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Does it matter that my just-purchased iMac does not include Mavericks?

C

chris401

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 30, 2007
14
0
Just got home from Best Buy and didn't even look at the box. This iMac is not preloaded with Mavericks--it's still rocking 10.8.4. Does that matter?

I noticed a discussion thread on apple support where people kept returning to get Mavericks preloaded. Why? Does it matter?

I checked the WiFi hardware and it includes /ac, so I assume I have the latest and greatest hardware, just need to update the software. But that's a bit weird considering this came out in October.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this has be re-hashed already. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue.
 
chris401 said:
Just got home from Best Buy and didn't even look at the box. This iMac is not preloaded with Mavericks--it's still rocking 10.8.4. Does that matter?

I noticed a discussion thread on apple support where people kept returning to get Mavericks preloaded. Why? Does it matter?

I checked the WiFi hardware and it includes /ac, so I assume I have the latest and greatest hardware, just need to update the software. But that's a bit weird considering this came out in October.

Thanks in advance, and apologies if this has be re-hashed already. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't an issue.
Click to expand...

Hm it's strange. I would just double check the specs again to be certain that it's up to date. Otherwise, upgrading to mavericks is very easy.
 
Not a big deal, Mavericks is a free download.

As a matter of fact, some would say this is better. You can configure your Mountain Lion system and stay there for a while before you upgrade to Mavericks.

In the interim, you might want to make a full Time Machine backup of your system. That way, you have something to fall back to in case you don't like Mavericks.

It's not that surprising. Channel inventory (i.e., third-party retail partners) is probably a couple of months old anyhow.

Note that the day Apple announces a new operating system, it's not like their contract manufacturers are going to start pumping out product with the new OS. Most likely there is a stockpile of drives that have been cloned with the previous operating system sitting in the parts bin.
 
Last edited:
AndrewMRiv said:
Hm it's strange. I would just double check the specs again to be certain that it's up to date. Otherwise, upgrading to mavericks is very easy.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. What's an easy way to confirm? I checked the network settings under the System Report, and WiFi Supported PHY Modes are: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

And About this Mac says "Late 2013" and Model as iMac14,2

Anything else to confirm? I'm glad someone else thought it was weird. Guess I should have looked at the box before walking out of there.

There's no way this could have been a return or something? The box was sealed and the plastic wrap was on everything.
 
Don't worry about it. You have the latest hardware.

The latest software is a simple download. Not a big deal.
 
mpantone said:
Don't worry about it. You have the latest hardware.

The latest software is a simple download. Not a big deal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the thoughts and reply. And good idea on the time machine back up. Doing one now.
 
chris401 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. What's an easy way to confirm? I checked the network settings under the System Report, and WiFi Supported PHY Modes are: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

And About this Mac says "Late 2013" and Model as iMac14,2

Anything else to confirm? I'm glad someone else thought it was weird. Guess I should have looked at the box before walking out of there.

There's no way this could have been a return or something? The box was sealed and the plastic wrap was on everything.
Click to expand...

Well as long as the specs match up, then you should be okay!
 
chris401 said:
There's no way this could have been a return or something? The box was sealed and the plastic wrap was on everything.
Click to expand...

No, it's brand new, but just wasn't loaded with Mavericks. With Apple, a sealed retail box always denotes a new product.

Just load Mavericks via the app store, or from a bootable usb with a clean install. Before doing so, you could time machine a backup of Lion, just in case you don't like the new OS.
 
I ordered my BTO iMac from Apple in late November and it came with Mavericks. A friend ordered a maxed out one from B&H the last week of December, it did not come with Mavericks. No problem though, I think during initial setup he was prompted to upgrade to Mavericks.
 
Ecoh said:
I ordered my BTO iMac from Apple in late November and it came with Mavericks. A friend ordered a maxed out one from B&H the last week of December, it did not come with Mavericks. No problem though, I think during initial setup he was prompted to upgrade to Mavericks.
Click to expand...

Yep. BTO ones are fresh from the factory so will normally have the latest (they'll probably be shipping with 10.9.1 now).

Channel partner ones, and, indeed, often Apple retail stock, will be older (it takes them a while to sell through) will have an older version. Even when OS upgrades were paid, they were still free if you bought a new mac which came with the old version.
 
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