So here's my story. I recently bought a used late 2008 aluminum macbook 2.4 ghz core 2 duo, 4 gb ram, nvidia 9400m etc etc. I failed to ask the owner to include the original leopard dvd that came with the macbook in the transaction. i realized this a month after the purchase and cannot contact the owner. he ignores phone calls. So now i must call apple for replacement dvds. I had a bad experience with an iphone that i once purchase used and turned out to be stolen and was eventually tracked to me. ( that issue was resolved haha). I am just wary with these sorts of things now. Is there a way to check with a serial number if a certain macbook was reported stolen to apple? because i would rather not get in trouble when ordering replacement discs from apple with my credit card! Or am i worrying too much?

You can always pop into one of the Apple Stores or one of their certified distributors and buy a Snow Leopard DVD for $29 with cash? That way the they wouldn't associate you with the credit card?

As for the stolen/not stolen thing; don't buy second hand unless you're 100% sure that person can be trusted and that you can get in contact if you need. If you don't, it's just better to look in the refurbished section of the Apple Online Store, or get someone at a School/University to get it with the education discount...

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iMac 20' Intel Core 2 duo 2.16GHz, 4GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, Mac OS X 10.5.1 "Leopard"
Hackintosh Q6600 4GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, 9800GT, Mac OS X 10.5.6 "Leopard" (EFI-X)
Macbook 13' Intel Core 2 duo 2.2GHz, 4GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, Mac OS X 10.5.6 "Leopard"
iPhone 2G (8GB) 2.2 (1.1.2 OTB) Week 48 J'B'ken + Activated + Unlocked