eHarmony-Free to Review Your Matches
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Prepare your hardware
Mac OS X may look like a 21st-century version of Mac OS, but under the hood, the entire OS runs on a Unix code base. The structural change means you can say good-bye to Mac system crashes of old--but for a price. Mac OS X's increased stability comes with beefier hardware requirements than previous versions of Mac OS. In fact, Mac OS X runs only on relatively recent Mac models (listed below) and won't support older Macs with processor upgrades. Confused? Worried? Fear not! Follow this easy guide to see whether your hardware is up to snuff.
1. Meet the minimum requirements
| First, you need one of these Macs: |
| iMac (any color will do) |
| Power Mac |
| Macintosh Server G4 |
| PowerBook (all except the first model, which says Family number M3553 on the bottom) |
| iBook |
You may have noticed that all of these Mac models run on G3 or G4 processors. That doesn't mean, however, that you can run OS X on an older Mac with a G3 or G4 processor upgrade card. It won't work. This first version of OS X runs only on native G3 or G4 Macs.
2. Additional requirements
If you own one of the approved OS X-compatible Macs, it means you already have all of the subsystems required, such as a CD or DVD drive. However, you may need more RAM and disk space. You may need to upgrade older iMacs, iBooks, and beige Power Mac G3s if they still have their original RAM and hard drives. Thankfully, the Mac OS X Installer will not install the software if it detects inadequate memory or disk space.
| If your machine is deficient, here's what else you need: |
| 128MB of RAM |
| 1.5GB of free disk space |
As always, you can never go wrong with more than the minimum RAM and disk space. Unlike previous versions of the Mac OS, OS X performance increases with more RAM. And if you want to run old Classic applications (apps that are not Carbonized, or reengineered to be compatible with OS X), you'll definitely want more than 128MB of RAM. Going from 128MB to 256MB dramatically improves the speed of the Classic environment.
If you want to keep both OS 9.1 and OS X on your hard drive, you'll need enough space to hold both: a grand total of 2GB of disk space.
3. Ask third-party hardware manufacturers about compatibility
Mac OS X contains built-in support for many printers, cameras, scanners, and other USB and FireWire devices. However, some third-party peripherals may require a driver upgrade for OS X. Check the peripheral company's Web site or contact tech support departments to see whether new OS X drivers are available.
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| • | Prepare your hardware | • | Prepare your software |
