PC Savy - Mac Noob W/ Question(s)

If it has Lion or Mountain Lion, reboot and hold Cmd-R to boot to the recovery partition.

This article should walk you through the rest: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Which operating system does the Macbook air have?

You can find this in the apple menu --> about this mac just under where it says Mac OS X you should see version 10.x.x

Once we know this we can help you.

Click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen and select "About this Mac". Then tell us what version you see.

TheRealDamager said:

Click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen and select "About this Mac". Then tell us what version you see.

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To clarify, just give us the number (10.7.4, 10.6.8, 10.8.0).

There's a restoration process I beleive if you hold down the option button upon boot. You will need an internet connection. Mine came with Lion installed and I upgraded to ML. Not sure if the restoration will be to the old Lion or the new ML.

Would be really convenient to be able to have a copy of ML on a USB stick and go from there.

RELiG said:

I have internet, so no problem there. The only thing I know is this is an OLD model. Probably like 2005 or close.

How large are Mac OS's?
How much can they be had for?
How hard is it to upgrade OS?
Once restoration is complete, do programs like 'garage band' come with factory OS's?

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The first macbook airs were released in 2008. Are you sure you have a macbook air?
Mac OS in recent years have been about between 3-5gb
OS X can be had for anywhere from 20$ to 100$ depending on the version (in recent years the os has been cheaper)

Once we know which OS you have it will be easier to address the restoration process.
Programs like garage band come with iLife a separate suite of software then the OS.

I'm not so sure about the 2008 air but all new macs come with the ilife suite as part of the os. This gives you access to photo, video, and music editing/recording suites.

Edit: to clarify these programs are called, iphoto,I movie and garageband. You can read more about them on apples website or wikipedia

as others have said if you the machine is running click the apple in the top left corner of the screen. click about this mac and then click more info. right below the apple logo on that window it opened it will say OS X and have a version number for example 10.6 if its not showing that (it could say build XXXX or serial number) just click on the text thats showing and it will switch thru the info.

If its got 10.7 you can download it via internet recovery. If its anything older there are a couple different ways of going about it.

if you'd like to identify the machine thats pretty simple. Either click the more info button in the about this mac window. Or snap a picture and upload it. I'm sure somebody here can help you identify what kind of machine it is

Your best bet is probably to get your hands on a Lion or Mountain Lion install USB to do a clean install.. or a Snow Leaopard Disc and a USB DVD Drive.

RELiG said:

Also I tried to do the command R and nothing happened. Do you have to hold the power button down with command R? I pressed the power button and saw a light flash indicating power then immediately held command R till I saw the apple logo. It just loaded the regular folders/files as normal.

I was reading and it said you had to have a Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. Well it has no place for Ethernet plug in and I can't turn "Airport" on because it will ask for a password. this is so annoying!

Click to expand...

yea the command R portion will only work with 10.7 or 10.8 which your machine does not have yet.

a usb to ethernet adapter will give you ethernet. If you can make a install flash drive of snow leopard, lion or mountain lion then you can boot to that and wipe the hard drive so its a fresh machine with your own user account and password.

RELiG said:

I have Mac OS X Version 10.6.4 ... 1.8 GHz. Intel Core 2 Duo

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It sounds like an early 2008 model. That was the only one that used a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo. The late 2008 - late 2010 models used a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo. Unfortunately, you won't be able to order Mountain Lion (10.8) since it won't run on that model, and you can no longer download 10.7 (Lion) from the Internet.

Your best bet may be to purchase a USB restore key, which was included with the 2010 MacBook Airs. Here is a link to an eBay sale.

If you can get your hands on a restore CD, you can use any USB CD/DVD drive with the MacBook Air, not just the one that Apple sells for $79.

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RELiG said:

If I was going to buy an OS X, which would you suggest?
Also once I do get the software, is it as simple as drag & drop items onto flash drive like Windows?

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I'd stick with 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which is what is on there now. Lion will install, but it is a bit slow on the older MacBook Airs.

RELiG said:

Nice, didnt know they made those.

So what steps do I need to follow once this comes in the mail?
How do I get it to boot from flash drive?

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Put it in, and hold down the option key while you restart it. It will give you an option as to what drive to boot from. Boot from the Restore key, and it should open up into the OS X installation screen. You can run Disk Utility from the menu, where you can format the hard drive, and then reinstall the OS.

RELiG said:

Ok. I put the USB in and and got to the screen where you choose option, but I dont see the option to choose USB. It just has the picture of the Mac HD.

Click to expand...

What format is the drive in?

You need to hold down the option key throughout the entire boot process. Eventually it should give you a screen that shows the Macintosh HD, as well as an external media (I don't recall if it looks like a CD drive or a USB key). In any case, whatever the other choice is, click on that and it should boot up using the key.

If it doesn't make sure that the key actually has data on it. Note that it plugs into the bottom half of the USB port (it's half-height). Try booting into OS X normally, and then seeing if it recognizes the key when you plug it in.