Filed under: Retail, Tips and tricks, Apple
Leopard to come packed with all new Macs on Friday?
If you listened to the TUAW Talkcast last night (which should be available for download later this week, I'm told), not only did you hear that I have an atrocious backup plan, I burn a DVD every other year or so and write the date on it with a Sharpie, but you also heard about a very interesting strategy to get Leopard a little early. Mat told us that Apple plans not to sell computers with Leopard installed on them next Friday, but instead pull the computers out of the backstock, and just throw a Leopard box in the bag when you leave.Considering that I'm planning on buying a Mini with Leopard on it rather than Leopard itself, that's a very interesting plan. And now we've all but got corroboration-- reader Bren sent a tip that says he was hanging around the Apple Store this weekend, and was told by an employee that when the Apple Stores receive their shipments on Friday around 11am or noon, they'll start attaching copies of Leopard to the new computers right away.
I find it hard to believe that they would do that and then still require people who were just buying Leopard itself to wait until 6pm, but you never know. Even if not, you can always do the up-to-date thing, or just wait until later in the evening to buy your new computer-- after the release at 6pm, it's almost guaranteed you'll get a new copy of Leopard with your purchase. But if you're planning to buy a new Mac this Friday anyway, you might try calling ahead (or showing up early) to see if you can get Leopard early with your machine.
Update: An anonymous Apple employee tells us that employees will be working overnight to pack the boxes of new Macs with discs. No word on if Macs sold earlier in the day will have these discs or not.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Russell said 7:36PM on 10-22-2007
What will they do if I buy a mac, take it outside, pop the DVDs in my MBP and install, then return the whole thing? I can't possibly do this as the nearest apple store is several hours from here (plus I already preordered), I'm just curious if they would apply a software return policy to hardware it came bundled with or something.
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Russell said 7:38PM on 10-22-2007
Just so I'm clear, I mean as a way of getting Leopard early, not as a way of getting it free. I would think you would want to have the DVDs for future use, so of course you would want to buy/order it also.
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cory said 7:40PM on 10-22-2007
When I bought my iBook G4, Apple did this with Tiger. However, it wasn't the full version of Tiger, it was just the "CPU Drop In" DVD. Also, it was only for iBook (or which ever computer you bought). Apple also literally opened all of the computer boxes and threw in a new packet of DVD's, which they then marked the box with a red sticker.
When I bought mine, they waited until the next day to start including the DVDs.
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Debbie Ripps said 7:42PM on 10-22-2007
I pre-ordered and it does promise delivery on Oct 26. I expect to get delivery before 6pm, wouldn't you?
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Droobie said 7:44PM on 10-22-2007
What about computers purchased through the Apple online store? When are they going to start shipping with Leopard? The reason I ask is that I'm going to be purchasing my first Apple computer ever, a 20" inch iMac. Do you think placing an order Wednesday or would land me a better chance of snagging a Leopard iMac?
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Christina Warren said 7:57PM on 10-22-2007
I was at an Apple Store earlier this afternoon and I got the impression that they will get their Drop-in CPU DVD discs sometime on Wednesday or Thursday and then spend Thursday night/Friday morning opening each Mac box, popping in the Drop-IN CPU in place of the standard Tiger disc set, and then resealing each box. I know from friends who have worked at the Apple Store that their POS system won't let certain items be sold until a certain time - I'm not sure if Leopard would be in that group, but I would think it would.
As for ordering from Apple - I would order on Friday - or call/e-mail to verify that the unit you order is getting shipped with Leopard, if you place the order before the release date. I know that with iLife '08, people that ordered before the discs technically were released (even if they got the laptop AFTER the release date, and even if the ship date was after the release date) had iLife '06 DVDs in their boxes rather than '08.
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Alex said 8:00PM on 10-22-2007
Apple says that if you ordered leopard online it should arrive on friday, but I doubt that it will be delivered after 6pm, if it arrives on friday, people who ordered it online will certainly have it early.
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krye said 8:26PM on 10-22-2007
You people do realize that Leopard is for sale on Saturday too, as well as every day after that?
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punkassjim said 8:27PM on 10-22-2007
Your source was probably mis-interpreting a "hunch." Apple retail employees don't know jack until the day it happens. The employee was probably guessing, based on what's been done in the past. There's no way in hell they'll drop a retail box of Leopard into your bag, I can guarantee you that. They'll either have all-new stock with Leopard pre-installed, or they'll have their back-of-house staff dropping not-for-resale copies of the DVD into the boxes with a big, important-looking note.
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amyjones09 said 8:32PM on 10-22-2007
just buy Leopard its cheap you guys got it easy compared to windows user prices for vista.
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Nic said 8:33PM on 10-22-2007
This happened to me when I bought my G4 mac mini just after Tiger was released - it just came with the Tiger DVD in it.
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PK said 8:40PM on 10-22-2007
@Droobie -
I went to the Apple Store online and chatted with one of their reps - he told me that if I ordered my new iMac on Friday it would ship with Leopard (I don't know if he meant it would come preinstalled - just that it would be with the computer). Personally, I'm going to wait until 7 PM or so Friday night to place my order...
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mac attack said 9:45PM on 10-22-2007
Actually they might close down the store from the time the shipment arrives until the leopard release like they did with the iphone so no one gets it ahead of time...
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Jeff said 10:46PM on 10-22-2007
MacRumors had this on the 18th, and also has info on a T-shirt giveaway:
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/18/leopard-gm-build-apple-retail-sales-launch-free-t-shirts/
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Rob Erekson said 10:49PM on 10-22-2007
@ Debbie Ripps
I have the same hunch you do. I have it being delivered to my UPS Store mailbox and I expect it there at about 10:30 A.M. like every other shipment I've had there. Apple doesn't have anywhere near enough pull to make UPS/Fedex deliver Leopard after 6:00 P.M.
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BobbyW said 10:58PM on 10-22-2007
Is it a real retail dvd that they give you, or is it like the ones that ship with a mac? I know it's a violation of the license, but could you buy an iMac on Friday and use the Leopard disk they put inside to upgrade a MBP?
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Leonard Nimrod said 12:09AM on 10-23-2007
FROM EXPERIENCE, YOU WILL GET THE LEOPARD DVDS THAT CORRELATE TO YOUR PARTICULAR MAC.
IT WILL NOT BE A RETAIL VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE.
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Yon Seo Liu said 12:16AM on 10-23-2007
My Apple online store desktop computer order came through on the morning Leopard was officially announced. I called Apple and asked if I should go ahead and pre-order Leopard as well, since I had a few dollars' worth of credit anyways, enough to cover the up-to-date program shipping fees. The rep told me that this was not necessary and that a Leopard DVD would be included in my order. The thing is, according to my UPS tracking number, my order is due to be delivered Wednesday the 24th. So this means I would be getting Leopard two days in advance if this is indeed true.
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Yon Seo Liu said 12:21AM on 10-23-2007
Checking my tracking number though, my shipment seems to be stalled in California since Friday after being shipped from Shangai on the 18th. I wouldn't be surprised that they'd delay my shipment just so it'd make it to my doorstep on Friday.
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sekdawg said 12:48AM on 10-23-2007
Quick question, mac experts: I was planning to order my first mac (a mini) on Friday. Just in case I only get a "drop-in DVD", how does it work? Do i also get a DVD to reformat to tiger if I want? Can the Leopard DVD be used to do a fresh install (just in case I wipe my hard drive) or is it upgrade only? Sorry if these are obvious/dumb... using Windows for so long has left a bad taste in my mouth.
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