Confusion over what MacBook Pro I have just bought.

Smudger_1767 wrote:

Hi

It just says 2.6GHZ Quad core i7

It doesn't say the year.

As D.J. Johnson and MacTracker indicate, the only Macs with model number A1398 and a 2.6 GHz Core i7 are the 15" Retina MacBook Pros from Mid 2012 and Late 2013.

When I take the back off it looks like a 2015. I've searched on YouTube and the insides look like a 2015 not the 2012.

I don't think I'd take YouTube as authoritative if the Mac itself is giving you information indicating that it is a Mid 2012 version. A1398 + 2.6 GHz Core i7 narrows it down as indicated above – and you say that you entered the serial number into some tool (on Apple's site?) that indicated that it was a Mid 2012 model.

What you probably are not taking into account is that Apple released two 15" Mid 2012 MacBook Pros. One was the first 15" model with a Retina screen. The other was the last 15" model with a non-Retina screen. These models are very different inside. Among other things,

• The non-Retina model had upgradable RAM and a bay for a slot-loading CD/DVD drive.
• The Retina model had soldered-in RAM and no optical drive bay.

Plus the ports on this are:

Left side:

Power connector T2

2X Thunderport

1x USB 3

Headphone Jack

Right Side:

1x USB 3

Card Reader

1X HDMI

That's not a 2012 right?

That matches the illustrations on Apple's site for the 15" Mid 2012 Retina MacBook Pro (the one whose model number and CPU specifications match yours):

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) - Technical Specifications

The non-Retina model looks different. It has only one Thunderbolt port, but it had a Firewire 800 port, and a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a slot-loading SuperDrive (CD/DVD drive) that the Retina model lacked.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) - Technical Specifications

Identify your MacBook Pro model - Apple Support

https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1612/en_US/macbook_pro-15-inch_mid-2012-quick_start_guide.pdf

The Technical Specifications lack illustrations, but if you look in the Quick Start Guide, you'll see that the slot-loading drive's opening is on the right side, and the rest of the ports are on the left side.

D.J. Johnson pointed out that Apple reused model number A1398. MacTracker says that A1398 matches five 15" Retina MacBook Pro models with hardware release dates ranging from Mid 2012 to Mid 2015.

Everything that Mac is telling you indicates that it is a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012). You can upgrade its version of macOS to Catalina, but no higher.

Apple used the 2.6 GHz i7 in the MacBook Pro mid-2012 and the late-2013 model.

There was no 2.6 GHz i7 MBP released in 2015.

This according to Mactracker app.

All are model A1398, btw.

What does it say about the screen size, model name, and hardware release date in About This Mac in the Apple () menu?

Does the serial number on the bottom panel match the one in "About this Mac..."?

In 2012 there were both Retina and non-Retina models. By 2015, there were only Retina MBPs.

Smudger_1767 wrote:

Hi all

I have just bought a used MacBook Pro, which was sold as a mid 2015 model. When I use the serial number it says its a 2012 MacBook Pro.

The specs on the About my mac says its a 2.6 Quad core i7, but I dint think that apple did a 2.6ghz version of the 2015. On the bottom of the laptop it also says the model is a 1398, and again apple didn't do a 2.6ghz version.

So I'm a bit confused, any suggestions please.

P.S The insides definitely look like a mid 2015, but again the serial number doesn't add up.

Serial number from where?

>About this Mac you should see information ....(?)

From the Terminal.app you can see Serial Number, copy & paste:

ioreg -l | awk -F\" ' /IOPlatformSerialNumber/ { print $4 } '

for the model number, copy & paste:

sysctl hw.model | awk '{ print $2 }'

Identify your MacBook Pro model

Allan Jones wrote:

In 2012 there were both Retina and non-Retina models. By 2015, there were only Retina MBPs.

After October 2013, the 13" Mid 2012 MBP was the only non-Retina MBP in Apple's lineup. Apple sold it side by side with 13" Retina MBPs until October 2016.

All of the "plain" MacBooks introduced after 2012 were 12" Retina models. The MacBook Airs did not get Retina screens until 2018.