Never had a Mac, long time PC user here.
I was lucky enough to receive an iMac and a digi002 as a gift. I would like to run Ableton 9 and Kontakt.

Here are the specs:
iMac 6,1
2.33Ghz intel Core 2 Duo
3GB 533Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
L2 cache 4MB
Bus speed 667MHz

current OS is 10.5.8
I was told that I should upgrade to 10.6.8

What is the consensus here?

Thanks

 

yes you can absolutely upgrade, and OS 10.6.8 is best OS made for mac so far! the only thing is you can use Kontakt 5.3.1 or minimum , but not above !

ableton 9 no problem it works! *yes* so good luck and enjoy the power

 

10.6.8. snow leaopard (last update)? I think there are both 32bit and 64bit versions for snow leopard, I don't think you will be able to run the 64bit version though, in which case kontakt 5.3.1 will be the newest version that you can use, Ableton 9 should work ok

please note that a lot of software gets updated when apple updates their OS, and may not work with older OS versions. OSX 10.7.X and above are all 64bit only. if you do some searches you should still find plenty of older software versions still available to download and install on Snow Leopard

 

I work on Snow Leopard 10.6.8! Vsts,/ Daws or any Soft in 64 bit works fine! cubase 7.5/ableton 9 or any Daw in without any problem.!and yes! last kontakt is 5.3.1 for 10.6.8 *yes* unfortunately

 

Just so you know you will NOT be able to use many NEW updated plugins (Kontakt already mention but it is many more that has 10.7 or newer as limit) or new releases of software and plugins aswell as "i think Apples equivalence to SDK make it impossible for new developers to make soft and plugins for older OS"
I am NOT SURE about that statement but atleast that could explain why most new developer never make there soft and plugins available for an OS like 10.5
B.t.w Apple backwards compatibility sucks big time in all cases not just software even OS i cant install a newer OS then 10.7 on my Machine even if it cost something like 6000$ for less then 10 years ago..
B.t.w why calling an os like 10.5 old??? how can you say less then 10 years is old??? well that Apple nonsence and the way they FORCE you to buy a very overpriced computer every 5 year..

 

10.6.8 is rock solid and probably the best option for older mac computers (pre-retina period).

In fact, I've used this very OS until recently, where after buying a TR-8 and a TB-3 I had to upgrade.
Worst decision ever, despite the AIRA being great products... Snow Leopard all the way!

Becoming old and lazy has restrained me to downgrade, instead I've bought a Korg ESX => Middle finger to you Apple!

 

Yes, on that hardware, definitely upgrade the OS to Snow Leopard. Upgrade (to maximum) the RAM; it will make your music-creation so much more possible.

You will "still" be able to install Universal Binary applications on Snow Leopard, but also Intel-only software, as Lion (10.7) was the OS with which Intel-only applications began to be required.
Kontakt 3.1 was the first Intel-only version which could "still" run on 32-bit Snow Leopard.
Kontakt instruments which had been developed with a later version of Kontakt, you will not be able to use with v3.1.

I do not know if Ableton Live 9 will run on Snow Leopard, but I was running version 8 on it
Be sure to install the 32-bit version of Live, not the 64-bit version.

I myself was running Snow Leopard until just over a year ago, when I upgraded to 64-bit10.8 (Mountain Lion) to instally Logic Pro 10.0.
With that, I had to use the 32 Lives "wrapper) in order to use the 32-bit Audio Unit plug-ins I had used in LP9 on Snow Leopard.
Some of those AUs never got upgraded to 64-bit versions.
I'm up to Yosemite now, but I keep thinking about an iMac such as yours on which to run Snow Leopard, to use the software that's been "outmoded" by Apple's rapid "upgrading" of OSX.

 

He probably already has a desktop, don't you think?

 

Thanks for all the input. I will definitely upgrade to 10.6.8

concerning RAM upgrade from the current 3G to 4G I read a few post about the extra 1G not properly accessed by this iMac?

I don't have a desktop. Just a PC laptop i3 with 4G ram, which has been plenty powerful for my needs.

 

Ableton Live 9 64 bit 100 % runs on Snow Leopard , no worries :dancing:

 

I have 0 problems with mavericks idk why people seem to want to hold on to these older OS's

 

Yes, as most here have stated, absolutely go to 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) as it is rock stable for audio apps.

