Upgrading from OSX 10.5.8

cmaprice

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Hey, so my computer is wildly out of date, and I'm looking to upgrade at least to 10.7 -- Problem is, Apple.com won't even allow me to purchase the upgrades I need any longer. It keeps redirecting to the Mountain Lion stuff. Seeing that I'm still on 10.5, I can't access the app store.

When I last looked into upgrades, they were going for $30 each release. I just read they were giving the upgrade to 10.6 for free a few months ago.

Any easy, affordable ways I can get a hold of the upgrades to Snow Leopard and Lion?

Thanks for any helpful advice.
 
The free upgrade was only if you recently bought a new machine right before the release of Mountain Lion.
 
You'll have to go through AppleCare. There's no official way to get 10.6.x anymore for your computer, which means no way you can get to 10.7 or 10.8, both of which are only available as Mac App Store downloads (requiring at least 10.6.6).

You _might_ find Snow Leopard Retail DVDs on eBay or something, but I'd be careful. Call AppleCare and see if they have a solution.
 
You'll have to go through AppleCare. There's no official way to get 10.6.x anymore for your computer, which means no way you can get to 10.7 or 10.8, both of which are only available as Mac App Store downloads (requiring at least 10.6.6).

You _might_ find Snow Leopard Retail DVDs on eBay or something, but I'd be careful. Call AppleCare and see if they have a solution.

Calling. Thanks.
 
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I called Apple Care, and they told me I had to go through a third party to buy Snow Leopard. They "do not" make the product anymore. But it's not like it's a furniture company; it's digital information. And it's not like I'm asking for it for free. I just want to give Apple my money.

Paying $100 on ebay or Amazon for a product I'm only going to use just to buy a different OS is pretty absurd. The associate said he understood my logic, but couldn't do anything about it.

So I can't just purchase $60-90 or so in upgrades directly from Apple. I have to pay some scalper more than I have in disposable income just for the privilege to actually give Apple my money.
 
Hm. Definitely a strange answer. :/ ... Any Apple Stores nearby? They should be able to install 10.6 for you (make a Time Machine backup before you go) and then let you update to 10.6.6 and then buy 10.8 through the App Store. If they're willing, that is. Deploying a 10.6 image takes a couple of minutes. Make sure you have an appointment with a Genius.

Third Party Apple Service Providers sadly can't help you at the moment, because there's a licensing problem. Since you can't actually buy a 10.6 license and the 10.8 license only applies to users of 10.6 and 10.7, they'd circumvent licensing restrictions, which they probably wouldn't do.
 
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