It's happily running 8.6 and will probably stay that way until the day it dies or until I get a good deal on one of those Sonnet upgrade cards. My 7200/90 downstairs won't be getting the upgrade either its 90 MHz 601 just isn't up to the task.

If you're in a sysadmin-type job where you have to support a bunch of Power Macs, you might want to keep all of them at the same OS, no matter what CPU they have. If you're running 8.6 now, don't bother spending the $99 (you can probably do better at DealMac) to upgrade unless you think you really need the features of OS 9. If you've upgraded that trusty old NuBus-based Mac with a G3 and your upgrade maker supports 9.1, by all means upgrade to 9.1 if you're already running 9.0.x. Stick with Mac OS 8.1 unless you really need the features of 8.5, and if you do, get 8.6, because it's faster and more stable than 8.5.x was. The first-generation Power Macs are still too slow to use Mac OS 9.1, despite 9.1's improvements over 9.0.4. One other note: I'm not going to address the issue of clones here. The Mac OS is using nearly 55 MB on my PowerBook G3/266 with 192 MB RAM and VM off. If you have 32 MB or less, either upgrade the RAM or forget 9.1 entirely and stick with what you have. If you have less than 64 MB of RAM in your Mac, don't even think about upgrading to 9.1 unless you plan on using Virtual Memory (or RAM Doubler, once they release a 9.1 compatible version). There have been significant numbers of people who've had trouble with trying to run 9.2.x on pre-G3 Power Macs, so I recommend against attempting the installation (though it can be done with some ResEdit hacking).Ī quick note before I start.

Mac OS 9.2.x makes minor improvements on all of the above but runs only on Macs with a factory G3 or G4 CPU. Having used OS 9.0.4 as my daily OS since it came out, and having just upgraded to 9.1, I can certainly say that 9.1 Q: Should I be running OS 9.1 (or 9.2.x) on my Power Mac? If not, what OS should I be running for maximum stability, speed, and features?Ī: Mac OS 9.1 (and 9.2.x) brings a host of improvements over Mac OS 9.0.4, which was the current OS last time most of this topic was beat into the ground, so things have changed a bit. Rated 'Best of Mac Daniel' (top 15 most-read columns) from six months after its publication until it was pulled from the site. Originally published 26 February 2001 as a Mac Daniel column for Low End Mac. What's the Best OS for a Power Mac? What's the Best OS for a Power Mac?

Mac os 8.1 i mac g3