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Snow Leopard or Lion with Refurb iMac 21.5 FC309LL/A?

M

miata

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 22, 2010
499
0
Silicon Valley, Earth
I just purchased yesterday from the Apple Online Store. The Apple Store description doesn't mention whether the system will come with Snow Leopard or Lion.

Anybody know what comes with these refurbs?

I bought this machine because it might be one of the last to run Snow Leopard. It is also a killer deal -- although I could have gotten new from Amazon for almost the same price. Loading up with 16 GB of OWC RAM, and this will be a huge upgrade from my old 2009 iMac 20"
 
miata said:
I just purchased yesterday from the Apple Online Store. The Apple Store description doesn't mention whether the system will come with Snow Leopard or Lion.

Anybody know what comes with these refurbs?

I bought this machine because it might be one of the last to run Snow Leopard. It is also a killer deal -- although I could have gotten new from Amazon for almost the same price. Loading up with 16 GB of OWC RAM, and this will be a huge upgrade from my old 2009 iMac 20"
Click to expand...

At this point there isn't any way of telling other than calling Apple and asking which version of OS X it has.
 
miata said:
I just purchased yesterday from the Apple Online Store. The Apple Store description doesn't mention whether the system will come with Snow Leopard or Lion.

Anybody know what comes with these refurbs?

I bought this machine because it might be one of the last to run Snow Leopard. It is also a killer deal -- although I could have gotten new from Amazon for almost the same price. Loading up with 16 GB of OWC RAM, and this will be a huge upgrade from my old 2009 iMac 20"
Click to expand...

I just bought the same iMac refurbed in mid-November from Apple store and it shipped with Lion. I love this machine so far, I have 12Gb of RAM and this thing smokes. I couldn't pass up the deal either. I'm coming from a mid 07' blackbook. This iMac was an amazing deal. If I were you I would buy the Apple battery charger from Amazon. The magic mouse burns up batteries. I also bought the trackpad from Amazon. I think it's good to have both.
 
Charcoalwerks said:
I just bought the same iMac refurbed in mid-November from Apple store and it shipped with Lion. I love this machine so far, I have 12Gb of RAM and this thing smokes. I couldn't pass up the deal either. I'm coming from a mid 07' blackbook. This iMac was an amazing deal. If I were you I would buy the Apple battery charger from Amazon. The magic mouse burns up batteries. I also bought the trackpad from Amazon. I think it's good to have both.
Click to expand...
Sounds like I may need to chase down a Snow Leopard install DVD. I have a retail copy of Snow Leopard, but I don't think it is recent enough to boot the 2011 iMac.
 
miata said:
Sounds like I may need to chase down a Snow Leopard install DVD. I have a retail copy of Snow Leopard, but I don't think it is recent enough to boot the 2011 iMac.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, why would you want to downgrade? Lion runs great on these iMacs.
 
It probably depends on what you are comparing Lion to. From everything I've read, heard and seen Lion is not an upgrade from Snow Leopard. It is more of a merge of MacOS and iOS. If you are coming from an iPad Lion would probably be an upgrade.

I also have three other machines that are running perfectly fine on Snow Leopard. I don't like mixing OS versions and the chances of something breaking when I "upgrade" are pretty high. I'm normally pretty quick to jump on new MacOS releases to take advantage of the new features, but Lion doesn't have a single new feature that makes it worth the risk for me.
 
No media included :-(

OK. Just got my system home and there is no install media. It appears to have Lion installed. I'm still migrating stuff from another system, so no way to tell for sure.

I've been buying Apple refurb gear for a long time, and this is the first time that I did not get any kind of install media. What are most people getting with their new Lion based iMacs?
 
miata said:
OK. Just got my system home and there is no install media. It appears to have Lion installed. I'm still migrating stuff from another system, so no way to tell for sure.

I've been buying Apple refurb gear for a long time, and this is the first time that I did not get any kind of install media. What are most people getting with their new Lion based iMacs?
Click to expand...

The same thing you got. You have a recovery partition with all the software on it for a re-imaging. You can also create installation DVDs from that partition. THere are links around here talking about that.

I Love Lion. THough, I do miss the simple means of moving windows between desktops with Spaces. But I don't see Lion as a downgrade. Nor a "merge" with iOS. JMHO.

I haven't hooked up our new iMacs, as I have to wait until Christmas. But there was no media in there. Just a Keyboard and Mouse box.

I called Apple to see if I could swap the mice with a trackpad, since I really like them. They told me I couldn't exchange without returning everything. Soooo... she just sent us two free trackpads. They should be here Monday. Love that kinda CS!
 
To the OP: What are the specs on your refurb? Is it a mid 2011?

I purchased a new mid 2011 21.5 base model on November 9. It has SL pre-installed. I wasn't expecting to get a machine that was built way back in April since my purchase date was November 9. But, after some seconding guessing, my fears were for naught. The thing performs amazingly.
 
rkaufmann87 said:
At this point there isn't any way of telling other than calling Apple and asking which version of OS X it has.
Click to expand...

That may not work either. I had to RMA at least 5 MBP's that were "guaranteed" to have 10.6 on them. All shipped with 10.7. I could downgrade them but why do the work myself? At this point I would bet 80% that it'll have 10.7 as Apple is really pushing Lion down everyones throats. Even asking why you aren't using Lion when you call up and tell them the OS you are currently on. Then I start my list of annoyances and they leave it alone.;)
 
miata said:
I just purchased yesterday from the Apple Online Store. The Apple Store description doesn't mention whether the system will come with Snow Leopard or Lion.

Anybody know what comes with these refurbs?
Click to expand...

-Looks like it comes with OS X but not sure which version. You would have to click the little apple icon in the top left corner of the screen and select "about this mac" to find out that info.
-This is a list of refurbished models that are eligible for a free upgrade to Lion.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/systems.html
-Any purchases made on or after July 21, 2011 are able to upgrade for free.
-You can get more info on how to upgrade to Lion for free here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/
 
miata said:
I bought this machine because it might be one of the last to run Snow Leopard. It is also a killer deal -- although I could have gotten new from Amazon for almost the same price. Loading up with 16 GB of OWC RAM, and this will be a huge upgrade from my old 2009 iMac 20"
Click to expand...

Hullo,

I am not being a pedant or a grammar nazi, I am just intrigued as to why americans use "gotten" as the past participle of "got", what do you find so wrong with the word "got"?

Again, I am not being purposefully insulting, as a writer I am just interested.

Another one which intrigues me (and if im honest this one does drives me mad) is the horrific past participle "snuck". I understand that languages grow and evolve, and that is as it should be. But "snuck" sounds so dreadfully inelegant, what is so wrong with "sneaked"?. ANyway that piece of pedantry says much more about me than the people who use that dreadful word, after all if they want to use awful english good luck to them. I am just interested as to why the OP felt the need to use "gotten", rather than "got".
Is gotten taught in US schools as the past participle of got?

Mind you I am not a fan of "got" at all. Its hard to think of a sentence in which the removal of got would be a bad thing. "I have got", for instance, why not just say "I have".
 
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