How to find your Mac’s model and age?
This tip replaces version 2126 originally released on the Discussions Feedback forum..
Find the serial number on:
Plug your serial number in at this link:
Do not use third party links as they may not be secure. Do not post the serial number on this board, as that is your key to any support you may have left.Use this tip also to help figure out which portion of the Support Community to post in, as this tip explains:
When you have no serial number, use one of these third party sites to find your model, production year, time in year(early, middle, late) http://www.everymac.com/ is a great resource to isolate your model based on EMC#, Apple part number, and other features.
Note:PowerMac, PowerPC, eMac, iMac PPC, iBook (Apple recycled the name iBook for its eBook application on new Macs and iOS devices), Powerbook, Classic all refer to Macs that are older than the present seriesof Macs. Posting in those forums about a current Mac, shows you have not researched your Mac sufficiently to get a succinct answer to your query. Apple menu -> About This Mac will tell you the Mac OS version or System version you are running. The X in the version is important, and so is the preceding 10 in the version if it exists.Questions saying X.1 could refer to Mac OS X 10.13.1, 10.1. Don’t truncate the version you see.
There are no iOS forums specific to the operating system found on iPads, iPod Touch, AppleTV, Apple Watch, and iPhones. Figure out the type of portable device you are running to ask a question about that device specifically.
Apple has these identifying articles as well:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1772 — iBook (not to be confused with their eBook format)
Macs generally will not run an older Mac OS X operating system than shipped with them.The one exception is virtualizing 10.6 Server on 10.7 or later, which is described later.
Also important to note is that the Apple App Store only has 10.7, 10.8, and 10.12, except for those who purchased in between systems, and have a Mac that shipped with in between systems. For all others if you need an in between system, and your Mac is older, contact the App Store tech support.A quick upgrade guide has been posted on Upgrade paths available to Intel Macs*
These dates are important for recognizing what Mac OS X will run on Macs. Macs released on or after (including their model #s or namewhere known):
November 12, 2020 will only run 11.0 or later:
MacBook Air 10,x
MacBook Pro 17,x
iMac 24″ color toned flatscreen models
October 7, 2019 will only run on 10.15 or later:
MacBook Pro 16,x
September 30, 2018 will only run 10.14 or later
• MacBook Pro EMC 3358, 3359, 3301
September 25, 2017 will only run 10.13 or later.
• MacBook Pro 15,x (2018 model)
June 5, 2017 Mac models (all 2017 Models except iMac Pro) will only run 10.12.5 or later
• MacBook Pro 14,x
September 20, 2016 will only run 10.12 or later.MacBook Pro with touchbar (instead of physical F keys)
• MacBook Pro 13,x
• MacBook Air 7,2 see this article on which ones could only run 10.12 or later.
September 30, 2015 will only run 10.11 or later. These Macs are the first Macs that can be upgraded directly to Mac OS 10.14 without installing any other software.
• iMac 16,x and 17,x
• Macbook 9,x (these Macbooks came with the USB-C, instead of the USB 2 or USB 3 connector. USB 3 and 2 look identical on the outside, use System Profiler to determine which you have)
October 16, 2014 will only run 10.10 or later (10.10 is only available for Macs that shipped with it).
• MacBook Air 7,1 and 7,2 (some models could only run 10.12 or later).
• Mac Mini 7,xiMac MF885LL/A came with 10.10.2. All other 15,x came with 10.10.0
• MacBook 8,x — the oldest that can run Mac OS 10.14 with this model name after installing 10.11 or later.
• MacBook Pro 11,4 and 11,5
October 22, 2013 will only run 10.9 or later (10.9 is only available for Macs that shipped with it).
• Macbook Pro 11,1 through 11,3
• MacBook Air Early 2014
June 25, 2012 will only run 10.8 or later. 10.8 through 10.11 are supported by these Macs [indicate machine ID found in profiler], and newer models may run some variety of 10.9, 10.10, or 10.11):
MacBook Pro with Retina EMC 2557 from 2012 and 2013 and later models.MacBook Air (2013 or newer) [6,1]MacBook Air (Mid 2013 or newer) [6,1]Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) [6,1] — the oldest that can run 10.14 after installing 10.11 or later.iMac (Late 2012 or newer) [13,1]Mac Pro (Late 2013) [6,1]These models above are the first models that can be upgraded directly to High Sierra 10.13 without other prior upgrades.
The oldest MacBook Air and iMac that can run Mac OS 10.14 after installing 10.11.• MacBook Air 5,1• iMac 12,1
These Macs which are older can also be upgraded to 10.12 by upgrading to 10.7.5 first, and 10.13 by upgrading to 10.8 first:
MacBook (Late 2009 or newer) 6,1MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer) 6,1MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer) 3,1.Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer) 4,1iMac (Late 2009 or newer) 10,1Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer) 5,1
The Macs are compatible with 10.8 and later from prior 10.8’s releaseMac Pro (Early 2008 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2012) [3,1]-[5,1] (Earlier Mac Pros are discussed on the 10.8 upgrade tip).MacBook Late 2008 [5,1] to mid 2010 [7,1] with no Pro or Air in the name.iMac (Early 2009 to mid-2011) [9,1] to [12,1]Mac mini (Mid 2010 to mid 2011) [4,1] to [5.1]MacBook Air (Late 2010 to mid-2012 [3,1]-[5,2]MacBook Pro Late 2008 [5,1] to Retina 2012 that are not EMC 2557.
