Mac model naming conventions

On 25/09/2007 9:02 PM, "Paul Durrant" <pauldurrant.co.uk> spake thus:

> It makes it a little more difficult for those of us who like to keep
> track of the Mac market, and for technicians to identify what exact
> model people have

It's also a royal pain when you want to look up the specs for your machine
for whatever reason. For example, late last year I was trying to find out
whether my old G4 was capable of driving a 1920x1200 Dell 24" monitor at
full resolution. From memory the video card in a G4 (PCI Graphics) couldn't
but a G4 (AGP Graphics) could, so the difference was quite significant (I
have AGP Graphics as it turns out). This kind of thing is hard enough to
figure out for people who know what they're doing, let alone someone who
doesn't.

I don't know why Apple can't just make a service available on their web site
where you enter a machine's serial number and it tells you what it is.
*Especially* now that you can easily get the serial number from "About this
Mac". Only make it available through an Apple ID if privacy is a concern.

"You, Sir, have a Mac Pro (Jet Assisted Takeoff)." (That's what my Mac Pro
briefly sounds like when it comes out of sleep --- the fans spun up to 2000
RPM the other day before settling down.)

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

--On 9/26/2007 1:00 AM -0700 Nigel Stanger wrote:

> On 25/09/2007 9:02 PM, "Paul Durrant" <pauldurrant.co.uk> spake thus:
>
>> It makes it a little more difficult for those of us who like to keep
>> track of the Mac market, and for technicians to identify what exact
>> model people have
>
> It's also a royal pain when you want to look up the specs for your machine
> for whatever reason.

And it's particularly bad when you have an oddball machine that's late to
get into the lists; for years, Other World Computing's upgrade identifier
and a lot of other lists didn't even know there _was_ a "Power Mac G4
(Mirrored Drive Doors 2003)".

(Not to be confused with the earlier and more common "Power Mac G4
(Mirrored Drive Doors)", the PMG4(MDD2003) was the last G4 desktop sold,
and when I bought it in a clearance deal was the only new machine that was
still able to boot into Mac OS 9.)

Dave

At 1:00 AM -0700 9/26/07, Nigel Stanger wrote:
>I don't know why Apple can't just make a service available on their web site
>where you enter a machine's serial number and it tells you what it is.
>*Especially* now that you can easily get the serial number from "About this
>Mac". Only make it available through an Apple ID if privacy is a concern.

        A google search of "Macintosh serial number" turns up
<http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html>
where you can enter a serial number and it will give you info about that
machine - I use it all the time for client computer identification.


--
* Johann Beda - contact link: <http://xri.net/=j-beda> *
* Johann's MostlyMac Computer Consulting - <http://mmcc.beda.ca/> *

On Sep 26, 2007, at 1:00 AM, Nigel Stanger wrote:

> I don't know why Apple can't just make a service available on their
> web site
> where you enter a machine's serial number and it tells you what it is.

Actually, they do.

http://www.apple.com/support/

Enter your serial number in the "About your support coverage" field
at the bottom of the page. It will return your warranty/AppleCare
status, and the model description of your specific Mac.

- Todd

On 27/09/2007 6:07 AM, "Todd Ruston" <toddhackneyponies.com> spake thus:

> Actually, they do.

Well they should advertise it better then :)

However, I have my doubts as to how how far back it goes. It certainly
recognises the 2004 vintage G5 I use at work, but what about older machines?
I can't check my G4 because it's at home, but it definitely doesn't
recognise the G4 Cube I have sitting on the shelf in my office, so I suspect
my 2001-vintage G4 is out for the count too. (Just for fun I pulled the
serial number off the back of a Power Mac 6100/60 that's gathering dust in
the corner; not surprisingly it doesn't recognise that either ;)

On 27/09/2007 6:07 AM, "Johann Beda" <st-tidbits.combeda.ca> spake thus:

> <http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html>

On the other hand, this one recognised all of the machines mentioned above.
Wow! That site's definitely getting bookmarked :)

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

Let's also not forget about the excellent spec database, MacTracker.

http://www.mactracker.ca

I use it all the time. There's even an iPod (and iPhone) version now.
Good stuff.

