Yes. It ships with a virgin disk image. You can format the main partition and do a totally clean install from the base system partition.

It won't let me do that install (it says that it's the boot disk?) so I'm going with the install of OS X Lion and the two hour download from the internet. No doubt there will be a message at the end of all that I can't wait to read.

Tomorrow.

I don't like that there's not enough documentation shipping with this or in help screens to make decisions, and that googling indicates that machines ship in different enough Lion configurations that you don't have all the same choices for recovery.

But it's not like I wouldn't be out of my depth at this point with Windows 7 anyway. Most OSs have left me by. Android is honestly the one I feel most comfortable with at this point, which is weird.

I think Apple's desire to make Lion all online led to a seriously confusing process. Plus, I don't like that you can't sell your copy of Lion! I just sold my old Macbook, which had been upgraded to Lion, and had to reset it back to Snow Leopard to sell it, even though I really don't need my copy of Lion anymore. But Lion purchased from the app store is associated with the account, not the computer, and nontransferable. I hate that.

I could have made a USB key from the downloaded version, but that's of questionable legality since there's no way to disassociate the copy with my account. Just let me transfer it to the new owner!

Well, whatever I did to reinstall the OS didn't wipe the account. But I went to bed and let stuff happen, so I'm not sure how the couple of hours ended. I'm doing it again, since the description seems to state I get to set Lion up again, which is what I need to do.

Has Apple stated their goal in making you life bond with a piece of software?

Removing resale? The Mac/iOS app store is the same thing as the Kindle or Nook stores, none of which allow transfer. I hate it on all of them, but for the OS specifically it seems really dumb.

Yeah, I can make peace that the $10 books I put on my $80 device (or on a free app on an existing device) will stick with me forever, should I play by the rules, but an actual OS on a laptop that can be north of 2 grand? More confusing.

The Mac/iOS app store is the same thing as the Kindle or Nook stores, none of which allow transfer.

Wait, are you talking about iOS apps? Because every app I buy gets transferred to all three of my iOS devices.

Or are the apps tied to the computer I sync from? and if I replace that computer I can't transfer apps?

I think the point is that you can't sell me one of those apps. Or books.

So the reinstall is in the actual install step now. Whatever happened overnight didn't touch security. It's two hours of downloading something from the internet (that it doesn't keep), because it downloaded again this morning, and about 45 minutes installing.

WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I BE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST AND ALL SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPTS AT THIS?

I'm...that really chaps my ass. I love the internet, and plan to have its babies later this year, but that's neither practical nor fair. If all this shit had gone down in the airport on the way to Kenya, I'd pretty much have been up shit creek for a week and a half, and that's not what I bought my computer and the operating system for. I'm interested in some practicality here.

I think the point is that you can't sell me one of those apps. Or books.

Oh. Duh.

Okay, now I'm beyond pissed, because this isn't about me being clueless newb anymore. I followed the instructions EXACTLY, and now I'm at the "contact Applecare" stage of the entertainment.

Here's what Lucy (when I'm less mad, she gets a name that doesn't yank footballs away) told me to do:

Select Disk Utility and then click continue
Select your disk from the list on the left, and the click the erase tab
Select Mac OS Extended (journaled) from the Format pop-up menu, type a name for your disk (Mary), and then click Erase. After the disk as been erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility Select Reinstall Max OS X, click Continue, and then follow the instructions in the Mac OS X Installer to reinstall Lion.

Here's what the computer tells me:

Could not write installation information to disk. Contact AppleCare. [OK]

No, it's not freaking OK. Don't imply it is. You're wired to the Internet, Mary verifies just fine. I can repair for shits and giggles, but there are 3 folders and 2 files, and not much going on, including writing installation information to my brand new fucking laptop.

What would I have to do in order to be able to restore OS X Base System onto Mary? If I actually click on disk1, not OS X Base System, it gives me Restore Failure Could not validate source- error 254. If I pick OS X Base System like feels good and true, instead it tells me that The startup disk can't be used as a restore source. To use this disk as a source, restart your computer using the recovery system, and open Disk Utility again.

Is my problem that I'm trying to restore from the recovery system? So I'm SOL by definition?

Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve outside pants?