If I buy a macbook will I get a copy of the OS to own or will it only be on the laptop?

I cannot tell whether the machine will come with an install disc or not. You can certainly call Apple, or swing by an Apple store. I am pretty certain you will be able to download the receovery and Lion Installed yourself.

It will come on the laptop already but it will be the installed version. Should you need to re-install it there are ways to do that via download.

OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery Disk Assistant - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848 - Create recovery disk on another drive for when Lion's Recovery Partition does not work.

OSX: About Lion Recovery - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718 > Lion Internet Recovery - using the Internet to start when recovery disk partition not available.

Also be careful when you think, "I own". You are licensed to use it, you don't own it. Licensing it often specific as to what you can do with copies in particular situations. I'm not sure what it is with Lion since things changed a bit from back when you bought it on disc. Additionally, copies that come with a machine often have different conditions from when you buy it as an upgrade.

If you buy a Mac today, it will come with MacOS X 10.7.3 Lion preinstalled and licensed for you to use. From this cat forward, Apple is no longer including install media with the computer, as all is now Internet-based. The Mac includes a special Recovery Partition in the hard disk drive, from which you can carry out such a reinstall if needed. See: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

According to official Apple announcements, the next release of MacOS X, 10.8.0 Mountain Lion, will occur "in the Summer".

zman731 wrote:

So then if I were to buy a macbook pro lets say in June when Lion was announced but not releasedwould I get Lion on the new macbook pro or would I get a discount on buying the new OS? Or would I need to just buy it regularly?

Apple was allowing those who just bought a Mac weeks before Lion's release to install it for free online.

Don't know if they will allow it again like that when 10.8 is released and they surely won't announce when so people can go out and get a Lion Mac and be able to upgrade to Mt Lion for free.

You have to pay for OS X upgrades, if $29 is too much to pay, then your on the wrong plaftorm because to stay in this Mac club you have to have a fat wallet. 🙂

If the button on the App Store application says download, it's free and clicking will initiate the download. Else it will say how much you're gonna have to cough up, and clicking will lead to where you do just that, BEFORE any data bytes go your way.

When I received my MBP in December, App Store offered Lion 10.7.2 (which the Mac already had) in free download. Silly me, didn't take up the offer. Come New Year and 10.7.3 comes out. Eagerly, went to the store in order to get the upgraded meow so I could do the Macintosh HD working partition and the Recovery Partition too. Well, pffft! No more freebies. Had to settle with downloading the combo updater, and the Recovery Partition stays in 10.7.2.

As for the idea of saving/creating a standalone installer as per Kappy's tip ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3786371 ), any normal mortal who has had to download the 4+GB installer knows it is something you do not want to do every other day. The download is meant for your use in your Lion-authorized Mac, not for handing it out to all over the neighborhood. I have yet to see a "Lion Family Pack" legally offered anywhere. Apple's primary licencing agreement bases itself on an honor system, meaning they trust you to do what's right. But they do have a large pack of rabid attack-trained lawyers standing by, just in case.

The licensing changed a bit with Lion. It used to be one disc, one computer, unless you owned the family pack which let you use it with 5 computers in a family. Now it is (I see this quoted everywhere but I can't find a link to it on Apple's site):

(i) to download, install, use and run for personal, non-commercial use, one (1) copy of the Apple Software directly on each Apple-branded computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server ("Mac Computer") that you own or control;

I guess you can take that to mean you can install on an unlimited number of computers, but in the tighter circle that you own and control vs. before when, say, "family" included your sister's computer in the next room which is still in the family and household circle but not one you control. I don't know if this unlimited installation is only if you bought Lion as an upgrade. In the past the OS disc that came with a computer was only intended for use on that particular computer and couldn't be transferred between machines. On the other hand things are now messy. What happens if in 5 years you have installed OS 10.9 on a computer you bought with Lion, and want to sell the computer with the original OS? Will Apple keep downloads around that long? In the recent past they have been making old OS versions unavailable once they are 2 generations out of date. I guess we'll just have to see.

The copy that comes with a purchased machine is not transferable, if you wanted Lion on a second machine you would need to buy it.

ds store wrote:

zman731 wrote:

So then if I were to buy a macbook pro lets say in June when Lion was announced but not releasedwould I get Lion on the new macbook pro or would I get a discount on buying the new OS? Or would I need to just buy it regularly?

Apple was allowing those who just bought a Mac weeks before Lion's release to install it for free online.

Don't know if they will allow it again like that when 10.8 is released and they surely won't announce when so people can go out and get a Lion Mac and be able to upgrade to Mt Lion for free.

You have to pay for OS X upgrades, if $29 is too much to pay, then your on the wrong plaftorm because to stay in this Mac club you have to have a fat wallet. 🙂

As opposed to $100 for Windows?