"About this Mac" Model and Year missing

Question

Level 1

27 points

"About this Mac" Model and Year missing

Hi Everyone

Have just installed Yosemite on my 2013 MacBook Air 11".

Everything is fine, except the model and year is missing from the "About the Mac". It's not a big thing, but it's bugging me.

Anyone know why this information would be missing? I'm wondering if something is wrong with my MBA. it was recently purchased second hand.

I have tried deleting com.apple.SystemProfiler.plist and rebooting, but still missing.

Thanks

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 27, 2015 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 29, 2015 6:45 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Hi Everyone

Well, I have just called AppleCare. Very friendly and helpful.

The answer is – because my laptop was originally a build to order, the model/year does not show up in “About This Mac”. MBAs purchased direct from a store will show the model/year correctly.

So that’s how it works!

Thank you to everyone for your help 🙂

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,144 points

Jun 28, 2015 8:39 AM in response to tyronehowe

This was tested on Mavericks 10.9.5, and Yosemite 10.10.3 before it was posted. Hardware was 2011 Mac mini, and 2014 MacBook Air respectively.

I copied the posted script back to the respective AppleScript editors on both platforms and duplicated my original testing results.

If Yosemite 10.10.3 is not reporting that model/year information in About this Mac for your Air, then my script is simply asking Apple the same information based on the last four characters of your serial number. That would indicate a gap in Apple's database information for your model/year MBA. Nothing I can do about that programmatically.

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,144 points

Jun 29, 2015 7:07 AM in response to tyronehowe

It is not that the script does not work, it is because your particular build to order machine is not listed in Apple's database that the script queries based on the last four characters of your machine serial number.

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,144 points

Jun 27, 2015 9:25 AM in response to tyronehowe

I have a 13 inch, 2014 MBA and the model year information does appear as it should running Yosemite 10.10.3:

No explanation why you do not have this information displayed.

The following dialog:

Is produced by the following AppleScript. Copy/paste into Yosemite's Script Editor, compile and run.

-- Model Identifier

set hw_model to (do shell script "sysctl -n hw.model") as text

set curlProd to "curl -s http://support-sp.apple.com/sp/product?cc="

set sysPro to "system_profiler SPHardwareDataType "

set sn4 to " | awk '/Serial/ {print $4}' | cut -c 9-"

-- extra \ to appease AppleScript

set modYear to " | sed -En 's/.*(\$.+\$).*/\\1/p'"

-- returns (13-inch, Early 2014) by example. Data not locally available.

set hw_year to (do shell script curlProd & "$(" & sysPro & sn4 & ")" & modYear) as text

set hw_ram to (do shell script "sysctl -n hw.memsize")

set hw_ram to hw_ram / (1024 ^ 3) & " GB Installed"

display dialoghw_model & space & hw_year & tab & hw_ram

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Answer 5

Jun 27, 2015 8:30 AM in response to tyronehowe

Also on my brand new MacBook Pro retina 15" Mid-2015, the latest with Force Touch trackpad, the About this Mac does not report anything apart from the OS version. I think this is normal for my computer because 10.10.3 was out before the new MBPr model came out. It sound a little strange for yours.

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Answer 6

Jun 28, 2015 7:03 AM in response to tyronehowe

tyronehowe wrote:

It's not a big thing, but it's bugging me.

Anyone know why this information would be missing?

Maybe it is a bug in the OSX:

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback/

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), i7 500GB 16GB RAM iPhone5 iOS8.3, Paralles10.0.2

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Answer 7

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 27, 2015 9:16 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Hi Alberto

Thanks for your reply. That’s very interesting.

The odd thing is that my wife’s 2012 13” MacBook Air (which also has OSX 10.10.3) correctly shows as “MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012)”

I think what worries me most is that I have only just bought this laptop, and am worried that it’s a sign the laptop has been tampered with in some way. Although I have repartitioned / reformatted the SSD and performed a fresh installation of Yosemite.

I have Mavericks on a memory stick – booted from that and it still does not show the model/year. So it’s nothing specific to Yosemite.

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Answer 8

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 28, 2015 12:39 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks leroydouglas

It's not specific to a particular version of OSX (it happens in both Mavericks and Yosemite). Tomorrow I will install Mountain Lion on a memory stick and check if the model /year is still missing.

Which also leads me to think that it's something hardware related - not good.

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Answer 9

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 29, 2015 2:24 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Interesting Alberto!

So there are some machines where neither the script nor the "About this Mac" works (like mine), some where only the script works (like yours), and others, presumably, that work for both.

Weird!

So I guess I don't need to worry that mine isn't showing either. It probably means the laptop is ok.

... still bothers me though 🙂

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Answer 10

Jun 28, 2015 10:30 PM in response to VikingOSX

This is what VikingOSX's Apple Script returned on my new MBPr

even though the About this Mac does not return the (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) part

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Answer 11

Jun 27, 2015 9:27 AM in response to tyronehowe

Go to this page

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

and paste in the SN of your MacBook Air and see what you get.

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Answer 12

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 28, 2015 4:54 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks VikingOSX

Very helpful. My dialog showed just "MacBookAir6,1 8.0 GB Installed" - the model and year didn't show up!

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Answer 13

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 28, 2015 4:56 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Thanks Alberto.

Yes, with your link I have confirmed that my laptop is a 2013 11" MBA, which is good!

I woudl still like to understand why I don't see the model/year in the "About This Mac" box

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Answer 14

tyronehowe Author

Level 1

27 points

Jun 28, 2015 12:41 PM in response to VikingOSX

Hi VikingOSX

Yes, I've no doubt your script is good! And the fact that your script doesn't see the model/year (as well as "About This Mac") is at least consistent.

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Answer 15

Jun 29, 2015 2:30 AM in response to tyronehowe

I'm waiting for the next update (10.10.4), to see if anything changes.

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