How to Factory Reset a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro (with an Intel chip or macOS Big Sur and older) Once you've followed the steps, your Mac will reboot and return to factory settings, with the exception that it will still run the most current macOS instead of the version it originally came out of the box with. Open System PreferencesĮrase Assistant will walk you through the factory resetting process, which will require you to log out of iCloud before it completes. If you have a new Mac running macOS Monterey, then returning it to its factory settings is actually very easy thanks to its support for the Erase Assistant feature. How to Factory Reset a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro (macOS Monterey)

If you have a Mac with Apple silicon, that same item will be labeled 'Chip,' followed by the name of the chip. If you have a Mac with an Intel processor, About This Mac shows an item labeled 'Processor,' followed by the name of an Intel processor.

Select the Apple logo (located top-left corner of the Menu bar).

To find out what year your Mac is a nd what operating system it is running: If you're not running Monterey, or your Mac is from 2017 or earlier, you'll have to use different, more complicated instructions. You can find it in System Preferences and selecting Time Machine.Ĭheck your Mac's age and OS: If you have a Mac that's from 2018 or newer (all M1 and M2 Macs fit this bill), it will have Apple's T2 security chip and can take advantage of the new Erase Assistant feature, which makes the factory resetting process way easier, so long as you're running macOS Monterey. Apple's Time Machine that makes backing up your Mac very easy.

And there are more steps.īackup your Mac: Before factory resetting, you should log out of your accounts (such as iCloud and iMessage) and backup your Mac. But factory resetting a Mac isn't quite as straightforward as factory resetting Apple's other devices, like an Apple Watch, HomePod, or AirTag.

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