Buying a used iMac

[spiderman0616]

So in about a month, I'm going to be buying a used 19" iMac from a co-worker. He has kept it up to date all the way up through Mountain Lion, which he bought from the Mac App Store.

So here's my question--he's planning on reformatting it and putting Mountain Lion back on it, but I'm kind of wondering how that would work with the licensing. He bought Mountain Lion with his Apple ID/account/etc. Is that going to affect me at all when I start trying to set my iTunes and iCloud stuff up with my own IDs? Or am I going to end up having to buy Mountain Lion?

Yes, the one non-Apple component left in my house--my old tower PC--time to put it to pasture. So excited!!! Anyone have anything else helpful they can tell me about buying a used Mac? This is going to be the first Mac I've ever purchased, but as you can tell I have everything else Apple makes, and I know my way around computers very well. Just trying to think of everything before I bring it home.

 

[iSayuSay]

If you really care about legal, EULA and licensing. Apple stated that every Mac computers transfer need to have its original OS on it. That means whatever OS that came intact with it when it was new.

Any Mac AppStore software purchases may not be transferred. Including AppStore OS upgrade like Lion and ML. So yeah, it might not be legal to do so.

But me? I don't care much about those things. So if I were to sell my iMac, I'd give the latest OS to it, along with all Apple apps freebies and updates. Or at least I'm gonna include the DMG so the new owner can do the installation him/herself. Apple pretty much give OS ESD for free. It's so easy to bypass Apple ID checking when installing Lion or ML over SL.

Though I wouldn't give away any of my AppStore purchases. It involves Apple ID and password sharing, and I wouldn't share something I buy with anyone (except for the OS itself since I think it becomes the part of the computer itself). And nobody with some sense would do that.

 

[spiderman0616]

Yeah--I figured. So the legit way to do this is that he reformats the Mac back to whatever it was originally and I pay for the Mountain Lion upgrade? Not looking to share his apps--just trying to make sure I can have it on Mountain Lion with no problems. If that means I pay for it myself then so be it.

 

[fastlanephil]

So in about a month, I'm going to be buying a used 19" iMac from a co-worker.

You mean a 20"?

You can probably find a copy of Snow Leopard for about $50 and then boot from the SL DVD I believe by holding down the C key with the DVD in the drive after a restart. Reformat the drive, install Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Lion at the Apple App store.

 

[rkaufmann87]

So in about a month, I'm going to be buying a used 19" iMac from a co-worker. He has kept it up to date all the way up through Mountain Lion, which he bought from the Mac App Store.

So here's my question--he's planning on reformatting it and putting Mountain Lion back on it, but I'm kind of wondering how that would work with the licensing. He bought Mountain Lion with his Apple ID/account/etc. Is that going to affect me at all when I start trying to set my iTunes and iCloud stuff up with my own IDs? Or am I going to end up having to buy Mountain Lion?

Yes, the one non-Apple component left in my house--my old tower PC--time to put it to pasture. So excited!!! Anyone have anything else helpful they can tell me about buying a used Mac? This is going to be the first Mac I've ever purchased, but as you can tell I have everything else Apple makes, and I know my way around computers very well. Just trying to think of everything before I bring it home.

Uhhhh there is no such thing as a 19" iMac, best to figure out exactly what you're buying before laying out a nickel. He cannot put ML on it for you as it's licensed to his AppleID, you have to buy that yourself, it's that simple and no there is no getting around it.

 

[iSayuSay]

Uhhhh there is no such thing as a 19" iMac, best to figure out exactly what you're buying before laying out a nickel. He cannot put ML on it for you as it's licensed to his AppleID, you have to buy that yourself, it's that simple and no there is no getting around it.

Well I am sorry but I beg to differ. It is possible and easy to find the way around it. If the previous owner still keep the .dmg file of ML installer, the new owner (OP) can do the upgrade himself, and that's doable without a valid Apple ID which purchased the original copy. And, even better you can use Disk Utility and fit the image into any thumb-drive as a physical OS installer in case you need to fresh install or tweak some things.

