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Current new or refurb Mac Mini & Mountain Lion

X

xbpr

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 8, 2008
84
11
I was wondering if it would be possible to buy one of the latest mac mini's (new or refurb) and downgrade it from Mavericks to Mountain Lion?

It seems like it would be possible since these machines were sold originally with something other than Mavericks.

I'm ready for a new computer, but I'm not ready to upgrade to Mavericks due to the demise of Sync Services and the ability to locally sync my calendars and contacts.
 
You should be able to download ML from the App Store, install on a USB drive, and do a fresh ML install from USB drive. Full instructions can be found all over the internet. Check the App Store for ML under purchases.
 
DefDad said:
You should be able to download ML from the App Store, install on a USB drive, and do a fresh ML install from USB drive. Full instructions can be found all over the internet. Check the App Store for ML under purchases.
Click to expand...
Unless you purchased an upgrade to ML at some point, it won't show up under purchases. I purchased my first Mac mini last December with ML, but I never bought and paid for it separately, so I can't download it now even if I wanted to. I previously had the option to do Internet recovery and restore Mavericks, but I don't know which version that would install now.

John
 
Good point on Amazon. I might check some local shops to see if they have ML Mac Minis in stock.

Also, I do have a mountain lion installer saved from when I updated my current iMac, so I should be good there too.

A few good options to consider. Thanks.
 
I don't know if it is still the case, but when you wipe the drive (full wipe - Recovery Drive and all) and install OS X through internet recovery, the OS installed will be the the original that came with the machine. This was certainly the case with my 2011 minis that I rebuilt a few months back. The OS that they came with was Lion and that is the OS that Internet Recovery installed even though the current OS was Mountain Lion.

So if you get a 2012 refurb and wipe the OS (recovery partiton as well) then reinstall from internet recovery (CMD-Option-r) it should install Mountain Lion, not Mavericks.
 
opinio said:
I don't know if it is still the case, but when you wipe the drive (full wipe - Recovery Drive and all) and install OS X through internet recovery, the OS installed will be the the original that came with the machine. This was certainly the case with my 2011 minis that I rebuilt a few months back. The OS that they came with was Lion and that is the OS that Internet Recovery installed even though the current OS was Mountain Lion.

So if you get a 2012 refurb and wipe the OS (recovery partiton as well) then reinstall from internet recovery (CMD-Option-r) it should install Mountain Lion, not Mavericks.
Click to expand...

Isn't Mav a free upgrade? If so how do you get it via a clean install? I ask because if there is no refresh on the mini this year I may buy one from Amazon.
 
opinio said:
So if you get a 2012 refurb and wipe the OS (recovery partiton as well) then reinstall from internet recovery (CMD-Option-r) it should install Mountain Lion, not Mavericks.
Click to expand...

I'd guess that you're right. That was certainly the case with the previous (not free) operating system versions.

It's not completely out-of-the-question, though, now that Mavericks is free, that Apple would go the iOS route and start pushing out nothing but the currently available operating system version.

But I suspect they haven't gone there yet. :)
 
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