OSNews > Thread > "RE: I hope Apple reconsiders" by binarycrusader

'Leopard Requirements To Exclude 800MHz Systems'

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 24th Sep 2007 20:01 UTC

Just weeks ahead of its public launch, Apple has updated the minimum system requirements for its next-generation Leopard operating system to exclude 800MHz PowerPC-based Macs, AppleInsider has learned. Apple has yet to officially announce the hardware requirements to run Leopard, due out in October, but had long stated in developer documentation that the software would require "an Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (800MHz or faster) or G5 processor." According to people familiar with the matter, engineers for the company recently determined that Leopard installs on 800MHz PowerPC G4 systems ran "too slow". Support for those systems was subsequently pulled from the most recent pre-release copies of Leopard, which inform testers that the software "cannot be installed" on those computers. My take: Assuming this turns out to be true, there are going to be a lot of unhappy G4 owners - including yours truly.

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RE: I hope Apple reconsiders

by binarycrusader on Mon 24th Sep 2007 20:45 UTC in reply to "I hope Apple reconsiders"

Member since:
2005-07-06

Just because you can, given enough time, support something, doesn't mean it makes good financial sense to do so.

One could argue that it's rather amazing that they're willing to support the minimum systems they do at all, given how similar operating systems have much higher requirements (e.g. Vista).

While it may give customers a warm, glowing, feeling. In the end, it's all about the shareholders, since they can boot you in a minute if you don't perform well enough for them.

I do think it was silly to pull the support that was already there.

Apple should have just stated that "800mhz systems are an unsupported configuration, use at your own risk."

Admittedly, this change may also help them keep their support costs down, which comes back to maximizing profits for shareholders...

Doesn't make it right, but it does make good financial sense.

Edited 2007-09-24 20:46

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[2]: I hope Apple reconsiders

by averycfay on Mon 24th Sep 2007 22:34 in reply to "RE: I hope Apple reconsiders"

Member since:
2005-08-29

One could argue that it's rather amazing that they're willing to support the minimum systems they do at all, given how similar operating systems have much higher requirements (e.g. Vista).

Instead of making a completely baseless claim why don't you actually look it up?

* 800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory
* 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
* Support for Super VGA graphics
* CD-ROM drive

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/sys...

I'd also point out that people have run Windows XP on machines that are below the minimum requirements (Microsoft doesn't actually lock them out), it just takes a lot of tuning to get acceptable performance.

Does this actually surprise anyone though? Apple has a long history of forced upgrading. For example, the iPod Touch requires Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later. What could it possibly need that wasn't included in 10.3 or 10.2? The answer is nothing... Apple just wants to force people to upgrade.

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RE[3]: I hope Apple reconsiders

by biffuz on Mon 24th Sep 2007 23:06 in reply to "RE[2]: I hope Apple reconsiders"

Member since:
2006-03-27

Yes, but nobody was selling 800 MHz PCs in 2003. My iBook G4 800 MHz is from January 2004.
However, I won't miss it. This machine is just too slow for my tastes nowadays, I'm not going to spend any more to upgrade it.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2