Need upgrade of Mac OS 10.3.9 to higher version of 10.4 or 10.5

[coy228]

I have Mac OS X 10.3.9. How can I upgrade it to a higher version of 10.4 or 10.5, such as Leopard, without having to buy the software because it's expensive. Please help. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

You can't.

[russkelp]

Go on eBay and get a much cheaper copy there.

[orsetto]

While its true older Macs can use newer operating systems, Apple can be a little much sometimes pushing OS updates that really don't do a heckuva lot more than previous systems (save the flames, I'm talking about "average user" situations). If your Mac shipped with 10.3, its a good idea to go to 10.4 to be more current but jumping to 10.5 isn't necessary, especially with 10.6 bearing down. Either save your pennies for Snow Leopard, and get completely caught up, or check eBay as russkelp suggested for the older 10.4 disc which is usually at a steep discount to 10.5. Once you have the 10.4 disc (most of which are 10.4.3), download the 10.4.8 combo updater from Apple and you're good to go (avoid 10.4.9, it has some bugs with certain Mac models). Unless your software is specifically optimized for 10.5 and later, or you think you must have one of the new window-dressing features, it usually pays to stay one step behind Apple's OS curve while they shake the issues out.

[Ai Haibara]

It's a good idea to check Apple's site for the minimum system requirements for each 10.X.0 upgrade, though. For example, my old faithful G3 iBook meets the minimum requirements for 10.4, but that's more or less about it. And even then, it may not be as well-suited for running 10.4 as it is 10.3.

I just haven't seen a pressing need to upgrade, to be honest. It's true that a lot of apps no longer support Panther, but... I'm still getting by.

[terryj]

coy,
since according to your specs you are running a PowerPC G5,
if it's processor is 1ghz or higher, you can run Tiger
and Leopard ( but I'd recommend upgrading your 512mb of ram
to at least 1GB in either case).

While the software updates are expensive if bought retail
from Apple, there are plenty of deals abound:

OS X Leopard 10.5 for $99

Tiger 10.4 Retail DVD $33

You can also look at education pricing as well...Tiger can still be bought
from many education channels for around $60 per install dvd set.

Also, update once you purchase to Tiger 10.4.11, not 10.4.8,
as it is the last stable system patch for Tiger, and address many,
many things that will keep your mac current.
For instance, you cannot run iWork 09 or iLife 08 without 10.4.11,
Perian runs better in 10.4.11, and with 10.4.11, you can use Toast 9,
the last pre-Leopard version of Toast.

For Leopard, I would recommend buy 10.5.0 retail ( it has the widest
and best Compatible Open Firmware and EFI Firmware set
for the widest range of PPC and Intel macs to boot from) and then
patch up via Software update to 10.5.6 ( the most stable
Leopard update, and the biggest one to fix a majority of Networking
issues to date).

[orsetto]

While I agree 10.4.10 and 10.4.11 offer distinct benefits over 10.4.8, they remain problematic for many users depending on the particular Mac and what applications are installed. OSX is a constantly moving target, the damn thing has rarely ever settled for five minutes in one sedate spot, so updating to the latest rev mostly means you'll be cleaning up after the latest set of glitches. terryj has outlined the situation precisely, if you use any of the software mentioned you'll want 10.4.11. If you haven't installed any significant new software in the last two years, maybe not. And of course 10.5 brings a whole other can of issues with it. Whichever upgrade path you take, the most important thing (besides the additional RAM terryj recommended) is to never apply Apples individual incremental patches: always look for the "combo updater", its a much more reliable installer.