Here is a list of topics that we'll describe in this article: where to find serial number in macbook, serial number meaning, symbols in serial number, macbook air country of production in serial number and date of production in serial number of macbook.
Where is a mac Serial Number located
You can see the serial number of your macbook:
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In Mac OS X choose About This Mac from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen.
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Open Terminal and execute the next command:
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep "Serial Number (system)" -
On the back surface of the computer - turn it over and see the serial number engraved on the bottom of your macbook.
- If you kept the original packaging (retail box) or receipt from your MacBook Air, you can see model number or configuration details there.
For more details see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201665.
What symbols in serial number of macbook mean
Usually 3 first symbols of serial number represent the country where it was created (manufacturing location). Nowadays almost each macbook serial number starts with C02 - the country of production is China. To see in what country macbook was produced and to understand what symbols in serial number of macbook mean paste them to one of this services and wait till they will generate the results with detailed info about your macbook:
- http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html.
- https://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php - note that only 2 serial number checks per 24 hours can be made.
Now let's see what first 4 numbers in serial number of mac mean.
Country of macbook production
Starting from 2010 and onwards in later models the first three characters define the factory where the macbook was made:
- FC - Fountain, Colorado, USA
- F - Fremont, California, USA
- XA, XB, QP, G8 - USA
- RN - Mexico
- CK - Cork, Ireland
- VM - Foxconn, Pardubice, Czech Republic
- SG, E - Singapore
- MB - Malaysia
- PT, CY - Korea
- EE, QT, UV - Taiwan
- FK, F1, F2 - Foxconn, Zhengzhou, China
- W8 - Shanghai, China
- DL, DM - Foxconn, China
- DN - Foxconn, Chengdu, China
- YM, 7J - Hon Hai/Foxconn, China
- 1C, 4H, WQ, F7 - China
- C0 - Tech Com, Quanta Computer Susidiary, China
- C3 - Foxxcon, Shenzhen, China
- C7 - Pentragon, Changhai, China
- RM - Refurbished/remanufactured
Before 2010 Apple used a 11 character serial number for its products - so the first two characters stand for manufacturing location country. After 2010 12 character serial numbers are used.
Year of macbook production
It looks like the year in serial number code is encrypted in the fourth symbol (from 2010 and onwards):
- C - 0, first half of the year => 2010/2020/2030 from Jan to Jun
- D - 0, second half of the year => 2010/2020/2030 from Jul to Dec
- F - 1, first half
- G - 1, second half
- H - 2, first half
- J - 2, second half
- K - 3, first half
- L - 3, second half
- M - 4, first half
- N - 4, second half
- P - 5, first half
- Q - 5, second half
- R - 6, first half
- S - 6, second half
- T - 7, first half
- V - 7, second half
- W - 8, first half
- X - 8, second half
- Y - 9, first half
- Z - 9, second half
Understanding the serial number of macbook
To see the date when your macbook was produced type the serial number into the Check Your Service and Support Coverage page: https://checkcoverage.apple.com/us/en - the resulting screen will show your model. To see the technical specs and configuration of macbook open Terminal and run the command:
system_profiler SPHardwareDataType
Or you can type your macbook serial number into the Tech Specs page: https://support.apple.com/specs/ and see the resulting screen with your macbook model description.
How to see your MacBook Air model identifier and model number
To find your macbook model identifier in System Profiler choose "About This Mac" from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, click "More Info" and see the model identifier in the Hardware Overview inside the Hardware section. Also see the official page from apple support - https://support.apple.com/en-vn/HT201862.
Why "About this Mac" doesn't show macbook Model and Year of production
If you have Model and Year missing in "About this Mac" popup it's ok. There are a lot of macs that don't have model and year of creation displayed - see the screenshots below:
According to the https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7099653?tstart=0 it's because such macbooks were originally build to order. Macbook air laptops purchased directly from stores will show the model and year correctly.