Mac os question

beachBOYken · 2 May 2015 at 10:37

Hi

When it comes to operating system versions do you have to pay to upgrade?

I'm thinking about getting a mac soon and I see the word yosmite, maverick...... Mentioned and I take it these are the OS versions.

So is it like windows where users are expected to pay to go from say windows 7 to 8 or do you get OS updates pushed to imac for free when released.

Thanks

MagicBoy · 2 May 2015 at 10:47

Suggestion : Type "OS X" into a Search engine and read for a couple of minutes.

beachBOYken · 2 May 2015 at 10:52

MagicBoy said:
Suggestion : Type "OS X" into a Search engine and read for a couple of minutes.

Which I done and it brings up a lot of info, all I wanted was a straight forward answer for a which I thought was a straight forward question for a non Mac user

*OK I see yosmite is free but is this the case all the time?

MagicBoy · 2 May 2015 at 10:55

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X#Versions

DanF · 2 May 2015 at 10:57

They are free upgrades now, they show up in the apple store and can be downloaded and installed when you like. There's a way to also download the latest version and put it on a usb stick so you can do a fresh install using the latest version.

MagicBoy · 2 May 2015 at 11:01

beachBOYken said:
*OK I see yosmite is free but is this the case all the time?

Has been for the last two releases, previous three were £15 ish. Going forward? Who knows.

Bear in mind you can't run an earlier version of OS X than ships with the Mac.

beachBOYken · 2 May 2015 at 11:05

DanF said:
They are free upgrades now, they show up in the apple store and can be downloaded and installed when you like. There's a way to also download the latest version and put it on a usb stick so you can do a fresh install using the latest version.

MagicBoy said:
Has been for the last two releases, previous three were £15 ish. Going forward? Who knows.

Bear in mind you can't run an earlier version of OS X than ships with the Mac.

OK thanks guys

lamboman · 4 May 2015 at 12:04

DanF said:
They are free upgrades now, they show up in the apple store and can be downloaded and installed when you like. There's a way to also download the latest version and put it on a usb stick so you can do a fresh install using the latest version.

Just for the OP's sake if he wants to do this any time soon, the utility used to create the USB stick is createinstallmedia, and is found in the app bundle you download from the App Store. Usage instructions are easily found on the web (Apple website through the Goog).

beachBOYken · 5 May 2015 at 10:57

lamboman said:
Just for the OP's sake if he wants to do this any time soon, the utility used to create the USB stick is createinstallmedia, and is found in the app bundle you download from the App Store. Usage instructions are easily found on the web (Apple website through the Goog).

Many thanks.

By the way do new Imacs come with a load of unwanted bloatware programs like you often get with new dell/hp windows pcs?

MagicBoy · 5 May 2015 at 11:49

They do not.

lamboman · 5 May 2015 at 13:11

The only things that come pre-installed on Macs that you wouldn't find on a fresh install are iMovie, iTunes, GarageBand, etc. Personally enough junk for me to do a fresh install as I never use the first and the last, but certainly not bloatware (they're good apps if you want them).

Pages, Numbers and Keynote I don't think they pre-install (somebody else will know better), however they're free. And they're excellent IMO, in a different league to Office (again, IMO).

MagicBoy · 5 May 2015 at 19:05

iWork (Pages etc) isn't pre-installed. They do come bundled and get assigned to your iCloud account. It then downloads via the App Store when you confirm.

The shipping version of OS X and iLife (iMovie etc) is tagged to the serial number of the Mac rather than the users iCloud account IIRC.