Install 10.6 on iMac that ships with Lion?

[honcho]

I'm about to take the plunge on a new 27" iMac but I wanted to wait until Lion comes out later this month so I get the 10.7 software DVD.

As I will need to run Snow Leopard, will it be possible to install it on the machine? I know that new models do not retrospectively support older operating systems but I'm guessing that the code for the 2011 iMac is already baked into 10.6, no?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[alust2013]

10.6 should run, but I'm just not sure how you'll get it on there. Maybe if you can find a restore disk for the same model, but before Lion you could do that. There's also no guarantee that Lion will come on a disk, although it most likely will.

 

[Intell]

You'll have to use a iMac 2011 restore disk to put Snow Leopard on it. The retail Snow Leopard discs don't have the proper drivers and will refuse to install.

 

[Hellhammer]

Why not buy now and then use the up-to-date promo? If you buy right after the release of Lion, you most likely won't get a DVD for Lion, you will just get a download code for it. In fact, we don't know what will happen to the install discs, given that Lion included recovery partition.

 

[honcho]

Thanks for the advice, guys! I hadn't thought about the version of 10.6 on the retail discs. Great to know.

I'm expecting payment from a job this week so I should be good to order by the weekend. But, in a worst case scenario, if I was to miss the deadline for a Snow Leopard machine, would it be possible to use my MBP to install 10.6 (and updates) to an external drive and then image that and restore it to the iMac?

 

[Icaras]

Why not buy now and then use the up-to-date promo? If you buy right after the release of Lion, you most likely won't get a DVD for Lion, you will just get a download code for it. In fact, we don't know what will happen to the install discs, given that Lion included recovery partition.

I still personally believe no DVD or USB key will be included for Lion and that it will just come with a built-in recovery partition. We'll see soon enough.

 

[Detrius]

would it be possible to use my MBP to install 10.6 (and updates) to an external drive and then image that and restore it to the iMac?

Yes, but it would be much simpler just to treat the iMac as the external drive using target disk mode.

 

[VulchR]

I still personally believe no DVD or USB key will be included for Lion and that it will just come with a built-in recovery partition. We'll see soon enough.

That would certainly be welcomed by me....

 

[honcho]

Yes, but it would be much simpler just to treat the iMac as the external drive using target disk mode.

Good idea. I hadn't considered that. I should have mentioned my MBP is a C2D with no Thunderbolt. Will Firewire/USB be OK for target disk mode?