- Damien Barrett

Todd Ruston wrote:
> On Sep 26, 2007, at 1:00 AM, Nigel Stanger wrote:
>
>> I don't know why Apple can't just make a service available on their
>> web site
>> where you enter a machine's serial number and it tells you what it is.
>
> Actually, they do.
>
> http://www.apple.com/support/
>
> Enter your serial number in the "About your support coverage" field
> at the bottom of the page. It will return your warranty/AppleCare
> status, and the model description of your specific Mac.
>
Interestingly I'm just now reading this thread and a few hours ago was trying to figure out which MDD system was in front of me to be able to find the specs. The specifications page now has a serial number box and it appears to work even with refurb units. I just copied the serial from the About this Mac information window, pasted it in, and the correct spec page came up.

Nice.

David Ross

On Sep 27, 2007, at 12:16 AM, Nigel Stanger wrote:

> On 27/09/2007 6:07 AM, "Johann Beda" <st-tidbits.combeda.ca> spake
> thus:
>
>> <http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html>
>
> On the other hand, this one recognised all of the machines
> mentioned above.
> Wow! That site's definitely getting bookmarked :)

The chipmunk found the serial number from the Mac SE I have in my
closet; I wonder how far back it goes?

Malcolm

a comment on http://db.tidbits.com/article/9191

> many, and even publications like Macworld and Ars
> Technica have gone so far as to claim the new iMacs
> and MacBook Pros "use the Santa Rosa chipset."

> Unfortunately, it is simply wrong

> Santa Rosa is not a chipset, but rather Intel's code
> name for their most recent mobile computing platform.

Point taken, but I think the author is being too pedantic.

Let's take an automobile analogy. May a speaker say that some
new car "uses a Chrysler minivan engine"? "Chrysler minivan"
is not an engine, yet it is fine to use "Chrysler minivan"
as an adjective phrase to indicate that the speaker intends
the kind of engine associated with the Chrysler minivan platform.

Likewise a speaker may say "Santa Rosa chipset" to indicate
that that s/he intends the kind of chipset associated with
the Santa Rosa platform. There's nothing improper in this.

regards,
-tuc

Of course, unique names are still needed as soon as it comes to support or hardware repairs. On their support site Apple uses additional monikers to distinguish the models from each other. The latest iMacs and MacBook Pros are referred to as "Mid 2007" The models with Summer (or other seasons) are meaningless to those outside the USA. Looking at an iBook and quickly ascertaining it is late, early or mid, or a G4 and noticing it has PCI or AGP graphics, or an old iMac for Rev-A or Rev-B etc, is just a time waster.

I have settled upon the last three digits of the serial number. Easy to find, definitive whether the machine is on or off, OS9 or OS X, small to log and write, unique to each model change, and immeasurably helpful for compatibility with Disc Images you have, are creating or wish to create.

Any documentation I save which has different maintenance processes for different models, (such as resetting PMU), I can easily write the three letters next to the appropriate information. Now I can quickly see from a list, which parts of it apply to models actually in use at a particular site.

Fantastic to see the sites mentioned... <http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html> <http://www.mactracker.ca> and <http://www.apple.com/support/> with the instructions [Enter your serial number in the "About your support coverage" field at the bottom of the page. It will return your warranty/AppleCare status, and the model description of your specific Mac.]

Ideally we would do this lookup once as a technician (per machine in question) and then be able to easily link any found info on the Apple/Support site to it. Now, if you could type in kbibook, MMU, "power manager reset" and get precisely the instructions for that model, we'd all be happy. (Discounting of course the archaic requirement to enter kb.)

As a side note, cars with the same model name tend to be known by variances such as the "straight grille", "Lucas ignition", "bucket seats", "fuel injected", "walnut dash", or whatever _obvious_ feature differentiates them from others in the line. Regards Jeremy