[Dork.]

I'm looking around for a laptop. I've decided to take a jump out of the 13" realm and try a 15" this time around. I'm looking for a 2010-vintage MBP specifically because they didn't ship with Lion. (If anyone has one for sale, by the way, please PM me....)

But I'm surprised at how many auctions I see on eBay that don't include the original system discs. I feel uncomfortable with this: how do you reinstall the OS if you have to? Normally, the first thing I do when I buy a used machine is reformat and reinstall, just to make sure the previous owner's stuff is totally gone. And I especially need them if the previous owner tried to be helpful and ship the machine with Lion so I can "upgrade" it back to SL....

I know that system discs in general are going the way of the dodo -- my wife's MBA with Lion didn't ship with system discs at all, but only with a recovery partition that I've been too lazy to back up. Should I just chill out and not care?

[SierraDragon]

2011 Sandy Bridge MBPs are far superior to 2010. And early 2011 Sandy Bridge MBPs shipped with 10.6. Probably hard to find though, except maybe for some folks upgrading to the awesome retina display.

For an images person the retina differences are huge. To get retina I would offer to sell my 2011 MBP with 10.6 except that it is a 17" no longer available, and I far prefer the extra real estate of a 17" display.

-Allen

[Waragainstsleep]

People always lose their system discs. They usually blame moving house but I reckon 80% or more of owners lose them within a year or so.

Its never bothered me since I keep installers for various versions of OS X. I have 8.6, 9.2, and 10.2-10.8. I probably have 10.0 and 10.1 somewhere but I don't make an effort to keep even 10.4 any more. Too old to be of much use.

[gooser]

i'm in the same boat dork. come first of the year i may look to get a 2009 macbook and i know that i will have to add a couple of months to the search to find one with the restore discs. i'll either find one that has them or i'll do without. and like you i would prefer to do the "upgrades" i choose to.

[jmiddel]

Personally I would not want to get such an old machine, because I can't get AppleCare, which I consider a necessity for a laptop with its expensive screen. But I'm still on SL because I did not want to deal with Lion. Now that ML is coming though, it seems that upgrading will be less annoying than the Lion was. Are you sure you won't want ML?

[Spheric Harlot]

People on eBay don't "lose" their system disks.

They sell them in a separate auction (which is a direct violation of the OS X licensing agreement).

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by jmiddel 

Now that ML is coming though, it seems that upgrading will be less annoying than the Lion was. Are you sure you won't want ML?

Maybe. The new hardware (especially the refurbs on Apple's website) look compelling, they're more expensive than what I can buy on eBay but they seem to be quad-core across the board and more future-proof. They also have DVD drives which, at least for the time being, is still a requirement for me. You can make the argument that I'm better off buying the best hardware I can with a built-in CD drive. I started this endeavor with a budget of not much more than $1000 but I may be willing to put up a bit more if I could be sure it would last a while.

There are some things I need to run that just plain won't work on Lion, but I've been reading about folks having success with running older version of the OS on VMware, and I may give that a try. Either that, or hold on to my MacBook after buying the MBP, but that's an even more expensive proposition.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

People on eBay don't "lose" their system disks.

They sell them in a separate auction (which is a direct violation of the OS X licensing agreement).

I'm not exactly sure whether the technical violation is selling the OS X discs separately, selling the MBP without the discs, or buying a unit without the original software. But I think we basically agree: selling the units without the original software is a bit shady. I'm surprised Apple doesn't object.

Or is it just that now that they've gone to more of a "discless" structure with the new hardware, and the ability to reinstall the OS from the firmware, are they being less stringent with licensing requirements now? So it's still technically a violation, but they don't care enough to police eBay auctions over it?

[P]

It's a Eula violation, not necessarily against the law. Eulas are only valid for software (as opposed to sevices) in a small number of jurisdictions. Apple can huff and puff but not do too much.

[Dork.]

They can surely get the auctions pulled if they felt like it.

[Waragainstsleep]

Apple doesn't care. Most of those discs are of little use to anyone who hasn't purchased a Mac similar to the one they shipped with.

[P]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

They can surely get the auctions pulled if they felt like it.

I'm sure they can, because eBay can be leaned on, but eventually that might blow up in their face, because they don't actually have a legal leg to stand on.

Besides, lawyers cost money, and if one can't buy used discs, I'm sure they can be downloaded somewhere. That is worse for everyone, because that pirated copy might have some rootkit installed.

[polendo]

I have all my discs. Early 08 Macbook (which seems it wont´t be able to get mountain lion), Early MBP 08 and late 08 MBP. I even have their boxes and documentation (including the stickers!).