iLife 08 - No G4 Support in iMovie

It's interesting to see how the system requirements for iMovie works out because it needs a dual processor or dual core G5 at a minimum or an Intel processor.

I'm kind of curious if the new version of iMovie will run on any of the early low end Intel Macs that have the single core CPU (Core Solo? Is that what it was called?). It's also kind of bizzare how the dual 1.8 GHz G5 system doesn't cut it, but the dual 2.0 GHz G5 does. I almost bought one of the 1.8s but opted for a 2.0 instead...which is fortunate since it appears that it'll be the bottom end of the G5 systems that'll be supported for the time being.

Lastly, I guess the writing is on the wall for all of the people with G4 Powerbooks and iBooks as for how long they'll be able to keep upgrading the software on those systems. I guess it really was a good time to get that MacBook Pro on Saturday.

psychodad said:

There is no doubt that as machines age they will not keep up to software development. But it is important to maintain perspective. It all depends on the needs of the individual user. it is in the company's interest to push newer machines, yet there are plenty of people still on G3s because those machines meet their needs.

G4s, especially late model ones, will still be great for many tasks for years to come.

For balance, consider how many folks out there have machines that carry features offering power that they never utilize.

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I think you said what I was trying to get at much better than I did: It seems we have now reached the point where software development is starting to pass by the G4s. My comment isn't based on the new iMovie alone. The software that comes with the newer Elgato eyeTV boxes that have ATSC tuners will only allow you to watch high definition television stations on G5 or Intel systems. Those still work on G4 systems, but for standard definition only.

HDTV (hence, the HD capable eyeTVs and, as of yesterday, iMovie) is the big space/memory/CPU load these days, and that's what's shifted the limiting factor for some software up from G4s as the minimum system for some things. It's kind of interesting because it clearly draws the dividing line between whether you need to upgrade or not. If you want to work with high definition TV content, you pretty much have to because of the hardware requirements for more HD capable software; if not, then you don't need to upgrade. As far as wanting to upgrade independently of needing to, then it's a personal choice.

I like your comment about people using G3s because it still meets their needs. I continued to use an IBM XT well into 1997 (this thing was top of the line around 1982 or so) for PC stuff, mainly WordPerfect, because it met my needs and because replacing computers is a horribly expensive proposition by the time you factor in all the costs of upgrading software and the time involved, in addition to buying the new machine.