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Apple: Mac OS X Snow Leopard requires Intel processor

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 · 3:00 pm · 64 Comments

A screenshot of the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard “System requirements” .pdf document that’s included on the Snow Leopard Developer Preview DVD shows:

System Requirements:
To install the Snow Leopard Developer Preview, you must have a Macintosh Computer with:
• An Intel processor
• An internal, external, or shared DVD drive
• At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM is recommended for development)
• A built-in display or a display connected to an Apple-supplied video card supported by your computer
• At least 9GB of disk space available, or 12 GB of disk space if you install the developer tools

Full article via the French-language website LogicielMac.com here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Marc" et "Samuel" for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Note: For what it’s worth, these are the System requirements for the Developer Preview of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Theoretically, the requirements could change to include PowerPC processors in the shipping version, but the chances of that happening seem to be slim.

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Comment Feed

64 Comments

1 2 3 4 Next »

Wandering joe

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:03 pm · Reply

bummer, but progress stops for no man ( or woman)
Gary

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:03 pm · Reply

May the PowerPC Rest in Peace…

It was and still is a great processor.

Jobs is only now getting his elusive 3 GHz from the Intel processors.
MidWest Mac

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:05 pm · Reply

So . . . this must spell the end of the line for the G5/G4?

I don’t think this will be a big deal until 10.7, since 10.6 supposedly won’t have any more features. Still, it kind of sucks for all of those who bought G5s in early 2006.
MacAttac

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:05 pm · Reply

Didn’t see that coming.
Chris

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:19 pm · Reply

“So . . . this must spell the end of the line for the G5/G4?”

I think they stopped producing them last year, actually. But they’ll remain productive machines for a long time to come.
bdb

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:20 pm · Reply

At least Apple is forewarning us a year in advance that such a change is coming. Unless you’re Adobe, that should be plenty of time to prepare.
Gabriel

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:21 pm · Reply

I find it interesting that nobody from Apple presenting Snow Leopard has come out directly and stated whether or not PowerPC will be supported – didn’t anybody ask this question at WWDC?

Anyway, my take is, Apple is being cagey about this either because they don’t want to prematurely anger their PowerPC userbase (though not saying anything until later would make them even angrier), or that they’re still hedging their bets as to whether or not the final release (not developer release) of Snow Leopard will include PowerPC support.

(MW: “progress”)
R2

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:21 pm · Reply

Is Apple the new Microsoft?
jtc

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:23 pm · Reply

Good thing I already have my G5 up for sale
Wandering joe

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:25 pm · Reply

R2, no.
TowerTone

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:27 pm · Reply

I don’t see why this means they can’t continue with Leopard updates for the PPC crowd.

My daughter has a 1.25GHz eMac (soon to be my 4 year old grandson’s) with a 3 meg download ISP, and it loads MDN faster than my 2GHz Core Duo iMac with 7 megs down. Go figure.
praus

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:39 pm · Reply

@R2

No. If Apple were the new Microsoft, they’d still have OS 9 built into the system and they’d be trying (and failing) to support processors back to the G3. This is sort of the oposite of Microsoft. They’re actually trying to stream line their OS and make it run better. I don’t think Microsoft knows what that means.
MikeK

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:39 pm · Reply

It’s really not that difficult to understand..

Both platforms PPC and Intel will have the same feature set.. The newer Intel machines will get a performance boost with Snow Leopard..

Considering the last PPC machines were released in 2006 and Snow Leopard is not due to 2009, the next big cat with actual new features will likely be 1 to 2 years after that…

So were talking 2011 before an OS is released with new features that PPC will not be able to run… That’s still giving the last of the PPC machines a 5 year lifespan..

Seems pretty reasonable.
Macromancer

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:40 pm · Reply

“Is Apple the new Microsoft?”

Yes, except the part where you aren’t going to be paying for crappy products
JC

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:45 pm · Reply

Actually what they’re doing here shows how totally unlike Microsoft they really are. By getting rid of all the legacy bloat, Snow Leopard will be free of all of the problems that Vista has suffered. It’s an absolute genius move on Apple’s part.
Get a Life People

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:53 pm · Reply

Hey, I’m not trying to run Leopard on my old SE30 or Commodore 64 sitting in the bottom of my closet. OS’s need to move on and release some of the old for progress. Just ask and Windows user… if you try to work in too much legacy, you just gum up all the works.

Good for Apple. This probably won’t be an upgrade many people make. Although, it looks promising for Enterprise needs. But it will set the foundation for the future.
Radius

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:56 pm · Reply

Apple will become the new Microsoft if they release Snow Leopard in 2018.
almux

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:56 pm · Reply

I even coudn’t install Tiger on my Macintosh IIfx 33Mhz!! Isn’t that a scandal!!!

PS Hey! You know what? Time is passing and things change! Amazing! Isn’t it?
montex

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 3:58 pm · Reply

My Pismo is da bomb! I’m keeping it at Tiger, tho. Them Leopards are sloooooow on a G3.
BC Kelly

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - 4:00 pm · Reply

Folks, please

Did anyone *really* think Apple would continue to support PPC forever ?

If so, I have a Performa w/603 upgrade happy to sell you, fairly cheap too

64bit clean (whatever exactly that is, but must be ‘better’ than the dirty)

That new file system to replace HFS

Etc etc etc

Snow will be fast fast faster, and if Intel can’t keep up, then screw ‘em, we’ll find someone who can. Or build our own if need.

AND, can bet the farm it will be scalable to slim down into the iPhone or whatever other ‘Dick Tracy Wrist-Watch’ type gizmo Apple can dream up.

Faithful PPC, you’ve served us well. Now take your place in the Hall of Fame and enjoy your twilight year(s).

BC