why no dvd install disk with new iMac, when it is said it ships with?

If the new machine shipped with Lion then there are no backup CDs. Lion currently does not ship on any media. There is a restore partition on the HD, you can access it by re-starting while holding down the Option key. Apple has announced that beginning sometime this month a USB flash drive will be sold with Lion on it however this is an upgrade drive and from how I understand it is not to replace the restore partition. If your machine shipped with Snow Leopard then look again, they're in there. If you still cannot find them then contact AppleCare and they will help you get a replacement set.

BTW did you purchase the machine directly from Apple, I'm thinking if you bought it from a reseller they may have taken a machine that originally had SL on it and upgraded it to Lion for you.

My understanding is even if you reformat the HD the restore partition will be left so you can reinstall Lion. In the event you have a catastophic HD failure Apple has a new way of getting Lion to you via the web. I'm sure if you search for information you can find it. Or you can call AppleCare and hopefully they have been briefed on it. As for Boot Camp well that's up to you. I still have XP installed on my machine via Fusion but I only boot it once or twice a year to to update it and verify it works. Other than that it's just taking up disk space. I would use Setup Assistant the first time your turn on the new machine to migrate your data. This is the easiest and most straight forward. I'd strongly recommend reading and using Lion Setup Assistant tips.

I also received my 27" iMac today and did the same thing! Was looking for the DVDs that normally accompany an iMac and nearly had kittens when I couldn't find them. Looked in the booklet that came with the iMac and it said that the iMac itself, power cable, wireless mouse and wireless keyboard were the only items included. I opted for the wireless trackpad instead. I phoned AppleCare and was told that no disks were shipping with Lion although I could make a copy of the OS and put it on a USB drive or DVD. Well, I have been tearing my hair out and driving my husband crackers. I just can't see how to do it. If I have to download the OS, it will take an age as I only have a 512kb connection. I also use Boot Camp and Windows Vista, at least I did on my 24" iMac. Maybe I should just give up and go stick my head in a bucket.

Please read my first post, there is a restore partition already on your system. You're worrying about nothing really.

Tommy Asselin wrote:

. . .

For sure, I wont put my data from my previous machine on this one until its all setup and working well.

On the contrary, the best way to transfer your stuff is when your new Mac first starts up. See Using Setup Assistant on Lion.

You might also want to see Using the Recovery HD and, for some things you may stumble over, see: Changes in Lion from Snow Leopard.

Tommy Asselin wrote:

. . .

But still, I started a reinstall just to see how it goes, and it was saying 5 hours and a few minutes remaining. So my big question is: does it redownload everything

Yes, a whole new version of OSX.

or does the installer data is in this hidden partition?

No, the Recovery partition is only about 650 MB, vs. the installer at nearly 4 GB.

Once the download is complete, but before you install, you might want to do this: Making a Lion Install disc or partition.

rkaufmann87. I realise there is a restore partition but would have preferred it if I was able to burn restore disks. I don't like it that I am completely at the mercy of Apple and the internet if anything goes wrong. Besides what happens when the three years of AppleCare are up and I need to do a restore and have lost the restore partition? I live in a village and do not have a fast internet connection here, and there is no likelihood of getting one in the future either, so downloading takes quite a while. I understand I could pay for and download the Lion upgrade for my 24" and copy the installer so that I would be able to install Lion on my 27" but the installer would not include the restore partition.

The other thing is that I have been using Vista and Bootcamp on my 24" iMac and have found out that I cannot use Vista on Lion. Unfortunately I need Windows for some software I need to run for a course I am doing at the OU and also for my machine knitting software which I use to design knitwear. To be able to use Windows with Bootcamp in Lion, it has to be Windows 7 and a full copy at that. I have an upgrade of Windows 7 Ultimate but cannot use it because it needs to be the full version. Am decidedly cheesed off! Either way am now going to have to fork out for Lion on USB and a full version of Windows 7 and goodness knows what else. Perhaps Parallels or similar would be a better choice to run Windows but have never used it.

Am definitely not a happy camper at the moment!

Gingerbread, I agree with you.

How much can a mass-produced pair of DVDs cost. $5? I wish they would charge the money and include the disks.

There are people with limited internet access - or none at all - that would really benefit from the included disks. And, is Apple going to support me when I have to replace a failed hard drive in five or more years?

Come on manufacturers. Not including the operating system backup/restore disks is a crappy way to save a buck. I was under the impression that I was going to get high quality when I finally bought a Mac. I guess I was wrong.

Mike in Pennsylvania wrote:

Gingerbread, I agree with you.

How much can a mass-produced pair of DVDs cost. $5? I wish they would charge the money and include the disks.

There are people with limited internet access - or none at all - that would really benefit from the included disks. And, is Apple going to support me when I have to replace a failed hard drive in five or more years?

Come on manufacturers. Not including the operating system backup/restore disks is a crappy way to save a buck. I was under the impression that I was going to get high quality when I finally bought a Mac. I guess I was wrong.

I can see your point of view however the future of distributing media is via the Cloud, Apple has already announced that in their stores they will no longer be selling boxed software. That being said there are numerous methods of having Lion backed up. First is you can simply download Lion Recovery Disk Assistant and save it to a flash drive. That is the most simple and elegant method so if you don't have Internet access all the time you can use that tool. You can also buy the media directly from Apple (it's about $79 if I recall correctly) or you can create your own there are numerous articles on how to do this available.

Also you are not communicating with Apple on this forum, if you want to provide feedback the proper venue is www.apple.com/feedback.

I made backup copies of my SL install disks ... both took all but 200 MB of a 7.9 GB dual-layer disk -- and the core-install, not including the applications, expands from 7.9 GB to 15 GB. Hard to compress more than that.

The next step with "physical media" would be a 2-pack of install disks just for the install size.

Floppies ran out of room ... CDs ran out of room ... single-layer DVDs ran out of room ... Cloud does not run out of room