How can you tell what week a MacBook/Pro is?

[Topono]

How can you tell? It seems that the more weeks go by, the less chance of getting a buggy MacBook Pro. How do you tell? Do you have to start it up? If I were to buy a MBP now, what week would it most likely be?

 

[celebrian23]

it has something to do with the serial number...

sorry I'm not much help

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Patience... bumping is not very popular... especially after just an hour...

Look at your serial number. As far as I remember it's the 4th and 5th positioned number. The serial number o my MacBook is 4H6226*****, ie. it's made in week 22 (which sounds reasonable, since I received it early in week 24).

And slightly related but still, if you need week numbers in iCal, subscribe here (also available in Norwegian, German and French).

 

[GoCubsGo]

Patience... bumping is not very popular... especially after just an hour...

Look at your serial number. As far as I remember it's the 4th and 5th positioned number. The serial number o my MacBook is 4H6226*****, ie. it's made in week 22 (which sounds reasonable, since I received it early in week 24).

And slightly related but still, if you need week numbers in iCal, subscribe here (also available in Norwegian, German and French).

Thanks for the link.
Does this logic work for PowerBooks? i never understood the whole rev a-e or whatever they had.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Thanks for the link.

You're welcome...

Does this logic work for PowerBooks? i never understood the whole rev a-e or whatever they had.

I have no idea... I seem to remember there was a website, widget or (coconut?) application that could tell when my iBook was made... but I'm not really sure...

The serial number "trick" I think was mentioned somewhere here at MR or at the discussions over at Apple Support (or most likely someone here at MR mentioned the Apple discussion). I cannot keep track of every thing I read...

Edit: On the other hand, the serial number on my iBook G4 is UV3470***** and it's very likely that it's a week 47, since I got it in November 2003...

 

[bobber205]

Mine says week 26. Sounds right!

 

[sonictonic]

I got a "week 29" MacBook yesterday! I am hopin it's a good one. So far it's awesome.

 

[Topono]

Thanks!

 

[cboissel]

this seems wierd...how many weeks have they been producing these computers? or does 'week' mean something else?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

this seems wierd...how many weeks have they been producing these computers? or does 'week' mean something else?

It's the week number it's been produced. A week 22, like mine, is produced between May 29th and June 4th, which was week 22 (with weeks starting on Mondays, that is).

Week 1 is the first week of the year. Now we're in week 30.

If you often wonder which week it is, try subscribing to the iCal week numbers (which are also linked to earlier in this thread).

 

[drummerbooker14]

yes it is the week of the year not the week since production started

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Thanks for the link.
Does this logic work for PowerBooks? i never understood the whole rev a-e or whatever they had.

As mentioned, week number resets every year. Common convention is that weeks start on Monday, and 'week 1' starts on the first Monday in January. (So, for example, this year had January 1st on Sunday, so it was technically part of week 52 of 2005, while week 1 of 2006 started on January 2nd.)

The whole rev a-e thing is when they made an update to the computer. So a 'rev a' computer means it is the first iteration of that model. The just-released Mac Pro would be a 'rev a'. The mini, iMac, and MacBook are all in 'rev a'. The 15" MacBook Pro is currently in 'rev b' because they boosted the processor speeds, while the 17" MacBook Pro is still 'rev a'.

There were five revisions of the Aluminum PowerBooks, so they are labeled 'rev a', 'rev b', etc. (Some models get more descriptive revisions, like the Titanium PowerBook G4, which had 'DVI', 'SuperDrive', etc. Sometimes people also refer to the revision by its top speed, so the Power Mac G5s could be called 'G5 (2 GHz,)' 'G5 (2.7 GHz,)' and 'G5 (Quad)'. (The quad getting a descriptive identifier.) Apple usually refers to them by release date. For example, the education-only iMac Core Duo (with integrated graphics and a Combo Drive,) is officially 'iMac (mid-2006)' where the consumer model is 'iMac (early 2006)'.

Yes, it can be confusing. Check out Low End Mac to look up info on the various generations of Mac.