Any non-drop in Leopard's yet?

[photomel]

I can't get a straight answer from apple.com about when they will start shipping iMac's without the drop-in version of Leopard. Has anyone gotten a system yet that came pre-installed with Leopard?

I know everyone says it is an easy upgrade, but I'd just assume not have to do it.

 

[wehokev]

Even though the person that I spoke with at the Apple store swore that the iMac I ordered on Nov 6 (it arrived on Nov 9) would have Leopard installed, it did not. I first booted in Tiger, created some users then upgraded to Leopard. The installation of Leopard took about an hour, but this was after 45 "verification" of the installation cd -- whatever that means. There was a button to skip it, but being new to Macs I decided not to chance it.

Other than not being able to get my new SCX-4500 all-in-one to scan – it prints fine – the installation of everything including an Airport Extreme seemed to go pretty smoothly.

 

[HLdan]

I can't get a straight answer from apple.com about when they will start shipping iMac's without the drop-in version of Leopard. Has anyone gotten a system yet that came pre-installed with Leopard?

I know everyone says it is an easy upgrade, but I'd just assume not have to do it.

I understand that you would prefer the factory drive image to be installed with Leopard but you are actually getting a better deal if you get a Mac with drop-in discs. This way you will have Tiger and a free copy of Leopard in case you need to partition your HDD or just use Tiger if you have incompatible software with Leopard. Once you get a Mac with Leopard preinstalled you have no other choice.

 

[photomel]

That makes sense....I hadn't thought of it in those terms. As a fairly new Mac user it makes me nervous to have to load an operating systems, revert back to an older version, etc. Maybe I am thinking it will be complicated based on my Windows user days?

Is it really that easy to go back and forth between operating systems? Or do you have to be a computer expert?

 

[HLdan]

That makes sense....I hadn't thought of it in those terms. As a fairly new Mac user it makes me nervous to have to load an operating systems, revert back to an older version, etc. Maybe I am thinking it will be complicated based on my Windows user days?

Is it really that easy to go back and forth between operating systems? Or do you have to be a computer expert?

If you are an expert at pressing the power button on a computer then installing a Mac operating system will be a piece of cake.

Here's the scenario in a nutshell:

You get your new Mac home with Tiger installed, power it up and the usual registration screens appear after your mouse and keyboard are detected.
After this you will be on the desktop. You can continue using Tiger or just pop in the Drop-In Leopard disc. A box will appear saying, install Mac OS X, double click and that's it.

Your Mac will restart and take you to the install screen. Watch for 2 option boxes, one will be "Customize" and the other will be Options.
Options will allow you to erase and install or just upgrade to Leopard. I recommend the erase option.
Customize will allow you to choose if you want all the printer drivers installed and languages. Now the install will begin and your done.

If you choose to erase then after Leopard installs pop in your Tiger disc and choose the bundled software option to install iLife.

 

[Cobra2001]

I see people's reasoning on why they think having a drop in disc is better, but now I have a greater reason to wait to order my iMac. Rather than waiting for Leopard, now I'm waiting for some official resolution of the freezing issues.

So, in the mean time, I figured I'd bump this thread anyway, just to see if new iMacs either ordered online or in the store are coming with Leopard pre-installed yet.

Thanks!

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

I was also assured by Apple that my MBP would be shipped with Leopard pre-installed, but was incredibly disappointed to boot into Tiger. Being new to macs I was told it wouldn't be hard to upgrade by various friends, but I still shouldn't have had to. I postponed ordering my MBP until after Leopard's release but still had to sit through over an hour to do a clean install then put the Tiger discs back in to install iLife. For my first experience with Apple's customer service, I'm very disappointed.

 

[Cobra2001]

I was also assured by Apple that my MBP would be shipped with Leopard pre-installed, but was incredibly disappointed to boot into Tiger. Being new to macs I was told it wouldn't be hard to upgrade by various friends, but I still shouldn't have had to. I postponed ordering my MBP until after Leopard's release but still had to sit through over an hour to do a clean install then put the Tiger discs back in to install iLife. For my first experience with Apple's customer service, I'm very disappointed.

Sorry to hear that. I was assured by the Apple Sales Rep I spoke to over a week ago that if you ordered from the website, that you would get Leopard pre-installed but I haven't found that to be the case just yet. I trust the word of people on this messageboard more than the word of Apple at this point.