July 20, 2011 will only run 10.7 or later. The model IDs (x,x) and EMC that fit this description until June 25, 2012 release of 10.8 (excluding the ones which will run only 10.8 or later earlier mentioned) :iMac of an EMC of 2496; 13,x and later.Mac Mini 5,x and later.Macbook Air 4,x and later.MacBook 8,x and later (no Pro no Air in the name)Mac Pro 5,1 with EMC 2629 — the oldest that can be have Mac OS 10.14 installed after installing 10.11 or later, those without that EMC number came with 10.6 and can also be updated to 10.14 the same manner; 6,x and later.
MacBook Pro with EMC 2555, 2563; 9,x and later.
Note all the Macs that can only run 10.7 and later, may be able to run 10.6 Server with Parallels, if you need compatibility with an older operating system:Rosetta/PowerPC Applications and Lion and above
Beyond this point Macs released during certain date ranges also have a maximum operating system, and/orminimum retail operating system and system specific operating system requirement (when I say up to 10.9 that includes all incremental updates):
Note: images shown below for retail operating system are those that have no «Update, Dropin, or OEM» wording on them.
March 15, 2010-July 19, 2011 will only run prebundled 10.6 installer disc, and not retail, but also able to be upgraded to 10.9. Note this tipif upgrading to 10.7 or later: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271
August 28, 2009-March 14, 2010 will only 10.6 or later up to 10.9. And will at minimum be able to use10.6.3 retail to install 10.6. Note this tip if upgrading to 10.7 or later: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271
During 2000 to 2009, the serial number also made it easier to identify the Macs, as the 3rd, 4th, and 5th character of the serial number referred to the weekand year of the shipment date. Thus for serial numbers where x can be any letter or number, xxABCxxxxx serial numbers would refer to an A which is the last digit of the year, and BC=week of the year. xx905xxxx is the fifth week of 2009. You can then use Wikipedia to figure out what date the release was, and if it was after a specific retail release of an operating system to determine which pre bundled disc it came with, and which later retail discs the Mac could work with.
December 15, 2008-August 28, 2009 will only run prebundled 10.5 installer disc, and 10.6 retail https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/43236040snow.jpg, and if on https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3761will also run up to Mac OS X 10.11 if you follow this tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271
October 28, 2007 -December 14, 2008 will at minimum be able to use the 10.5.6 retail , and install up to 10.9 if included on https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3761 if you follow this tip https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271
January 10, 2006-October 27, 2007 will at minimum be able to 10.5 retail , and ifon Which 10.5 systems can upgrade to 10.8 or 10.9?or Are there 10.4 systems that can upgrade to 10.8 or 10.9? areable to run 10.9. Core2Duo and Xeon can upgrade to a minimum of 10.7.5. Otherwise if they only have a CoreDuo, CoreSolo Intelprocessor only be able to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.8. G5, G4, and G3 processors are not Intel.
Earlier dates are covered on this tip:Can I download my Mac OS upgrade?
Using the dates from the above documents, and the dates according to Wikipedia when specific retailoperating system systems were released, you can find which retail releases were newer than the Macs and the ones immediately older.
i.e.:An October 24, 2011 Macbook Pro will only run 10.8 retail, and 10.9 retail downloads, but needs anAppleCare requested 10.7 installer to install 10.7. An exception exists in 10.6 Server, as indicated here:Rosetta/PowerPC Applications and Lion and above
A pre-October 26, 2007 MacBook Pro will only run the system specific Mac OS X 10.4 installerthat shipped with it, which can be ordered from AppleCare, or newer retail installer versionsof 10.5 , 10.6 compatible with its hardware, and 10.7 if it is at least a Core2Duo.CoreDuo, nor is CoreSolo is not compatible with 10.7.
For PowerPC Macs, Mac OS X 10.4.11 and earlier offer Classic compatibility, and on certain 2003 and earlier Macs dual booting on Mac OS X 10.5 & Mac OS 9:
No Mac may run an older version of Mac OS 9 than was prebundled with it.
