[Master Ozzy]

I've just bought the iPhone 5 and plugged it into my MacBook (I have one of the old white MacBooks), and it says that my iPhone 5 is not compatible with my version of iTunes. I went to download the latest version of iTunes, but I can't download it as it's not compatible with my OS. I have OS X 10.5.8. How do I upgrade? I've gone onto the Apple site which shows that the latest version is OS X Mountain Lion, but the requirements needed to install this are OS X 10.6.8, so there's no point me paying for Mountain Lion if it's not going to work. What do I do? How can I upgrade?

[Fried Kickin]

wow .. that's mean of Apple.

Sadly I can't help you with upgrade options as I'm not an Apple user.
But you would think that compatibility with all existing devices should be paramount for Apple.

[barky99]

multiple upgrades to reach 10.8 mountain lion .... at least 2 .. maybe 3

http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

[chenks]

Originally Posted by Master Ozzy

I've just bought the iPhone 5 and plugged it into my MacBook (I have one of the old white MacBooks), and it says that my iPhone 5 is not compatible with my version of iTunes. I went to download the latest version of iTunes, but I can't download it as it's not compatible with my OS. I have OS X 10.5.8. How do I upgrade? I've gone onto the Apple site which shows that the latest version is OS X Mountain Lion, but the requirements needed to install this are OS X 10.6.8, so there's no point me paying for Mountain Lion if it's not going to work. What do I do? How can I upgrade?

you may find that your old white macbook is too old to run 10.8 Mountain Lio - what is the actual spec of it?

might be easier to find an older version of iTunes 10 (i assume your itunes is less than version 10),

[Roush]

You could upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard (£14) and then use iTunes 10.7

Snow Leopard upgrade: http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC...6-snow-leopard

iTunes 10.7: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1576

[Esot-eric]

Originally Posted by chenks

you may find that your old white macbook is too old to run 10.8 Mountain Lio - what is the actual spec of it?

IIRC all Macbooks (non-Pro/Air) are not supported in 10.8 because Apple couldn't be bothered porting the GMA X3100 graphics drivers to 64bit (and 10.8 is 64bit-only).

[Master Ozzy]

Just spoken to Apple on the phone and have had to order a disc which allows me to upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6. Once I have that I can download iTunes 10.7 and my Iphone 5 will then work with my OS and iTunes. I'm annoyed though, as I've just been reading up a lot on this issue and most people recommend not upgrading all the way up to Mountain Lion as apparently it will make my MacBook extremely slow. I bought my MacBook in January 2008 so have had it for almost 5 years, but looks like I'll have to consider buying a new one within the next 18 months if I ant it to be compatible with things. I absolutely love my MacBook to bits and I don't really want to have to end up getting one of the latest silver, aluminum ones. I love my white MacBook .

[paulj48]

Can you not just use your Iphone without using a PC or Mac at all.

You can use icloud for backup, any purchased apps/music will also be backed up on the cloud, Itunes store and App store is accessable from the phone.

[chenks]

Originally Posted by paulj48

Can you not just use your Iphone without using a PC or Mac at all.

You can use icloud for backup, any purchased apps/music will also be backed up on the cloud, Itunes store and App store is accessable from the phone.

you still need itunes if you want to sync your music to the phone.

[paulj48]

Originally Posted by chenks

you still need itunes if you want to sync your music to the phone.

or use itunes match (although that probably needs the latest version to work)

I was under the impression this is the ops first Iphone so may have no music to sync and all purchases can be made via the phone anyway. Wont help if the op wants to rip CD's though.

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by Roush

You could upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard (£14) and then use iTunes 10.7

Snow Leopard upgrade: http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC...6-snow-leopard

iTunes 10.7: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1576

Would that work with the iPhone 5?

[chenks]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

Would that work with the iPhone 5?

iPhone 5 came out before iTunes 11 was released.

[ibatten]

Originally Posted by Master Ozzy

Just spoken to Apple on the phone and have had to order a disc which allows me to upgrade to Snow Leopard 10.6. Once I have that I can download iTunes 10.7 and my Iphone 5 will then work with my OS and iTunes. I'm annoyed though, as I've just been reading up a lot on this issue and most people recommend not upgrading all the way up to Mountain Lion as apparently it will make my MacBook extremely slow. .

