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Difference between Retail Leopard & One that comes w/ a Mac ?

fab5freddy

fab5freddy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 21, 2007
1,206
7
Heaven or Hell
What's the
Difference between Retail Leopard 10.5 & the one that comes
with the purchase of a MacBook Pro ?

And Why can you install a Retail Version on any Mac,
and why can't you install the one that comes with a Mac Purchase
on any Mac ?

thanks for any help clearing this up....
 
As far as the operating system goes, there's no difference at all.

The version of OS X that came preinstalled on your computer, however, can only be installed on that particular computer, as you said. This is the same way with every other company. If you buy a laptop from Dell or HP, the installation of Windows on it can only legally exist on the computer it originally came installed on. This is just the way preinstalled OS's are handled, since you didn't buy the OS separately.

When you buy the OS separately, you license the right to install it on any computer you like (any Mac, if it's OS X). But you can only have it installed on as many computers as you have licenses. If you have one retail Leopard license, and install it on a MBP, then want to install it on an iMac, you can. However, you have to first uninstall it from the MBP. If you have multiple licenses (Leopard family pack comes with 5) then you can have it on that many computers at the same time.

I don't know why it works this way. It just does.
 
iLife and iWork

Retail disks only contain the OS.
Disks in your Mac box, while limited to a Mac type, does also contain the very excellent iLife and iWork.
 
yeah, i know this, but i was more looking for

what mac drivers are included in the retail version,

that are not included in the buy with mac version ??
 
They're the same thing, except:

1. The OEM disk (the one that comes with a computer) has a line in a file that says, "Only allow it to install on this model of Macs." For example, my MacBook's model is [2,1]; that denotes that my OEM disk will only install on a Macintosh computer with that model.

Also, the Disk 2 of the OEM disk set comes with iLife.

2. The retail disk will install on any ("supported") Mac. It does not come with iLife.
 
ok, but what will happen if you try to install your OEM OS X disc
on another or 2nd MAC....?

Will it know that it already has been installed on the 1st machine ?

Also, i was wondering if you could use an OEM Leopard disc from a Macbook Pro,
and install it on a MacBook ?
 
It'll probably prompt you with an error saying it's not possible unless the two machines are very similar. The error doesn't always come up. Sometimes it just won't boot, or it will crash.
 
often times the discs that come with your machine won't run on other mac hardware, because they're specially made for that particular computer. no, the disc won't know if you have used it with another mac, but often times an error will inform you that you can't use it with that particular machine.
 
ok, Somebody on this forum is gonna kill me soon, but i
have one last question in this thread ; ) ........

My friend just bought a Leopard Retail 10.5. disc with 1 license.

What will happen if i try to install the same disc
on both his and my MacBook Pros ?
 
fab5freddy said:
ok, but what will happen if you try to install your OEM OS X disc
on another or 2nd MAC....?

Will it know that it already has been installed on the 1st machine ?

Also, i was wondering if you could use an OEM Leopard disc from a Macbook Pro,
and install it on a MacBook ?
Click to expand...

If you try to install your OEM disk onto another Mac of a different model, it will start up the installer and then tell you, "You cannot use this install disk on this computer." Then you'll have to restart.

There is no "activation" in windows, so the licensing is based on an honor code. You could potentially use one retail disk and install it on a million computers since there is no copy protection.

You cannot use a MBP OEM disk on an MB. The MB has the model code "MacBook[x,y]" and the MBP has the model code "MacBookPro[x,y]". If you start up the disk attempting to use the OEM disk on another model, the javascript file that checks for the correct model will detect that the disk shouldn't be used on your hardware and will tell you to reboot your computer.

The drivers shouldn't matter. It seems as if the information on the Retail disks is the same as the information on the OEM disks, save for the fact that the OEM disks contain those few lines that say, "Install on this model code only." I've hacked my friend's Leopard disk just for kicks and was able to install it on my computer. We both have MacBooks. Mine is a MacBook[2,1], and his is a MacBook[3,1]. His is newer. I just changed that one line in the javascript file to include my model (so it would pass the test when I load the installer), and it worked just fine. The hardware is different, and it installs on my system perfectly (his MB is white, mine is black; his has Intel X3100 graphics; mine has GMA 950 graphics, and it all still works.)
 
This has been discussed before...

xlii said:
I heard that the last time this happened ( sharing a single user license Leopard disk with another person) a black helicopter landed on that person's front lawn... Five Steve Jobs jump out... beat the person senseless and took away all their Macs...

Then again... you don't have to listen to me.
Click to expand...
 
gikku said:
Retail disks only contain the OS.
Disks in your Mac box, while limited to a Mac type, does also contain the very excellent iLife and iWork.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify the disk that comes with the computer does not contain a full version of iWork only a trial version (fully functional but only for 30 days)
 
fab5freddy said:
ok, but what will happen if you try to install your OEM OS X disc
on another or 2nd MAC....?

Will it know that it already has been installed on the 1st machine ?

Also, i was wondering if you could use an OEM Leopard disc from a Macbook Pro,
and install it on a MacBook ?
Click to expand...

There is nothing on the Leopard OEM disks that will prevent you from using them on another computer. As a test, we used an iMac restore disk to UPGRADE a MBP running Tiger and it upgraded successfully. We then did a full restore using the same iMac disk and the disk allowed us to do a full erase and install of Leopard on the MBP. It has to be the same such as intel macs for this to work. Of course this breaks the end user agreements and it is not allowed.
 
fab5freddy said:
Is this because of Mac Driver Issues ?

that 2 different Mac Models have different Drivers ?
Click to expand...


Partly... It's intentional on Apple's part to make sure people don't pirate their operating system. Using a single licence for a piece of software twice is a violation of the EULA. It's against forum rules to discuss how this can be done.


hexonxonx, I've tested it by mistake too. I used a MacBook disc in an Intel iMac and it didn't work.
 
technically you can use a standard retail leopard disk

on as many computers as you want

but its against the EULA..

but there is no activation or serials

so physically you can use the disk like 20x times...but its illegal
 
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