Free software

I'm purchasing a new 8 core mac pro that comes preloaded with about 5k worth of software (final cut studio 2, adobe creative suite, toast titanium, logic studio 8, office, and more). I know I don't need a machine this powerful, for home video editing, but since it has all the software, it seems to be a great value for $4,000 vs. an imac for which I'd need to purchase the software.

Is it common for new machines to come pre-loaded like this? How can the seller provide all this software for free? Priced out on apple.com, the machine alone with the specs would be $4600 and more than 10k with the software. I'm a little skeptical.... should I be concerned, or do deals like this really exist?

Most likely pirated software. Ask for serial number documentation for all the programs. If they can't provide it then it's most likely stolen software.

Anything is possible I guess. If you do purchase this machine, ensure that the machine comes with the discs and more importantly, ensure that the discs and licenses are legit. My guess is that if the seller is selling the machine with ~ $6k of software, it's likely not legit. If it's not legit, don't purchase the machine.

What are the consequences (for me) if it's not legit?

Well, you would be using software that was downloaded/purchased illegally. Use of the software as well is also against the law.

mmorgan22 said:

What are the consequences (for me) if it's not legit?

Click to expand...

I will call the police on you.

LOL.. 9 times out of 10, all of that software will be pirated. It could still be a good system though.

Yeah, I highly doubt that software is legal - might state in the add its installed for 'testing purposes'? Seen that before.

Aside from the software not being legal, software updates will probably cause the software to stop working due to product key or activation patches used...

I can almost guarantee you that the software titles included with the Mac Pro are illegal copies. I see this sort of thing on e-Bay & Craig's List all the time.

You can buy a brand new 8-core Mac Pro from the Apple Store for $3299 (not sure of the specs of the computer you're looking at)...the seller of this Mac Pro is charging $4000 with the software.

I can practically guarantee you this is the exact same software "bundle" this seller includes on all the machine's they sell...and they are "only" charging a bit more for thousands & thousand's of dollars of software.

If all of this of this software was legal...why would the seller be including $5,000+ of software for next to nothing?...because at best they are just installed copies...which costs the seller nothing to install.

Just in case this whole deal is legit...then the seller would or should be including all software install disks, manuals, and serial numbers. Otherwise, all the software is illegal!!!

Good luck,

- Nick

And remember if the programs do NOT come with the original install discs, and passwords, betcha they have been placed on the machine illegally.

mmorgan22 said:

What are the consequences (for me) if it's not legit?

Click to expand...

You'll never get support or upgrades, and if one of them decides to misbehave, it's probably useless.