Which version of the OS DVDs is best?

[LoadStar]

I’m just getting started looking into InstaDMG.

First, I guess I’m a little unclear as to the terminology used around here. I usually refer to the two types of OS install DVDs as “retail” (the shrink-wrapped copy that you purchase separate from a computer, with the fancy multicolor label) and OEM (the gray labeled DVDs that come included with the purchase of a Mac). I’m not sure if that’s the same terminology you guys use… some posts seem to indicate that you refer to the gray DVDs as “retail” and you have another name for the multicolor label DVDs.

In any case, which version of the OS DVDs is best for use with InstaDMG? Is there any advantage or disadvantage to starting with a retail disc vs. a OEM disc? Assuming one is also going to be including iLife, would it be better to use a grey DVD that includes it, or go out and get a retail OS X DVD and a retail copy of iLife?

[Patrick Fergus]

I’m partial to the retail, off-the-shelf discs for two reasons:

1. They don’t have a bunch of extra software to work around such as demos and OEM software that you may not have licenses for on all your machines.

2. The gray discs [i]might[/i] not install on machines that they didn’t ship with. Apple waffles on this, but usually it isn’t possible to install an OEM (gray) disc on a piece of hardware that didn’t ship with that disc. This has to do with the OEM licenses for the software on the disc (AppleWorks, GraphicConverter, etc) and people trying to score a freebie OS install by using the Leopard OEM installer that they just got with their new Mac Pro to try to install Leopard on their G4 Mac Mini.

– Patrick

[Author]

Posts