Anybody bought a Mac Pro since Lion was released?

[anim8or]

Hello all,

I have just ordered a 12 core Mac Pro and am wondering if they are shipping with Lion yet...

If so, i take it i can use my Snow Leopard retail disc to 'downgrade' to Snow Leopard?

Again, if so, does anyone foresee any problems with doing this??

 

[derbothaus]

Should be no problem downgrading.

 

[anim8or]

Should be no problem downgrading.

Awesome, thanks.

 

[AdrianK]

It's only hardware released after the launch of Lion (new MBAs and new Minis) that can't be downgraded to SL due to a lack of drivers (or by design).

 

[anim8or]

It's only hardware released after the launch of Lion (new MBAs and new Minis) that can't be downgraded to SL due to a lack of drivers (or by design).

Just what i thought, but couldn't remember if the current Mac Pro was released after the release of Snow Leopard and thus meaning i may need 10.6.1/.2/.3/.4/ or .5 to run my Mac Pro from scratch.

I have ordered the Mac Pro with aTI 5870 installed so would hate to boot and find there are no drivers for the GFX card and see nothing.

 

[OllyW]

The Mac Pro (Mid 2010) shipped with 10.6.4 when released last year.

The latest retail version available is 10.6.3, so you would probably need to get hold of a set of the Snow Leopard recovery disks for that Mac Pro.

 

[kgapp]

The Mac Pro (Mid 2010) shipped with 10.6.4 when released last year.

The latest retail version available is 10.6.3, so you would probably need to get hold of a set of the Snow Leopard recovery disks for that Mac Pro.

Like OllyW pointed out if you have a Snow Leopard retail disc that has anything less than 10.6.4 on it then it is unlikely you will be able to use it to boot a new machine (lack of proper drivers for the machine). You better make sure you have a recovery disc for that specific machine if you want to install SL.

The other option would be to install SL on a different machine, update it to current version and then move the drive to your new machine. Your mileage may vary with this technique.

 

[derbothaus]

Externals work well for this. Patch to desired version over 10.6.4 and use disk utility to re-image to your preferred boot disk.

 

[anim8or]

A friend of mine recently lost his restore discs for his mac... He contacted apple and they sent him new ones... Could I just contact apple and say I list my discs and get them to send me recovery discs???

Dishonest I know but I think he had to pay for them...

 

[FrankHahn]

A friend of mine recently lost his restore discs for his mac... He contacted apple and they sent him new ones... Could I just contact apple and say I list my discs and get them to send me recovery discs???

Dishonest I know but I think he had to pay for them...

Although it is dishonest, it is not a big deal since you did just buy a Mac Pro. What you will do amounts to asking Apple for help with a little trick.

 

[OllyW]

A friend of mine recently lost his restore discs for his mac... He contacted apple and they sent him new ones... Could I just contact apple and say I list my discs and get them to send me recovery discs???

Dishonest I know but I think he had to pay for them...

I'm sure they ask for the serial number of the Mac when you request a set of recovery disks so they'll spot your cunning plan when they check it on their system and see it was sold with Lion. 😉

 

[anim8or]

I'm sure they ask for the serial number of the Mac when you request a set of recovery disks so they'll spot your cunning plan when they check it on their system and see it was sold with Lion. 😉

Yeah... i kinda thought that may be the case....

I guess installing a fresh copy of Snow Leopard to a clean drive on my current Mac Pro is the way to go, then update it to 10.6.4 or above and then pop the drive in my new pro and boot from that?

 

[OllyW]

Yeah... i kinda thought that may be the case....

I guess installing a fresh copy of Snow Leopard to a clean drive on my current Mac Pro is the way to go, then update it to 10.6.4 or above and then pop the drive in my new pro and boot from that?

You've got to give it a go, you've got nothing to lose by trying.

 

[derbothaus]

That should work. I do it regularly. Patch to 10.6.8 unless you have an aversion to it.

 

[Cindori]

you can't install a fresh copy of snow leopard (10.6.0) on the 2010 mac pro, because the graphics drivers for 5770, 5870 came in snow leopard 10.6.4

 

[anim8or]

you can't install a fresh copy of snow leopard (10.6.0) on the 2010 mac pro, because the graphics drivers for 5770, 5870 came in snow leopard 10.6.4

Yes.

We know that.

I will be installing Snow Leopard fresh on my current 2006 Mac Pro... then putting that drive nito my new 2010 Mac Pro to boot from.