Does ordering w/ preinstalled software act to get an Air inspected, before shipping?

[thinkdesign]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint PPC6850SP)

At least to some degree? Thus catching at least some % of defective Airs that might otherwise have been sent out?

The idea of an Air being non-returnable if ordered with preinstalled software (iWork. Office for Mac) originally struck me as a disadvantage... in case enough's wrong with the unit that I need it to be swapped for another one, in order to avoid embarking on an uncertain voyage or one or more repairs.

But on further thought, if somebody has to do the work of putting into it some customer-selected combination of optional softwares... well, maybe that could be advantageous too? Almost like another (partial) inspection?

For example... if the screen looks bad, maybe they won't send that one out?

What do the more experienced Air buyers among us think?

[appleguy123]

I'm not sure,but I think that they would just put it on the harddrive without messing with the computer itself.

[Strobe]

i think it is just imaged to the hard drive and the computer wouldn't even be checkedor booted up. that is just my guess and I don't know for sure.

[macgrl]

That's a great question. I would also think that it is just added to the harddrive without a boot up to check

[fluffyx]

Truly, very few MacBook Airs are defective from the factory. There's a pretty low chance of receiving a lemon.

[Scottsdale]

I don't think they actually install that software when they ship those??? Don't they just drop the iWork disk in the box? At least that's what I remember the last time I bought software with a Mac online.

[jdechko]

Originally Posted by Strobe

i think it is just imaged to the hard drive and the computer wouldn't even be checkedor booted up. that is just my guess and I don't know for sure.

I'm pretty sure this is the way it's done. I know for OS upgrades on store demo models, the Genius Bar had to log in and download the image(s) for the new stuff. Then it's simply a matter of cloning the drive to the internal. It's illogical that Apple, or any other computer manufacturer, would spend the time and resources to install software piece by piece.

Scottsdale, if that were the case, why would the Configure your Mac page list the software as "preinstalled" and have the words "iWork will be preinstalled on your Mac, so you'll have all three productivity applications available for immediate use."? However, they would come with backup media. Maybe that's what you were thinking.