01/31/2008, 9:05am, EST
Thursday, January 31st
MacBook Air Leopard an exclusive OS
The MacBook Air is dependent on a exclusive version of Mac OS X Leopard, Apple technical documents show. "The Mac OS X 10.5 installation media that shipped with your MacBook Air is designed for use on this computer only and not intended for any other computer," the document warns. Owners are further cautioned that the installer "prevents this software from being installed on other Macintosh computers," and that moreover, an Air cannot be restored by using other Leopard installation discs.
While this reflects Apple's policy for most of its computers, this may complicate ownership of the Air for some people, as it may involve not just keeping two versions of Leopard in easy reach, but contacting Apple for a replacement should the Air version go missing. There is no indication to date that the separate version of Leopard will be available in stores.
Filed under: computers, troubleshooting, Apple
Other story tags: MacBook, Mac OS X, MacBook Air, Leopard
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I imagine as later versions of Leopard retail install media is released that it will support the MBA in the future. The fact is that Apple builds its drivers into the OS and when Leopard was released last October, no drivers for the MBA were necessary.
I have read somewhere that there is a way to modify that installer disc to allow installation on other (Apple) hardware by changing some entries in an XML file in one of the packages. Obviously, the disc would have to be copied into a r/w disc image on a hard drive, then re-burned onto a DL R(W) dvd.
Isn't the story the same for MBA?
This is a non-story, as this is the standard behavior on macs for years.
By the way did you know, referring to the MacBook Air, "The price is competitive with other laptops in its market segment." [CNN.com]
But it is nothing new that the discs that ship with the machine are intended only for that machine, and customers have ALWAYS had to contact Apple if those discs were lost! You've never been able to just take an earlier Mac OS X disc and use it in any supported fashion to install on a newer Mac. Only full Mac OS X releases (either point releases or major releases) released after the hardware in question will technically boot and install on the system in a supported fashion.
Many organizations routinely build images to support all hardware (using the custom build included with the piece of hardware in question, and then again once 10.x.y+1 is released after the hardware's release), and machines can always be reimaged with 10.x.y+1 or newer without the installation discs at all (and yes, this is true for the MacBook Air as well).
This is extremely, extremely sloppy reporting. I can't even believe I'm reading this on MacNN.
Dave Schroeder das@doit.wisc.edu http://das.doit.wisc.edu
By keeping the Leopard version of Mac Book Air software out of the hands of these unscrupulous persons will keep Apple one or two steps ahead of the 'evil horde' who would prefer to 'sink the elegant air book'...
or STEAL it's innovative technologies...
Of course another mac zealot could himself produce the OS code to run the 'evil empire into the ground' but 'do comic book heros still do overtime anymore'?
no back to work, dogs...
So people don't loan out there restore discs to anyone they know that wants to upgrade to leopard for free?
I would GLADLY trade not having to deal with activation and other BS keys and codes that windows people have to go through just to use their computers, in trade for my restore discs only working on the system they were intended for.