No Leopard "Up to Date" on refurb. purchases???

[Half Glass]

I was thinking of getting a refurb mini, then up to date Leopard which I assume is the same retail package, not machine specific like a restore disk.

Then in theory, it could be used on my other machines to update to Leopard.

Now a ~$500 Mini is essentially minus the price of a family pack and much more affordable.

However,

(1) we don't yet know if Apple has changed the OS to not allow the single license version on multiple machines...I think it will be interesting to see if this changes, especially in light of the edu price changes.

(2) When I called and asked yesterday, the up to date did not apply on refurbs
and
(3) I just went ahead and ordered the family pack so I don't feel guilty about the issue.

Now I am still debating the Mini as another machine. Don't want to spend >1k for the kids' machine and I have a KM&M.

--HG

 

[PJM]

I was excited to see that Apple was offering a free update to Leopard for qualifying purchases after October 1. Problem is, buying a refurbished MBP for $2599 isn't a "qualifying purchase". I bought it on Friday, and it's on the FedEx truck for delivery right now.

I don't think it's the least bit fair that Apple has decided to brand refurbished products as "Good as New" on the site, but then leave those products out of the Up to Date program. Combine that with the fact that I spent about $2k more than someone who bought a "New" Mac mini, and they're eligible for the upgrade when I'm not, and I'm upset.

I already called in, voiced my displeasure, and logged an official complaint. I doubt it will get me anywhere, but it can't hurt to try.

I guess your complaint (and my others, including mine) made apple change its mind. I just checked apple website and now refurbished machines qualify for the up-to-date program.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate/

 

[point665]

Um... Am I missing something?

"Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer or an Apple Certified Refurbished computer from the Apple Online Store on or after October 1, 2007 that does not have Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard included can upgrade to Leopard."

Straight from the Apple site.

 

[Umbongo]

Um... Am I missing something?

"Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer or an Apple Certified Refurbished computer from the Apple Online Store on or after October 1, 2007 that does not have Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard included can upgrade to Leopard."

Straight from the Apple site.

That wasn't the case when this thread was made.

 

[Roric]

Let's say you want to buy a Macbook Pro and you want to buy it from Apple so you can swap it out if you lose the roll of the yellow screen dice.

You have three options: You could buy it new for $1,999. You could buy it with your "student discount" or actual student discount for $1,799. You could buy a refurb for $1,699.

Now Apple has sale's tax. If you go with the cheapest option, the refurb, sales tax will be around $100.

So you're picking up a refurb for a total of $1,799, but wait, wait one second -- you now have to buy Leopard for an additional $100 or so dollars. So your total just went up to $1,899, about the same price as a brand new Macbook Pro with Leopard.

So I don't know what people are talking about when they say that it wasn't a big deal that Apple wasn't including refurbs in the Apple Up To Date program.

I'm just happy they came to their senses and fixed it.

You forgot to add sales tax to the $1999 price too. That makes the refurb plus Leopard still about $200 below a new or about the same price as an education discounted one.

 

[jonnylink]

That wasn't the case when this thread was made.

Okay, well it is now... which is all that matters, right? There still might be exceptions though. Here is the list of qualifying refurbs.

 

[MacinDoc]

I was thinking of getting a refurb mini, then up to date Leopard which I assume is the same retail package, not machine specific like a restore disk.

Then in theory, it could be used on my other machines to update to Leopard.

Now a ~$500 Mini is essentially minus the price of a family pack and much more affordable.

However,

(1) we don't yet know if Apple has changed the OS to not allow the single license version on multiple machines...I think it will be interesting to see if this changes, especially in light of the edu price changes.

(2) When I called and asked yesterday, the up to date did not apply on refurbs
and
(3) I just went ahead and ordered the family pack so I don't feel guilty about the issue.

Now I am still debating the Mini as another machine. Don't want to spend >1k for the kids' machine and I have a KM&M.

--HG

Great that Up To Date will be offered to purchasers of refurbs, but using it to update your other machines is abuse of the program. Users doing this encourage Apple to apply copy protection and serial number schemes to its software to prevent such abuse.

Up to Date is intended for use with any Mac purchased in the 3 weeks prior to the release of 10.5, not for any pre-owned machines.