Apple product revisions: how to tell?

[l33r0y]

Hi all...

I've noticed many users on these forums have signatures detailing their Mac hardware which is useful to target specific questions to owners. I have noticed some people have Rev.A or Reb.B etc. which I assume is the product revision.


For example, with Dell, they use A00 as their first internal release code and increment by 1 for every change made on the production line for the same product, more often than not fixing issues that are discovered.

My question is, are Rev.x Apple 'internal' product revision codes, or are they just references to the product refreshes, such as the recent refresh to the Mac Mini?

To be more specific, are we likely to find the recent iMacs internal design tweaked over the next 6 months incorporating fixes to any common recurring faults? If so, would changes be labeled as a Rev.x code anywhere on the item or box, or does Apple keep this information to themselves or purly by later serial numbers - therefore consumers will find it difficult to know if their Mac has revised internals?)

Thanks for any info :)

[reflex]

They're just references to the product revisions.

[iBookG4user]

If you go to About This Mac and then to More Information then it will present you with a Model Identifier. My Mac's Model Identifier says MacBookPro 1,1 otherwise known as the rev A model.

[l33r0y]

They're just references to the product revisions.

Yes but what type? A reference to a refresh (like the Mac Mini example) or a reference to internal tweaking for improvements?

Thanks.

[l33r0y]

If you go to About This Mac and then to More Information then it will present you with a Model Identifier. My Mac's Model Identifier says MacBookPro 1,1 otherwise known as the rev A model.

Ah okay, that's useful to know.

Is there a resource somewhere to list all the model identifier numbers and changes made etc?

Also what is the frequency that model identifiers change over a year? :)

[rainydays]

As far as I know, there hasn't been any distinctive Rev A issues with the new iMac.
Some of them have heat problems, but it doesn't seem to be that many. Most of the heat related issues has been about the case getting warm, which is perfectly normal. There has been a few overheating GPUs, but again, not that many.
The yellow tint issue is probably because apple got a bad batch of panels and it's not something I'd consider a Rev A issue either.

Am I forgetting something?

[rainydays]

The new iMac has the identifier iMac7,1 by the way.

[Chris Welch]

As far as I know, there hasn't been any distinctive Rev A issues with the new iMac.

Yes, there have been.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1090395&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1082181&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1086195&tstart=30

[roland.g]

When someone says that they have a Rev. A that refers to the MacBook for example that was release May 2006. That same MacBook had fixes to it in production from May through the fall to address buzzing and staining issues among others. People can tell which machines in those runs are corrected by the serial number as it indicates the week of the build, however I don't know how that is read. Someone else may have more info. When the MacBook went C2D last November, that was Rev B. Most would also consider the speed bump, though minor that occurred in May 2007 as a Rev. C, though most were hoping for Santa Rosa at that point. Likewise the introduction of the MacBook Pro last year was Rev. A, and the C2D models in October were Rev. B and the Santa Rosa updates this June were Rev. C. With the iMac it gets a little less clear. The form factor hasn't changed, but generally all G5 iMacs were Rev. A and so on for each CPU bump, intro of iSight, etc. The Intel iMac again would be considered a Rev. A though nothing external changed. The C2D iMac would be a Rev. B and now the aluminum Santa Rosa iMac would be a Rev. A again though some would consider it a Rev. C.

But at no point do those Rev. xx refer to anything Apple official or to tweaking of the production process to correct issues, they represent the 6-12 month product updates to which processor and sometimes other upgrades are introduced.

[rainydays]

Yes, there have been.

I'd consider a Rev A issue being a widespread problem caused by a faulty design.
There will always be a good amount of faulty units shipped, that's just the way it is. But from the amount of complaints I've seen in forums so far there's not any really big problems with it.
Compare it to the macbook heating issue for example.