Intel to G5 migration running 10.5

[ChrisDTC]

Im going to be migrating my 2008 c2d mini running 10.5 to a 2006 dual G5 pro that a friend doesn't need anymore. Will there be any issues since the Intel to G5 conversion is technically a downgrade, even though my mini has 1GB of RAM and the pro has 7GBs?

[Skrying]

Why? If I were you I'd sell that G5 rig and upgrade the memory in your Mini.

[Synchromesh]

I second Skyring's advice and would like to add that the CPU in your Mini is also upgradable. Those can be found on eBay or Cragislist. You can also get a faster larger 7200rpm drive for your Mini to speed it up further. All-in-all a much better investment than the obsolete G5.

[SNM]

Why? If I were you I'd sell that G5 rig and upgrade the memory in your Mini.

Agreed. The G5 is a pretty old chip at this point, and not being able to run Snow Leopard will make you sad very soon.

[derFunkenstein]

If it's a 2008 Mac Mini, it's upgradeable in theory but not really all that far. It's only capable of taking 667MHz Core 2 Duos on an old socket (Socket M), so the max you'll get is 2.33GHz.

Also, your max RAM in the Mini will be 3GB that you can use - if you add 2x2GB to it, and go to About This Mac you'll see 4GB there but if you launch Activity Monitor and look at the memory tab you'll see 3.ish because the system can only address 4GB total due to a chipset limitation.

If I were you I'd sell both systems and get a souped-up current-gen Mini or maybe an iMac (which doesn't cost a fortune to get up to 8GB) if you don't already have an IPS display.

[Scrotos]

Crazy people! G5 = <3

How are you going to migrate it? Just swap drives and call 'er done? I haven't tried that type of swap but Mac OS has always been pretty good about just running on different hardware.

[derFunkenstein]

you won't be able to just swap drives if your Mini's partition scheme is the default GPT. PowerPC Macs can only boot hard drives formatted APM (Apple Partition Map).

[Scrotos]

Ohhh good call, that.