Sure, it's not [legal] per say .. but it's an easy way around. No need for Apple ID, almost like as if Apple allows it.

 

[rkaufmann87]

Well I am sorry but I beg to differ. It is possible and easy to find the way around it. If the previous owner still keep the .dmg file of ML installer, the new owner (OP) can do the upgrade himself, and that's doable without a valid Apple ID which purchased the original copy. And, even better you can use Disk Utility and fit the image into any thumb-drive as a physical OS installer in case you need to fresh install or tweak some things.

Sure, it's not [legal] per say .. but it's an easy way around. No need for Apple ID, almost like as if Apple allows it.

Well I guess if you are saying it's OK to steal I guess that is your business.

 

[iSayuSay]

Well I guess if you are saying it's OK to steal I guess that is your business.

I'm not saying it's okay to steal. But your statement earlier implied that it's not possible or very hard to use a vanilla ML disk image from AppStore without an Apple ID.
But in my experience that's not true since it's actually easier to skip the authorization process rather than messing with one.

A few times you're asked for Apple ID and password is when you do clean install via Macintosh HD Recovery from boot manager. Or when you want to re-download your copy from AppStore.

And I'm not looking at it as stealing. OS upgrade should comes with the machine, not the owner. You sell your Mac, assuming you buy a new one, you'll get the latest & newest OS with your new machine. So why be stingy and hold tightly into your OS license for the old machine.
I consider it a bonus or look it as included with the price.

Yes, it might not be in line with EULA. But if you want to keep up with everything says, the poor new owner is not allowed to re-sell his machine in the future since Apple only allow you to make one-time transfer. Well, You can't forbid someone to re-sell your old Mac now, can you?

 

[rkaufmann87]

And I'm not looking at it as stealing. OS upgrade should comes with the machine, not the owner. You sell your Mac, assuming you buy a new one, you'll get the latest & newest OS with your new machine. So why be stingy and hold tightly into your OS license for the old machine.
I consider it a bonus or look it as included with the price.

That is 100% your opinion and disagrees with the licensing agreement. If someone buys any software they MUST agree to the licensing agreement or enter into negotiations with the developer to request exceptions. Modifying a license agreement without doing this is simple theft or fraud, it's that simple. While you are 100% entitled to your opinion, acting on it in this case would be theft and/or fraud unless you take on negotiations with Apple which of course you are welcome to do.

 

[spiderman0616]

I'm not trying to get around any licensing or anything like that. I'm a firm believer in my software all being legit. I don't even steal music and movies like everyone else seems to do. (I pay for HuluPlus and Netflix, and I download all my music from iTunes. I also buy my shows on iTunes).

All that being said, I do want the OS on my new (to me) Mac to be legal and worry free. I've always been very finicky about my PCs, and now that I'm finally graduating to a Mac I want everything to go smoothly. I work in the computer biz, but am very unfamiliar with Macs still, simply because I've never really had to support them, and frankly, used to be a HUGE Apple hater. But now I work in a job where we have to support them more and more because the platform is simply growing like crazy, and I really want to make sure I understand what I'm doing and how to keep the OS neat and clean.

Anyone have any other helpful setup hints? Again, this will be my first new Mac setup.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

And I'm not looking at it as stealing.

LOL! You don't happen to work for Samsung by chance...

 

[iSayuSay]

LOL! You don't happen to work for Samsung by chance...

Yes. It is my opinion. And this whole electronic distribution scheme makes your purchase essentially worthless over time. It cannot be sold, transferred or cancelled. I see some people seem so contend about it though since it's .

If OSX still comes in DVD or physical copies like Windows, I'd give it away along with my old computer when the time comes to sell it. But ESD sucks! You cannot sell away your licenses since they tied to your ID, which will live as long as necessary. You sell your ID means you lose your whole purchases.

