download software at work on PC, install at home on iMac?

I have a very slow satellite connection at my home so the trend for purchasing new software through a download causes me to ask this question.

Will I be able to download my Apple software (Final Cut Pro X for example) at work, copy it onto some portable media, and then take that home and install the software onto my Mac? It's been a long time since I operated in the Mac world and in the old days this would have been almost impossible. I am considering getting an iMac in a couple of weeks.

Craig

You won't be able to download any software from the Apple Mac App store since you must be using at least OS X 10.6.8 in order to even access it.

However, there is no reason why you can't purchase and download software for your Mac from Amazon, and other legal sources to your PC, transfer to a flash drive and install later at home.

Ah, good points, thanks.

Will I lose any benefits by not buying through the Apple store - such as the ability to re-download if I need to? Thanks again.

Yes, definitely. The advantages of purchasing direct from the Mac App store are many: Discounted software, the ability to re-download, the ability to install on as many Macs as you own, and automatic updates.

To the best of my knowledge, the specific software you are referring to (the current version of Final Cut X) isn't available from any other source other than the Mac App Store.

zenhog said:

I am considering getting an iMac in a couple of weeks.

Click to expand...

Thought occurs that if your internet connection's that slow, you might want to invest in a MBP instead of a desktop machine, so that you can take your computer to places with better access?

Just an observation/suggestion...

But to answer the original question, yes you can download (non-Mac-app store) DMG files onto a PC. The DMG (disk image) file can then be put on say a thumb drive and transferred intact to the Mac, opened and used from there.