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Will MBP's that ship with Lion preinstalled have a DVD backup disc of the OS?
- Thread starter Ork
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Everything that's been written and I believe people have asked says no. It will come with a recovery partition. I'm sure we'll make do but I remember a time when I would never buy a PC unless it gave me a disk and laughed at people who bought with a recovery partition.
Times change I guess and I will upgrade to Lion regardless.
Times change I guess and I will upgrade to Lion regardless.
Computers that ship with Lion will almost certainly have a physical installer for Lion. I'm guessing it will be a USB drive like the ones that come with the Air.
I'll make you a bet and come back to confirm. There will be no form of media with the machines sold.
So... what is a user supposed to do when their HDD dies? Unlike when buying Lion from the Mac App store, the user will have positively no way of reinstalling the OS if that Mac is their only computer. When I buy Lion from the MAS, if my HDD totally dies (leaving the recovery partition inaccessible) in the worst case scenario I can reinstall SL, redownload Lion, and upgrade.
If our hypothetical user buys a Mac in a year, so it definitely comes with Lion, and that Mac is their only computer, what happens when that person's HDD dies? They have no recovery partition to boot from, no install device to boot from, no nothing. Supposing the user buys a HDD to replace the broken one, the user cannot install Lion on it. Requiring us to send in our Macs simply to replace the HDD and install Lion is complete bull. There will be a physical boot device (I'll add to my previous statement and say that, if there isn't, Apple will provide instructions on how to make one) with computers shipping with Lion. To not have a way to reinstall the OS in the case of a failed HDD is just plain foolhardy, and may be enough to make me switch to Windows if Apple expects us to take our computers in for a simple HDD replacement because there is no way to install the OS otherwise.
If our hypothetical user buys a Mac in a year, so it definitely comes with Lion, and that Mac is their only computer, what happens when that person's HDD dies? They have no recovery partition to boot from, no install device to boot from, no nothing. Supposing the user buys a HDD to replace the broken one, the user cannot install Lion on it. Requiring us to send in our Macs simply to replace the HDD and install Lion is complete bull. There will be a physical boot device (I'll add to my previous statement and say that, if there isn't, Apple will provide instructions on how to make one) with computers shipping with Lion. To not have a way to reinstall the OS in the case of a failed HDD is just plain foolhardy, and may be enough to make me switch to Windows if Apple expects us to take our computers in for a simple HDD replacement because there is no way to install the OS otherwise.
I think it would be wise for Apple to tell their customers to buy a blank DVD, which is like dirt cheap nowadays, and burn it themselves. It's not necessary, but its a nice option for people who like to keep a physical copy of the install DVDs. Since its less than 4.3GB, it should fit into the normal DVDs, unlike Snow Leopard where you had to buy a Dual Layer disc in order to make a copy.
But it IS necessary! No one has yet given an answer at all (much less a satisfactory one) as to what a user should do in my scenario above. What is the user to do when their HDD dies and they have no physical install media of any kind?
They take it in to have Apple fix it. I don't think Apple wants users messing with their hard drives anymore, which is unfortunate. The new iMacs have a proprietary cable.
They must at least have USB keys for Mac Pros, though.
How would users, such as myself, who are buying their first mac with Lion be able to do this. We have no SL disc.
If Lion does not have a DVD .. maybe I should buy my MBP before Lion's release so then I have the SL disc and a free update to lion.
What do you guys think?
Apple like to cut costs anywhere possible (while increasing prices). Theyve eliminated physical media where necessary.
I bet not even a USB will be supplied.
Lion will have its covery partition. If ever anything happens where not even that is capable of repairing a system then you take it to an Apple Store.
You arent allowed to fix and service Macs yourself thesedays. We arent "Genius" enough.
I bet not even a USB will be supplied.
Lion will have its covery partition. If ever anything happens where not even that is capable of repairing a system then you take it to an Apple Store.
You arent allowed to fix and service Macs yourself thesedays. We arent "Genius" enough.
I'll second this. New machines won't come with physical media for Lion.
MBPs still have replaceable hard drives, right? The only issue I can see is if the stock HD dies and someone replaces it with a new third-party one (like I did with my Late-2008 MBP). That drive won't be covered under AppleCare. It would be pretty inconvenient to have to take it to an Apple Store just to have them reinstall the OS.
Read this somewhere:
Lion has a recovery partition, which is a new feature. If you have problems with your boot drive, restart the computer with the option key. Choose the recovery partition and you'll see the Disk Utility tools and options for reinstalling. If you choose to reinstall, the Lion installer will be downloaded from the app store.
Also read somewhere:
The Lion app from the app store has a full DVD image included in the "show package contents". Just burn that image to DVD (a normal one, no DL required!) and you'll have your media.
Let's be honest. The vast majority of Mac owners never reinstall from the DVD. Most that do have problems go to the Apple store for help because they don't know how to fix it and the power users know how to get what they need. And if the recovery partition will downed the installer when you need it, there really isn't a problem, is there?
Lion has a recovery partition, which is a new feature. If you have problems with your boot drive, restart the computer with the option key. Choose the recovery partition and you'll see the Disk Utility tools and options for reinstalling. If you choose to reinstall, the Lion installer will be downloaded from the app store.
Also read somewhere:
The Lion app from the app store has a full DVD image included in the "show package contents". Just burn that image to DVD (a normal one, no DL required!) and you'll have your media.
Let's be honest. The vast majority of Mac owners never reinstall from the DVD. Most that do have problems go to the Apple store for help because they don't know how to fix it and the power users know how to get what they need. And if the recovery partition will downed the installer when you need it, there really isn't a problem, is there?
If that's true that def won't be an issue and is a good point. The people that boot from physical media will know how to make one if necessary, and te people that don't can just take it in to whatever store they buy the HDD from. If you can find the links your quotes are from that would be great. If possible, I recommend just formatting some flash drives to be bootable for both SL and Lion and carry them around for emergencies. They're smaller than DVDs and should work on any mac.
If your HDD dies, that recovery partition is no good because it is ON THE DEAD HDD. When a HDD dies, no part of it is bootable. If it's just partition table corruption or something like that, you may still be OK.
How are you going to do this if you buy a Mac that has Lion preinstalled? Like I said before, this isn't going to be an issue for anyone who has a Mac now, it's only about Macs that come with Lion preinstalled.
Let's be honest. You have no basis for these claims. How many people buy Macs that live hours from the nearest Apple Store? Apple doesn't have anywhere close to a high enough saturation of Apple Stores throughout the US (much less the rest of the world where Macs are sold) to require that anyone wishing to reinstall their OS in the case of HDD failure must go to an Apple Store. I'm not going to travel 2 hours just to get Lion put on my computer!
Again, someone show me how this makes any sort of business sense.
Apple totally did this with Lion! At $30, they definitely raised the price of it compared to previous editions of OS X. All sarcasm aside, this is the definition of a good business model. If you wanted to make money on hardware, you would do the same thing.
So now only those who live close to an Apple Store really should get a Mac. If your Mac's HDD goes caput (which is a very easy fix) I shouldn't have to drive for hours just to get Lion on it.