Ask Jacob

There are a few reasons PowerMax does not include OS / Restore media with pre-owned Macs. The most substantial reason is that not all Macs are traded in with the original discs. Many of the Macs that become PowerMax Certified Pre-owned computers come from individuals, but others come from businesses and schools. Many home users will save the box and CD pack of their old computer, but not all; so combined with the school and business acquisitions, we have less than 50% of the media we need to include a disc with each system. Obviously not every customer will need the original media for the computer they are buying because they plan on installing a newer OS or have an old drive they are moving over. We decided to offer the OS / Restore discs separately because we wanted to be able to offer the people who really needed the discs the option of having them instead of just letting the inclusion be random. On the other hand, we were able to lower the price for the people who don’t need the original discs because they are upgrading or already have one. Every computer will have a clean OS installed on it, and that’s a good start, but at some point almost every Mac owner will need an OS install disc and we are happy to offer multiple options for them.