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Mac Identification Q&As (Identify Different Macs)
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Where can I locate the Model Identifier (Model ID) or Machine Model for my Mac? Are Model Identifiers unique? What are the limitations identifying a specific Mac using the Model Identifier?
The Model Identifier for a particular Mac -- often abbreviated as "Model ID" and called "Machine Model" in older versions of the Mac OS -- looks like MacBook5,1.
For identification purposes, the largest advantage of Model Identifiers is that they are available in the "About This Mac" section of Mac OS X. To access this information, simply select "About This Mac" under the Apple Menu on your computer and click the "More Info..." button.
You should see a window similar to this one:
Image Credit: EveryMac.com
By itself, the largest disadvantage of the Model Identifier is that it is not precise enough to identify a particular Mac, but it is "close enough" for many purposes (most upgrades, for example), and when combined with the processor type and speed (also available in the "Hardware Overview" window) it commonly -- but not always -- is enough to identify an exact Mac.
For the above MacBook -- from EveryMac.com's own collection -- the Model Identifier and processor speed are sufficient to quickly identify the model. When the Model Identifier and processor are not sufficient to identify an exact Mac you will need a third data point for differentiation, however.
For example, the White MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 13-Inch (Late 2006) and MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 13-Inch (Mid-2007) both use the MacBook2,1 Model Identifier and have 2.0 GHz "Core 2 Duo" processors. In this case, knowledge of the optical drive would work or you could use the year of original purchase (which is the third character in an eleven character serial number, so a Mac purchased in 2006 would have 6 as the third character and one purchased in 2007 would have 7 as the third character).
Alternately, in this situation, you could type in the last three characters of the Serial Number in EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Lookup to see if an exact match is available.
Other than a lack of precision, the other major disadvantage of the Model Identifier is that it is only listed in software, not on the hardware itself, so there is no way to use it at all if a computer won't boot.
A complete list of Model Identifiers/Machine Models from the By Identifier section of the site additionally may be useful.
Also see:
- Where can I locate the Order Number for my Mac? Are Order Numbers unique? What are the limitations identifying a specific Mac using Order Numbers?
- Where can I locate the Model Number or Family Number on my Mac? Are they unique? What are the limitations identifying a specific Mac using this identifier?
- Where can I locate the EMC Number on my Mac? Are EMC Numbers unique? What are the limitations identifying a specific Mac using EMC Numbers?
- Where can I locate the Serial Number on my Mac? What is a Serial Number "Snippet"? Are Serial Number "Snippets" unique? What are the limitations identifying a specific Mac using the Serial Number?
If EveryMac.com does not return a list of applicable Macs for a given Model Identifier (or your Mac is not included), but you are able to track down your Mac using another identifier, please share any missing information. The Ultimate Mac Lookup feature already is quite comprehensive, but it will become more and more so with your additions. Thank you.
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