Today I asked myself the question, when did I get my iMac? (yes I am considered a normal person) Normally on a Macbook (Pro) I would use Coconut Battery, but on an iMac, there is no such thing as a battery. So I went online an did a search. I found out that you can determine a lot about your Mac from it’s serial number.
So here is the deal….
You might think those numbers and letters are random, but each one actually contains vital info about your computer. Deciphering the code reasonably simple. The alphabetic prefix consists of one or two letters designating a factory code, such as:
- F: Fremont, California, USA
- CK: Cork, Ireland
- SG or E: Singapore
- UV: Taiwan
- QT: Taiwan (Quanta Factory)
- W8: Shanghai China
- PT: Korea
- there are others, but I don’t have a complete list. Perhaps I will when the comments pour in!
For Example, one of my Macs, has a serial number of SG7331FSK59, so I know it was manufactured in Singapore. The first numerical character indicates the last digit of the year of production. Common sense should tell you which decade your Mac was made in. Using the above serial number, it’s safe to assume my Mac was made in the year 2007.
The next two digits indicate the week of the year it was produced. So my Mac was made the 33rd week of the year 2007.
According to Macfaq.org, the next three characters are a three-digit base-34 unique identifier. (The letters ‘O’ and ‘I’ are not used, apparently to avoid confusion with the numbers zero and one.) My Mac appears to have been number 1692 within production week 33 of the year 2007. The remainder of the serial number tells the model number.
To find out more about your own computer, you can save yourself the trouble of having to decode the serial number yourself by using Chipmunk’s online Mac Serial Decoder.
You can find your Mac’s serial number by going to your Apple Menu and choose ‘About this Mac’. Then on the Hardware Overview you will find your serial number.
Courtesy of Laurie A. Duncan of Tuaw