A more precise timeline of Mac OS X follows (in U.S. date notation. Links to relevant articles up to 10.7 are included, as 10.7 drops PowerPC applications on Intel):
9/20/2016 10.12 Sierra released.9/30/2015 10.11 El Capitan released.4/8/2015 10.10.3 (with supplemental on 4/16/2015)1/27/2015 10.10.211/17/2014 10.10.110/16/2014 10.10 Yosemite9/17/2014 10.9.56/30/2014 10.9.45/15/2014 10.9.32/25/2014 10.9.210/22/2013 10.9 (10.9 & 10.9.1 should be skipped due to security issues) Mavericks10/3/2013 10.8.5 supplemental update9/25/2013 10.8.4 iMac Late 20136/10/2013 10.8.4 MacBook Air mid 20136/4/2013 10.8.43/14/2013 10.8.311/29/2012 10.8.2 Mac MIni Late 201210/4/2012 10.8.2 supplemental update10/4/2012 10.7.5 supplemental update8/23/2012 10.8.17/25/2012 10.8 Mountain Lion5/9/2012 10.7.42/1/2012 10.7.310/12/2011 10.7.28/16/2011 10.7.17/25/2011 10.6.8 v1.17/20/2011 10.7.0 Lion
5/4/2011 10.6.7 Early 2011 MacBook Pro3/21/2011 10.6.71/6/2011 10.6.611/10/2010 10.6.56/15/2010 10.6.44/13/2010 10.6.3 v1.14/1/2010 10.6.3 retail installer presently sold at the online Apple Store.8/28/2009 10.6 retail installer (Snow Leopard)
12/15/2008 10.5.6 retail installer (Last PowerPC installer)
6/30/2008 10.5.4 retail installer
11/15/2007 10.5.1 retail installer
10/26/2007 10.5 retail installer (Leopard)
8/7/2006 Mac Pro (Intel, first Snow Leopard compatible professional desktop) replaces PowerMac G5 (the last PowerPC Mac and Mac capable of running Classic)
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How to Check What Mac OS Version is Running on a Mac
Have you ever needed to know which version of Mac OS was on a computer? For some users the answer may be never, but others may need to know exactly what version of Mac OS system software is running on a particular Mac. Typically the need to know which MacOS version is on a Mac is necessary for learning about compatibility with software or a specific feature, but it can also be helpful to know what version of Mac OS is installed for troubleshooting purposes and other reasons too. While many Mac users will immediately know what release and version of system software is running on their computer, others users may not know this information.
This tutorial will show you how to easily find out what version of Mac OS system software is running on a Mac, including what the major release name is as well as the specific version of MacOS system software.
How to See What Version of Mac OS is Running and Installed on a Mac
- From anywhere on the Mac, look in the upper left corner for the Apple menu and click that
From the Apple menu choose “About This Mac”
The Mac system overview panel will appear on screen, showing what Mac OS release and version is installed on the computer
In the this screenshot example, the “About This Mac” screen on that particular Mac is running “macOS Mojave” as the major release, and the specific version of MacOS Mojave that is running is 10.14.2.
In the screenshot below, “About This Mac” shows the Mac running “OS X El Capitan” as the major release, and the specific system software version is 10.11.6.
• Bonus tip: You can also get the Mac OS build number from the same screen. Simply click on the version number at the About This Mac screen, a hexadecimal code next to the version will appear showing that specific software release build number. The build number can be helpful for more advanced users to know, but is generally not necessary information for average Mac users.
• Bonus tip 2: The About This Mac screen also easily allows you to find when a Mac model was made and built.
• Bonus tip 3: You can also find the Mac serial number from the About This Mac screen.
• Bonus tip 4: If you’re inclined to use the Terminal, you can also get Mac OS system information and version from the command line if needed.
• Bonus tip 5: The solution here will show you how to get the current Mac OS version, but if you have an installer file somewhere you might be wondering which version is contained within that system installer. You can find out what Mac OS system software version is contained within a MacOS Installer application by following these steps.
Why does the version of MacOS software matter?
Some users may be wondering why the MacOS software version even matters, and why would they care to know it in the first place. But knowing the system software version can be helpful for many reasons, including for:
- Feature existence or compatibility
- App compatibility
- Accessory support or compatibility
- Troubleshooting procedures
- Installing, reinstalling, and updating Mac OS
- If you’re using a Combo Update to update Mac OS system software
Major new releases of Mac OS are available from the Mac App Store, whereas software updates to an existing release can be found from the Software Update control panel, or the Updates tab of the Mac App Store.
Mac OS X Version History & Release Names
For those interested in some history, you might like to know that Mac OS has been labeled with various naming conventions, with each major Mac OS release having a distinct name as well. For the initial nine releases, Mac OS versions were labeled after wild cats, while the releases after that are named after locations and places in the state of California.
The current and historical Mac OS names and versions are as follows:
- Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah
- Mac OS X 10.1 Puma
- Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
- Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
- Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
- Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
- Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
- OS X 10.7 Lion
- OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
- OS X 10.9 Mavericks
- OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- OS X 10.11 El Capitan
- MacOS 10.12 Sierra
- MacOS 10.13 High Sierra
- MacOS 10.14 Mojave
Prior to the modern “Mac OS X” naming convention, Mac system software was labeled as ‘Mac OS’ and also as ‘System’, but those earlier versions had completely different underlying architecture. Modern Mac OS versions are built atop a BSD unix core, whereas the much older releases from the pre-OSX era were not.
For what it’s worth, accessing the “About This Mac” screen from the Apple menu goes way back to old school Mac OS releases as well, so if you dig up an Apple Macintosh SE/30 from an attic you can find the system software version on those old Macs the same way too.
Obviously this applies to the Mac, but if you have an iPhone or iPad you can check what iOS version is running on iOS devices through Settings.
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