would say it is noticeably snappier, but that is relative given how much those poor machines suffer with only 1.25 gigs of ram.

I would recommend doing a clean install rather than an archive and install.

There are some smoking deals on last generation macbook pros. Do not get a plastic macbook, they are fragile, particularly the white ones -- the black ones use a different plastic. Flame me if you want, but apple replaced my top plate every 90 days without fail.

I'm not sure if this would buy you anything, but I'm hearing a lot of people are starting to convert the 12" powerbooks to run Linux. I'm not sure what you are using for software, but if you are trying to save the expense of Office, Bean is free (and excellent), the current Apple iWork is fantastic and only $80. Do not put the current Office on a G4.