Macbook air 2010, did it have OS X CDs?

[LeandrodaFL]

I am looking for a used Macbook air 11"late 2010 model. I plan on making a clean install of Snow Leopard on it. So, did the Macbook Air shipped with its own Snow Lopard CD? Or was it on a USB disk?

Im watching an item on ebay and the seller says he has the OS on a drive, but I dunno if its legit..

 

[26139]

I am looking for a used Macbook air 11"late 2010 model. I plan on making a clean install of Snow Leopard on it. So, did the Macbook Air shipped with its own Snow Lopard CD? Or was it on a USB disk?

Im watching an item on ebay and the seller says he has the OS on a drive, but I dunno if its legit..

Do you think a computer that doesn't have an optical drive shipped with a CD/DVD with which to install the OS?

 

[chrfr]

I am looking for a used Macbook air 11"late 2010 model. I plan on making a clean install of Snow Leopard on it. So, did the Macbook Air shipped with its own Snow Lopard CD? Or was it on a USB disk?

Im watching an item on ebay and the seller says he has the OS on a drive, but I dunno if its legit..

It probably came with a USB "recovery key" but not a DVD.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

Then how is the OS reinstalled, if I upgrade the SSD? Or if there is an error and I need to perform a clean install?

 

[chrfr]

Then how is the OS reinstalled, if I upgrade the SSD? Or if there is an error and I need to perform a clean install?

You either use the USB drive if the computer came with one, or internet recovery. There was a firmware update for the 2010 Airs that enabled Internet Recovery to work.

 

[26139]

Then how is the OS reinstalled, if I upgrade the SSD? Or if there is an error and I need to perform a clean install?

I was kidding. MBAs come with a USB recovery key or you can use another local drive in a computer on the same network.

 

[Weaselboy]

I am looking for a used Macbook air 11"late 2010 model. I plan on making a clean install of Snow Leopard on it. So, did the Macbook Air shipped with its own Snow Lopard CD? Or was it on a USB disk?

Im watching an item on ebay and the seller says he has the OS on a drive, but I dunno if its legit..

Those came with a USB key Apple called the "Software Reinstall Drive" and it would have had Snow Leopard 10.6.4 or 10.6.5. If you want Snow Leopard make sure you get that USB key with it because the retail version of the Snow Leopard DVD now for sale only has 10.6.3 and it won't work on that Air model.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

Lets say the seller no loger has the USB for reinstall. Will Internet Recovery work as of today? For Snow Leopard?

 

[chrfr]

Lets say the seller no loger has the USB for reinstall. Will Internet Recovery work as of today? For Snow Leopard?

It'll probably get you something newer than Snow Leopard at this point, but the OS you get on these upgraded machines over internet recovery seems to vary. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro at work that with internet recovery, downloaded Yosemite the last time I tried it. I was very surprised as typically you'd expect to get the OS that originally shipped on the computer.

 

[DeltaMac]

Oldest OS X install offered to ANY Mac through Internet Recovery would be Lion. Snow Leopard was not ever available through Internet Recovery, or any other downloadable form by Apple for the public user. If you don't have the original Snow Leopard USB installer, then it will be a multi-step procedure to install, and you would need a second Mac that is slightly older, allowing you to use that OTHER Mac to install Snow Leopard from the commercial installer, then update to 10.6.8.
And, then transfer the installed system to the MBAir. Not too hard to do, just more than normal number of steps involved.

 

[LeandrodaFL]

And, then transfer the installed system to the MBAir. Not too hard to do, just more than normal number of steps involved.

This is impossible to me... ouch. I found a brand new 2010 model on ebay, the seller says is from a shop that closed in greece. Do you guys think this is possible?

 

[DeltaMac]

Possible? That a shop closed in Greece? Sounds completely possible to me...

How much is the bid?
A 2010 11-inch would likely go for less than $350. Brand-new, still in the box, maybe could be worth another $50
Assuming a never-opened box, the battery would be totally discharged. Hard to know if the battery would still accept a charge at all. With that in mind, I don't think it would be worth more than the $350.
Unless you are a collector, of course. That would make some "bluebook" value less important, so it ends up being how much is it worth to you to get a 5 year-old laptop. (What about shipping?)

 

[Weaselboy]

Lets say the seller no loger has the USB for reinstall. Will Internet Recovery work as of today? For Snow Leopard?

You will not get Snow Leopard over Internet recovery. But that Air model is on this list of Macs that can be updated to get Lion over Internet recovery. So if you get the Mac and it is up and running on Snow Leopard, you could run software update to make sure it has the firmware update required in that support document. The original owner probably already did this if they had been running regular updates.

This is where is gets tricky to get Lion. To install Lion over Internet recovery on these machines that were updated like this, you need to enter an AppleID that was used to purchase Lion. So what you need to do is go here and purchase Lion from Apple for $19.99. Then Apple will email you a code you can use in the App Store from Snow Leopard 10.6.8 to get Lion. Then you an download Lion and stop the installer when it launches. Then use the utility DiskMakerX along with a USB key to make a Lion installer.

Now option key boot to the Lion installer and erase the drive and install Lion.

Then in the future you would also be able to use Internet recovery along with your AppleID to get Lion if you want.

The reason I am cautioning you on this is I have seen many users in your situation with these older machines that were updates to allow a Lion recovery install get stuck with no way to recover. What happens is people do a command-option-r boot to Internet recovery then erase the disk... then when they click to install the OS they are asked for the AppleID to allow the Lion download. Of course if you never purchased Lion under that AppleID, it won't work. And now you have already erased the drive and have no way to go back and purchase Lion. So it is important to purchase Lion while the machine is still running on Snow Leopard.

 

[asoksevil]

I guess the best thing for you would be to update to some of the free OS X that have internet recovery. I did get an additional USB restore key, I had to get in touch with Apple Care and it was kind of a painful process to go through as received many different answers about what could be do.

 

[SmOgER]

Possible? That a shop closed in Greece? Sounds completely possible to me...

How much is the bid?
A 2010 11-inch would likely go for less than $350. Brand-new, still in the box, maybe could be worth another $50
Assuming a never-opened box, the battery would be totally discharged. Hard to know if the battery would still accept a charge at all. With that in mind, I don't think it would be worth more than the $350.
Unless you are a collector, of course. That would make some "bluebook" value less important, so it ends up being how much is it worth to you to get a 5 year-old laptop. (What about shipping?)

Show me a brand new unopened MBA on ebay for $400.
Market value doesn't give a poop about your opinion my friend.

 

[dogslobber]

I am looking for a used Macbook air 11"late 2010 model. I plan on making a clean install of Snow Leopard on it. So, did the Macbook Air shipped with its own Snow Lopard CD? Or was it on a USB disk?

Im watching an item on ebay and the seller says he has the OS on a drive, but I dunno if its legit..

It came with a Snow Leopard USB key.