I used to sell most of my PS3 games for some cash or help to fund newer games purchase instead of bit the whole bullet. It's called upgrade, Mike .. Ever heard one?
Now with AppStore? I can't, not even with those OS upgrades since it's closely tied to your ID. You happy now?

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So yeah OP, if you want to get clean about legal and EULA on your machine, Apple does not allow you to have ML on that machine, you need to buy it from Mac AppStore.

 

[fastlanephil]

LOL! You don't happen to work for Samsung by chance...

It's that mentality that what is yours is mine and what is mine is mine.

What is the difference between shop lifting and pirating software. It's just a little more convenient and anonymous.

One can rationalize his or her behavior by pretending that they are Robin Hood but they are just acting like a petty thief.

 

[thekev]

You mean a 20"?

You can probably find a copy of Snow Leopard for about $50 and then boot from the SL DVD I believe by holding down the C key with the DVD in the drive after a restart. Reformat the drive, install Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Lion at the Apple App store.

It shouldn't ever be necessary to buy such a thing above its prior retail price. That is just beyond ridiculous. The cost of the OS is built into the hardware. If Apple no longer carries SL, they have some an updated way of dealing with this. The OP should just call Apple, not hunt down a disk on ebay that was never designed for resale (in fact I would bet I can find a disclaimer saying not to be resold).

It's that mentality that what is yours is mine and what is mine is mine.

What is the difference between shop lifting and pirating software. It's just a little more convenient and anonymous.

One can rationalize his or her behavior by pretending that they are Robin Hood but they are just acting like a petty thief.

I'm not advocating that either. I'd have to find the packaging as I can't locate the licensing agreement on their site. Basically it isn't intended for resale. Buying disk off ebay = same as pirating. You're just enabling some random jerk to make money off something that they don't own. The disk itself is just a delivery method. At one point Apple also had a Leopard + Snow Leopard combination upgrade. After Apple stopped carrying that, the Snow Leopard version worked directly on early intel computers. People still argued that the correct thing to do was grab one off ebay. It's not. That is just buying from someone who doesn't have the legal right to sell it to you.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

Yes. It is my opinion. And this whole electronic distribution scheme makes your purchase essentially worthless over time. It cannot be sold, transferred or cancelled. I see some people seem so contend about it though since it's .

If OSX still comes in DVD or physical copies like Windows, I'd give it away along with my old computer when the time comes to sell it. But ESD sucks! You cannot sell away your licenses since they tied to your ID, which will live as long as necessary. You sell your ID means you lose your whole purchases.

I used to sell most of my PS3 games for some cash or help to fund newer games purchase instead of bit the whole bullet. It's called upgrade, Mike .. Ever heard one?
Now with AppStore? I can't, not even with those OS upgrades since it's closely tied to your ID. You happy now?

---------
So yeah OP, if you want to get clean about legal and EULA on your machine, Apple does not allow you to have ML on that machine, you need to buy it from Mac AppStore.

Although you may not like ESD and having the software licensed to "you" instead of "the machine", the upside of ESD is that you can now LEGALLY install most software on any machine you use in your household, not just the one you originally installed the software on. So in my case, instead of having to buy a Family Pack of the OS like I used to when Apple had the OS on physical media, I can now just upgrade and install the OS on all of my machines. When ML gets updated, all I need to buy is the upgrade once, and it can LEGALLY be put on all 3 (soon to be 4) Macs in my home.

So, contrary to being worthless, it actually saves people money who buy software legally. YOU may or may not benefit from this based on your prior practices... I'm VERY happy now.

 

[hfg]

Although you can "give" your OS upgrade on a machine you sell, and perhaps even give the buyer a copy of the installation .dmg file so they can reinstall it themselves. It is, of course, against the EULA you agreed to.

The problem arises when Apple issues a OS update to that installed version. Without the AppleID you can't upgrade the computer ... the new owner will have to purchase the OS at that time in order to perform the upgrade.