OS X Mavericks Portable Genius

Chapter 1 How Do I Get Started with Mavericks?

You are about to embark on the world’s most advanced operating system experience, courtesy of Apple. In this chapter, I show you how to get OS X Mavericks up and running, as well as how to navigate Mavericks using the Finder application, which helps you find just about anything on your Mac. I also cover how to view a file without opening its parent application, how to find items on your Mac, easy ways to manipulate numerous open windows, and the latest and greatest method for launching your applications.

System Requirements for Installing Mavericks

As eager as you probably are to get started, make sure that your Mac meets all the necessary hardware requirements for properly installing and running Mavericks. Table 1.1 lists the requirements.

Table 1.1 Requirements for Installing Mavericks

Requirement	Minimum Specifications
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better.
Memory	2GB is needed to run all the bells and whistles at a decent speed.
Media	Internet access is required to upgrade your Mac to Mavericks. You also must be running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or higher to install Mavericks from the Mac App Store.
Hard drive or solid- state storage	At least 8GB of free space.

What’s New in Mavericks?

Apple has been busy: Mavericks adds more than 200 new features to OS X! But it’s not the quantity ...