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MacOS 9/Classic Support Q&A - Revised October 27, 2007
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I have a variety of educational programs that only run in MacOS 9. What is the fastest Mac capable of booting into MacOS 9? Which are the last Macs capable of booting into MacOS 9?
You are not alone in your desire to continue to use MacOS 9 applications. There probably are others who also are interested in the idea of having a pure MacOS 9 system for dedciated "legacy" use.
The short answer to your question is that the Power Macintosh G4/1.25 DP "Mirrored Drive Doors" is the fastest stock Mac capable of booting in MacOS 9.
For your reference, and others interested, the following systems in each series are the last capable of booting in MacOS 9. Later PowerPC-based Macs are capable of running MacOS 9 applications within the MacOS X "Classic Environment" provided by MacOS X versions up to 10.4 "Tiger" (the "Classic Environment" is not supported in MacOS X 10.5 "Leopard" even on PowerPC-based Macs).
Power Macintosh G4
Power Macintosh G4/1.0 DP "Mirrored Drive Doors"
Power Macintosh G4/1.25 DP "Mirrored Drive Doors"
Power Macintosh G4/1.25 "Mirrored Drive Doors 2003"
iMac
iMac G4/700 (Flat-Panel)
iMac G4/800 (Flat-Panel)
iMac G4/800 17-Inch (Flat-Panel)
eMac
iBook
iBook G3/800 (Early 2003 - Opaque)
iBook G3/900 (Early 2003 - Opaque)
iBook G3/900 14-Inch (Early 2003 - Opaque)
PowerBook G4
PowerBook G4/867 (Ti)
PowerBook G4/1.0 (Ti)
For complete MacOS 9/Classic compatiblity of all PowerPC G3 and later PowerPC-based Macs, please refer to the MacOS 9/Classic Support Capability listing.
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