I've got Lion (ie, 10.7, not Mountain Lion) on a couple of early Intel Mac Minis (MacMini 2,1, Mid 2007) and it's fine. One of them has been juiced up with a cheap SSD, the other not, both have 2GB of RAM in them (which might be an issue on an older laptop: less than 2GB is going to be painful). The issue with Mountain Lion on older Macs is the graphics driver not being ported, not performance.

2008 Macbooks will go up to 4GB officially of RAM, 6GB unofficially, so I can't see any reason why they won't run Lion very successfully.

[psionic]

Originally Posted by Master Ozzy

I've just bought the iPhone 5 and plugged it into my MacBook (I have one of the old white MacBooks), and it says that my iPhone 5 is not compatible with my version of iTunes. I went to download the latest version of iTunes, but I can't download it as it's not compatible with my OS. I have OS X 10.5.8. How do I upgrade? I've gone onto the Apple site which shows that the latest version is OS X Mountain Lion, but the requirements needed to install this are OS X 10.6.8, so there's no point me paying for Mountain Lion if it's not going to work. What do I do? How can I upgrade?

The highest the white Macbooks can be upgraded to is 10.7 Lion - which is fine for iTunes and iPhone 5. Unfortunately you need to get 10.6 Snow Leopard first.

[chenks]

Originally Posted by psionic

The highest the white Macbooks can be upgraded to is 10.7 Lion - which is fine for iTunes and iPhone 5.

the problem will be trying to buy Lion though, as it's not available on the MAS now.

[psionic]

Originally Posted by chenks

the problem will be trying to buy Lion though, as it's not available on the MAS now.

Indeed. Personally I'd burn an disk image from the usual sources as no serial number is required. But naturally I cannot endorse this method....

[chenks]

Originally Posted by psionic

Indeed. Personally I'd burn an disk image from the usual sources as no serial number is required. But naturally I cannot endorse this method....

i recommend the OP stays on Snow Leopard to be honest.

[psionic]

Originally Posted by chenks

i recommend the OP stays on Snow Leopard to be honest.

Lion is is pushing it on an old machine. Although having iCloud would be handy if you have an iPhone 5 IMHO.

[s2k]

Look on the bright side OP at least your Macbook is capable of going to Snow Leopard. There were some unlucky G4/G5 users who learnt they would need a new mac (or use a PC) to sync their new iPhone 5.

Apparently iTunes 10.6 had the initial support for iOS 6, but 10.7 was the earliest release that contained the support for the iPhone 5 and lightning connector.

Anyway, it may be worth upgrading the RAM while your at it. If you run the tool on the crucial website it will give you an idea of your options and how much it would cost.

[Master Ozzy]

Well preparing myself with the fact that I'll likely need to get a new Mac within the next 18 months/2 years. I use my iPhone and Mac a lot, and if they're not compatible with each other then that's a big issue for me. To be honest, this is the first problem I've ever had with an Apple product, and I've used them since the early days of the iPods. I know people like to moan about Apple, but in my opinion their products are fantastic and do what you want them to do, no fuss or blue screen!! I'm hoping that this compatibility issue with older macs and iphones will be sorted for future versions.

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by s2k

Look on the bright side OP at least your Macbook is capable of going to Snow Leopard. There were some unlucky G4/G5 users who learnt they would need a new mac (or use a PC) to sync their new iPhone 5.

Oh the shame of it I personally wouldn't be seen dead using a PC these days. Macs are great and I don't miss Windows at all.

[Maxatoria]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

Oh the shame of it I personally wouldn't be seen dead using a PC these days. Macs are great and I don't miss Windows at all.

Oooh go run os 7.5 on an old 68030 with 1mb of ram and tell us how good the apple experience is since technically its apple gear you should still be able to enjoy a jobsian orgasm while using it

[Roush]

Originally Posted by Maxatoria

Oooh go run os 7.5 on an old 68030 with 1mb of ram and tell us how good the apple experience is since technically its apple gear you should still be able to enjoy a jobsian orgasm while using it

From what I recall it was an improvement over Windows 3.1, which is what a PC of that era would have been running.

[s2k]

Originally Posted by cnbcwatcher

Oh the shame of it I personally wouldn't be seen dead using a PC these days. Macs are great and I don't miss Windows at all.

Well if I was one of those people I'd seriously consider an old XP laptop or something if its just for the purpose of syncing with an iPhone5. Some of the later PPC kit is still perfectly capable for most other day-to-day tasks so you would be mad to drop another £1k+ just to use the latest iToy...

[MartinPickering]

I was using MS Word on an Apple Mac Plus in July 1987 - three months before Word was released for Windows which, at the time, was awful.