iMac YEAR MADE missing on about my mac

This is a long shot but give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE 1: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following; 

• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)

• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically

• Disables user-installed fonts 

• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

I am not sure exactly what is missing. Can you post a screenshot? BUT make sure your have redacted the serial number? Otherwise the moderators here will delete your image.

The "Year made," the date of actual manufacture, has never been shown in "About this Mac, just the model and sub-model. This is from my 2017 5K:

The week of manufacture is said to be encoded in the serial number but Apple does not make their Secret Decoder Ringer available.

Some third-party apps and websites do decode, but I do not trust the websites. What I trust is a little app designed for checking battery performance on laptops and iDevices. It will run on an iMac. It is Coconut Battery. On my iMac, its opening sceen shows the date you seek:

The 22nd of Oct, 2018 was a Monday, so that is the week it was made.

In the About This Mac window, try clicking on the More Info... button

In the detailed report, you should see the model information, if you can't see it, maybe your monitor is not calibrated properly to see the light gray font color, check your brightness and contrast settings. On my monitor, I can see the text at any brightness setting from dimmest to brightest.

Also you can enter your Serial Number on this site (don't share that serial number on this forum) and that should show you the model information. I am not sure why this is not showing up on your machine.

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support

Looks like Apple changed things around in Ventura – so that the About This Mac dialog displays the model year in small, light grey text under the generic model name.

To get to the System Information screen, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Apple () menu. That screen includes a Model Identifier (e.g., "Mac13,1") that may help to identify the machine. (Apple has occasionally reused the same Model Identifier for different Macs, just to keep things intereresting…)

Hello ! When I look at "about this mac", the year and sub model name have disappeared under the main product name. It was clearly visible in March of this year, but it disappeared after the latest Ventura update. I'm curious how you solved this problem. I'm waitiing your answer

Apple changed the serial number composition and size on Macs after 2019 and applications or websites that attempted to decypher that afterward will fail to calculate the actual manufacture date accurately. I even had an Applescript that would attempt this that worked for my Late-2013 iMac but not my 2020 iMac.

gukhyeon wrote:

Hello ! When I look at "about this mac", the year and sub model name have disappeared under the main product name. It was clearly visible in March of this year, but it disappeared after the latest Ventura update. I'm curious how you solved this problem. I'm waitiing your answer

I have seen that happen on some of my organization's Macs, but they are also being managed so I cannot be certain if our MDM has some bearing on it. On my unmanaged M2 MBPro running Ventura, I still see the exact model in very small & extremely light gray font which is not as pronounced as it was for older Macs/macOS.

Hard to say what causes it to go missing, so it makes it nearly impossible to figure a way to get it displayed again. I have had the Trackpad System Settings/Preferences completely disappear on a clean install of macOS for some reason, only to magically return sometime later. I'm sure there may be a command line utility which can perhaps retrieve that information, but I don't know what it is....knowing Apple, the command line utility will probably change with another macOS upgrade anyway.

If you want to know the exact model of your Mac, then enter the system serial number on the following Apple "Check Coverage" page here:

Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support

+1

Allan:

I'm beginning to wonder about Coconutbattery as it shows my 2017 iMac as being manufactured on 6/4/2018 when I purchased it on 4/27/2017. Tis a puzzlement.

It's version 3.9.12.

Hi OT, are you certain about that purchase date? My info shows the 2017 iMac was released in June of that year.

Restart and retest.