Apple did its best Oprah impression at Tuesday's press event, announcing that it would be giving away all its newest OS X update, called Mavericks, at no charge.
You get OS X Mavericks! And you get OS X Mavericks!
This is surprising given the generally high prices of new desktop operating systems in the past: Previous versions of Mac OS X have cost as much as $129, with the last iteration, Mountain Lion, going for $19.99.
Needless to say, with a price tag of, well, nothing, no user currently on OS X Snow Leopard or later has any financial reason not to upgrade. So here is our step-by-step "how-to" on the Mavericks download and upgrade process.
First thing you'll need is a Mac computer (of course). As mentioned earlier, any Mac or MacBook running OS X Snow Leopard or newer is compatible with the Mavericks upgrade, so if you're not there yet, you'll have to upgrade to Snow Leopard first. Do note, however, if your computer is a little on the old side, not all of the new Mavericks features will be available with your setup. Click here to see Apple's full list of system requirements, feature by feature.
Follow this link to Apple's Mac Store Preview page for Mavericks and then either select "App Store" in the Launch Application pop-up window, or click the "View in Mac App Store" button on the left side of the web page. You can also click the Apple logo in the upper righthand corner of your screen, and then click "Software Update" to bring up the App Store as well.
You should now be at the Mavericks page in the Mac App Store. Click the "Free Upgrade" button on the left of the window, it should then turn green and read "Install App." Click "Install App" and you'll be prompted to enter your Apple ID credentials and select "Sign In."
The 5 GB download should begin now and may take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. Once that finishes up, the "Install OS X Mavericks" program should launch. If not, the icon will be in your LaunchPad. This app will take you step-by-step through the rest of the installation process.
You'll be asked to agree to Apple's terms of use and also to select the hard drive you'd like Mavericks installed to. If you have an external or secondary HD hooked up, you'll want to make sure to select your primary, which is often labeled "Macintosh HD."
After selecting "Install," you'll be asked for your OS administrator password. Enter that, click "OK," and then you can sit and watch the OS upgrade, going through a reboot and several screens before you arrive the Mavericks welcome screen and the Apple ID sign in prompt.
Just sign in with your Apple ID and you're done. Congrats! You're now an official Maverick.
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