We all know that there's some version of an operating system that works best on any one of our computers or phones. We feel it - animations are smooth, system performance just feels snappy and good. It's something that we want to hold on to and cherish forever.
The question then becomes: Which operating systems work best on which hardware?
Working through the latest hull of Macs that I have restored and added to my collection, the biggest point of cogdis I come across when working on each machine is deciding which software to install.
After some trial and error, I'm recording my findings.
PowerMac G4 MDD (2002) - 1.25 GHz x 2, 2 GB RAM
| Original OS | Maximum OS |
|----------------|------------|
| 10.2 and 9.2.2 | 10.5.8 |
10.5.8 - Miserable. Animations and graphics drag. The system feels sluggish and overburdened.
10.5.9 (Sorbet Leopard) - Better, but still very sluggish.
10.4.11 - AMAZING. Wow is this fast - it feels nearly as fast and snappy as my current M1 Pro MBP.
PowerMac G4 Cube - 450 MHz, 1 GB RAM
| Original OS | Maximum OS |
|-------------|------------|
| 9.0.4 | 10.4.11 |
10.4.11 - Sluggish. Everything works but it feels so laggy.
10.3.9 - Similar to 10.4.11.
10.2.8 - AMAZING. The entire system is fluid and responsive.
9.2.2 - WARP SPEED. Mac OS 9 is like warp speed fast on this machine. Hyper-optimized.
Somewhere I once read that the graphics drivers in earlier versions of Mac OS X were specially and carefully tuned to make the interface and performance of the Cube feel great. I'm not sure if that's true, and I can't find where I read it but I can report that the 10.2 interface is phenomenal and smooth on this machine.
Though this machine was only released with MacOS 9, it's clear that it was designed to be a Mac OS X machine. It appears those graphics driver optimizations held all the way through 10.2.
Mac mini G4 (2005) - 1.25 GHz, 1 GB RAM
| Original OS | Maximum OS |
|-------------|------------|
| 10.3.7 | 10.5.8 |
10.5.8 - Okay but really laggy.
10.3.9 (Server) - AMAZING.