Per MacTracker (a free utility that tells you the specs for every Apple product and you can get it at Macupdate.com) you Mac specs are the following:

Introduced September 2006
Discontinued August 2007
Model Identifier iMac6,1
Model Number A1200
EMC 2111
Order Number MA456LL
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo (T7400, T7600) ("Merom")
Processor Speed 2.33 GHz
Architecture 64-bit
Number of Cores 2
Cache 4 MB shared L2 cache at full processor speed
System Bus 667 MHz

Original shipped OS Mac OS X 10.4.7 (8K1123)
Later upgraded OS Mac OS X 10.4.8 (8N1430)
Maximum OS Mac OS X 10.7.5

Maximum Memory 3.0 GB (4.0 GB can be installed, only 3.0 GB will be addressed)
Memory Slots 2 - 200-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM

Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT or GeForce 7600 GT ---> verify which one with About This Mac ---> click More Info - opens 'System Profiler' - I suspect you have the GeForce 7600 GT
Graphics Memory 128 (7300 GT) or 256 MB (7600 GT) GDDR3 ---> same as above; you probably have 256 MB (7600 GT)

Wi-Fi Built-in AirPort Extreme card (802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Ethernet 10/100/1000BASE-T (RJ-45) (support for jumbo frames)
Modem Optional Apple USB Modem (MA034Z/A)
USB 3 - 480 MBit/s
FireWire 1 - 400 MBit/s, 1 - 800 MBit/s (15W total power)
Display 1 - Mini-DVI (DVI, VGA, Composite and S-video with adapter)
Infrared 1 - For Apple Remote only
Audio In 1 - 3.5-mm analog/optical combo input jack, Built-in microphone
Audio Out 1 - 3.5-mm analog/optical combo output jack, Built-in speakers

Announced in September 2006, the iMac (Late 2006) unified the iMac (Early 2006) and iMac (Mid 2006) lines in to a single product line, upgrading the processor of all models to Intel Core 2 Duo and adding a 24" high-end model in the process. The iMac (Late 2006) was available in 4 configurations. The low-end 17" 1.83 GHz model, previously available only to the education market, had a less expensive graphics chipset, no onboard Bluetooth, 512 MB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive, and sold for $999 U.S. The 17" 2.0 GHz added a faster ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card, 1 GB of RAM, Bluetooth, an Apple Remote, and a SuperDrive for $1,199 U.S. The 2.16 GHz 20" model added a larger screen and included a 250 GB hard drive, for $1,499 U.S. Finally, a new 2.16 GHz 24" model included a faster NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT graphics card and a FireWire 800 port for $1,999 U.S. All models included an integrated iSight camera, and BTO configurations allowed processors as fast as 2.33 GHz.

If you go to: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-2-duo-2.33-24-inch-specs.html ---> you will see much more info.
Of note is the RAM - Apple officially supports 3 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been able to upgrade the system to 4 GB of RAM using two 2 GB memory modules with some limitations.

Hope that helps!

Edit: yes you can run Ableton 9 on your Mac.

 

Some cannot upgrade to Mavericks as Apple imposed limitations on every Mac out there. Just like your Mac cannot be downgraded to any previous OS version than what it originally shipped with. So that is why some have no choice with what OS X version they can run.

Cheers!!!

 

i would go at lest 10.7 because you are going to hit a Brick wall with updating software like i did.. a lot of the good software updates don't support 10.6.8 any more

 

If your goal is to make music you don't need software updates, there's already plenty available.
And what you certainly don't need is a buggy OS, which 10.7 is (and probably the most buggy of all).

Now, if OP has some mandatory software which requires recent updates, that would be different.

 

Sell the gear... Buy new tech.

 

I had 10.6.8 before i upgraded to Lion (just so i could use some plugins i was used to have on my very OLD Win machine built in 2005 and had XP installed but had required a minmum of 10.7.5 to work on Mac)
10.6.8 freezed alot for me on my Mac Pro so rock solid is not what i remember it to be explain that plz..
Lion is not better but not worst either..

 

If you mean Mac then he maybe need to win on lotto if you mean Win he could build a nice machine for the overpriced second hand Mac if he add some money

 

Kinda like asking should i upgrade a Atari to xbox 1st generation ? Its really old and outdated! but yes 10.6.8 Snow leopard is definitely better then what u currently have

 

I didn't say it was 100% freeze proof, but it's a known fact that SL is the most rock solid OS for Mac, especially older ones.
Theres plenty of evidences, comments, surveys, all over the internet. You just have to search a bit.
Tiger was even more stable, but here you really lack software options...

What happened to you is not desirable, but advising for SL is still relevant.