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Attention Mac Geeks: Need advice on OS upgrade

by DavidAkin on Fri 06 Mar 2009 09:39 PM EST | Permanent Link | Cosmos

OK, I'm Scottish and I'm cheap.

Here's the situation:

In our household, I have a G4 Cube 450 Mhz running a very early version of Mac OS X and I have an iMac 2Ghz Intel Core Duo running OS 10.4.11. (I'm also running my employer's MacBook which has 10.5.6 on it). It's time to replace the Cube (much as I love it) and we will likly replace it with a Mac Mini. The Mini will come pre-installed with the latest Mac OS (10.5.6) and iLife '09 apps.

Buying a Mac mini will cost me about CDN$800. But for that, I get the Mini plus the latest OS and iLife apps.

If I just want the latest version of the OS - 10.5.6 and the latest iLife apps -- I'll be forking out $300.

So I'm hoping that if I buy a Mac mini, I not only get new hardware, I'll get new software discs to refresh the old iMac.
Or will I? When you buy new Mac hardware, can you use the discs that come with that hardware to upgrade software on other Macs you own?

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Re: Attention Mac Geeks: Need advice on OS upgrade

by Kyle Olsen on Fri 06 Mar 2009 11:35 PM EST | Profile | Permanent Link

Likely not, most mac stuff has a limited number of licenses and they actually enforce it unlike pc stuff.

I know iLife only is authorized for one computer, and wouldn't be surprised if osx is the same. Microsoft Office for Macs is usually good for three installations.

I would suggest finding a group online or maybe in the press pool to buy a family license (5 computers) of the software you want.

Re: Re: Attention Mac Geeks: Need advice on OS upgrade

by David Magda on Sat 07 Mar 2009 11:55 AM EST | Permanent Link

The discs that come with the Mac mini are only licensed for the Mac mini (though there no registration / licensing codes to prevent you from using them).

If you want to update your iMac, you may want to look at the Mac Box Set, which gives you 10.5, iLife, and iWork:

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MB997?mco=MTE4MzA

If there's a student or teacher in the household you may be able to get an educational discount depending on where you buy it.

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