Can we upgrade PowerPC Macs to OS X 10.7 now that 10.8 is out?

I know that 10.8 is out now, but we have older Macs that will not work under 10.8, as they do not have Intel processors. Can we still buy and get 10.7, which I believe will support older CPUs?

Solution 1:

Since this topic popped up again, several months later, I'll add a quick and impolite answer:

No, you cannot install 10.7 on any Mac that does not have an Intel processor.

All releases of OS X starting with 10.6 require Intel processors.

Solution 2:

If your attempting to upgrade a PowerPC Mac the most you can upgrade one of those is Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, since it was the last version of OS X to support PowerPC processors.

So the answer is no to upgrading to any OS beyond Mac OS X 10.5 if the Mac your trying to upgrade is has a PowerPC processor.

If you have an Intel Mac that support OS X Lion and you really want Lion or if Lion is the last version of OS X that your Mac can run, you will be able to contact Apple and arrange a way to purchase it via Apple's legacy products list as noted in the following MacWorld article: Apple pulls Lion from the Mac App Store

...while Lion is no longer available for sale from the Mac App Store, customers can still purchase it from the legacy products list via Apple phone sales.

So if you really want lion contact Apple at 1-800-MY-APPLE and let them know you want to order OS X Lion.

Solution 3:

Although you can no longer buy Lion through the App Store or directly by SKU from the online store, you can still order Lion after Mountain Lion was released.

I called 1-800-MY-APPLE, it took some time to get through but they told me that I would be able to purchase Lion, OS X 10.7 from them for $19.99. They would send me the physical copy through the mail.

Be careful to understand the return policy if you are not certain your Mac can run Lion. OS X Lion 10.7 is only supported on Intel Processors, Intel Core 2 Duo and higher and Lion will not work on PowerPC (PPC) Macs.

I hope that my answer helps you out. Thanks for @DanielLawson for the push.

Solution 4:

Sorry, meant to say: "You can run PPC apps from Snow Leopard 10.6 actually with Rosetta":

"Snow Leopard only supported machines with Intel CPUs, required at least 1 GB of RAM, and dropped default support for applications built for the PowerPC architecture (Rosetta could be installed as an additional component to retain support for PowerPC-only applications).[97]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X#Version_10.5:_.22Leopard.22