Recovering From HDD Failure Much More Difficult With MacBook Pro Shipped Post-Lion

MacTrast’s J. Glenn Knzler says that after ordering a 15″ 2011 MacBook Pro on OS X Lion’s launch day, suspecting that there might be some interesting differences, he was disappointed when I finally received the new machine a week later, discovering that the main difference is that that purchasers of a post-Lion MacBook Pro no longer have a quick and Apple-sanctioned way to recover from hard drive failure without Apple’s intervention.

Ergo: Apple no longer includes restore discs or flash drives with new Macs, with only Apple stickers, a warranty pamphlet, a screen cleaning cloth, and a booklet entitled Hello bundled in the package, compared to the pre-Lion machine that included two restore DVDs one for Snow Leopard and one for the bundled iLife applications installed on the machine.

Other changes include an updated keyboard design, packaging, both a different SKU and a different model number than the near-identical previous model, the F3 and F4 keys redesigned for Mission Control and LaunchPad, and the Hello book, which is basically a renamed version of the About This Mac book, updated to reflect Lion’s new features, as well as the new gestures in Lion.

Knzler says that since the unit lacked any physical restore medium, he naturally suspected that, like the new MacBook Airs and Mac Minis that Apple just released, it must include Apple’s new Internet Restore feature, but thats where the disappointment began, and after some experimentation it became clear to him that the new 2011 MacBook Pro he received doesn’t include Internet Restore., and that, comnbined with the fact that Apple includes neither any physical restore medium NOR Apples interesting new Internet Recovery feature troubles him, noting that users experiencing a hard drive failure under these conditions would no longer be able to restore their machine themselves but obliged to make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store or Authorized Service Provider, and probably wait at least a full business day and possibly longer before they had the use of their machine again – a particular concern being hard drive failure after Apples 1-year warranty or AppleCare have expired which would presumably result in being dunned for a premium service fee for the repair.

The workaround of course is to create (ie: hack) your own bootable Lion installer, adding another layer of time expenditure, expense and inconvenience.

He notes thst Apple will be making a USB drive containing OS X Lion available in August (for a stiff tariff of $79.95.

These developments can’t be considered advancements, and certianly amount to diminished value. A good reason to consider picking up a remaindered or refurbished early 2011 MacBook Pro if you’re in the market to update your system, which will net you Snow Leopard support in the bargain.

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