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Easiest method to clean installing macOS?
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Assuming your Mac is an Apple Silicon machine or an Intel machine with a T2 chip, the easiest way in Sonoma is to open System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset (2nd from the bottom) > Erase All Content and Settings.
That's it. Nothing more is required. When this is complete you will be left with a factory fresh machine with no leftover user data.
support.apple.com
If you have an older Intel Mac, then you should use Recovery. Here are those instructions:
support.apple.com
That's it. Nothing more is required. When this is complete you will be left with a factory fresh machine with no leftover user data.
Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support
Use Erase All Content and Settings to quickly and securely erase all of your settings, data, and apps, while maintaining the operating system currently installed.
Erase your Mac
Use Erase Assistant on a Mac with Apple silicon or an Intel-based Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip to remove all content and settings.
support.apple.com
If you have an older Intel Mac, then you should use Recovery. Here are those instructions:
Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support
How to erase (format) the built-in startup disk of an Intel-based Mac.
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None at all. The end result is the same. That's because the operating system is on a separate volume than user data, and that system volume is read-only. In fact, every Mac running the same operating system has the same system volume, bit for bit. The Mac evaluates system integrity at boot time and if even a single bit doesn't match, it won't boot.
When you Erase all content and settings, you're just wiping the user data (really it's just deleting the encryption keys, which renders the user data unreadable). The system doesn't need to change at all.
I believe if you change a file in the system volume, it'll actually make a copy of it with the same name on the data volume. The original system file is left untouched, and Erase All Content and Settings will revert back to it.
I don't believe you can change anything on the system volume, or else the machine will fail to boot. But Nermal may be correct. Though if you change something it should fail signature verification.
Signed system volume security
SSV not only helps prevent tampering with any Apple software that’s part of the operating system, it also makes macOS software update more reliable and much safer.
support.apple.com
It's not easy, it's complicated and I wouldn't recommend it https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tem-volume-as-writeable.2332937/post-30822017
Related thread about clean install https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/update-brand-new-mac-without-setting-it-up.2414310/
In one of the links you provided above, you stated in the thread that "Erase All Content and Settings" doesn't make a Mac like new as it doesn't delete other partitions you might have. But what if you don't have other partitions other than what the Mac came with or has by default? In this case, would "Erase All Content and Settings" be like starting new?
Also, what method do you recommend to wipe everything and start new (just in case I want to do that)? Can I boot into macOS Recovery, delete the macOS volume (and another other volumes if there are any), redownload the latest version of macOS using the built-in feature in macOS Recovery, and install macOS again?
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My experience of Erase all Content and settings was when I had dual booting set up and launched Erase all Content and Settings from one, expecting it to leave the other in tact but it didn't.
However my dual boot were onto separate volumes in the same container as recommended by Apple. Maybe separate containers (= partitions) are preserved
Just got done wiping/erasing the whole drive and reinstalling macOS using macOS Recovery. Everything went fine. However, I noticed GarageBand, iMovie, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are no longer installed. Guess they are not included in the default apps in macOS.
Correct. I'm not sure why (historically you had to pay for them, so they were "included with purchase of a new Mac" only, but now that they're free I don't know why there's still a separation).