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Arran

macrumors 601
Mar 7, 2008
4,854
3,792
Atlanta, USA
Riveting read ;)

You suppose we'll see an iPhone app to decode these? You know, so you can check the product you're about to buy is 'fresh' from manufacturing and hasn't been sitting on a slow boat from China for 6 months.

Suppose Apple would approve it?
 

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,397
2,833
Given the way people were obsessing over production weeks for yellow-tinted and flickering 27" iMacs not so long ago while trying to determine if and when the problem had been fixed, this information could come in handy.

If you don't care, fine. From past experience, there seem to be quite a few people out there who do though...hence the post. :)
 

SiPat

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2009
195
0
IIRC, the twelve digit serial isn't a new. But the news may be important because isn't this the reason that CS3 stops working on new Macs?

Apple & Adobe are supposedly working together to resolve the issue.
 

mwayne85

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2009
166
29
Are you KIDDING me? This is horrible news! More numbers in the serial numbers?!! How are us mac users going to survive with so many numbers? How dare you do this to us apple? I'm switching to a PC because of this news!
:mad:
 

CFreymarc

Suspended
Sep 4, 2009
3,969
1,149
For you idiots out there that only care about your own personal user experience, a serial number change format for a major manufacturer is a big deal.

Looking at the format change, a few things can be seen into Apple's change in manufacturing policy. First the plant number field increase shows they are planning to use a lot more CM than the usually do. I'll let the rest of you figure out the rest.
 

j-beda

macrumors member
Jun 23, 2004
30
30
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

Don't forget to use

http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

for all your serial number lookup needs. Enter an Apple serial number, and it tells you all sorts of stuff about the machine in question. It is really useful when doing support to figure out exactly what the machine it supposed to be.
 

Cinematographer

macrumors 6502a
Sep 12, 2005
900
4
far away
Thanks, j-beda, for the link. That's very useful indeed.

And I will not tell anyone if I care or don't care about the news, because you will not care about that either.
 

Jaro65

macrumors 68040
Mar 27, 2009
3,822
926
Seattle, WA
Slow news day. Though I'm sure people will still appreciate this info when trying to figure out when exactly their machines were manufactured.
 

ebouwman

Cancelled
Jan 5, 2007
640
17
For you idiots out there that only care about your own personal user experience, a serial number change format for a major manufacturer is a big deal.

Looking at the format change, a few things can be seen into Apple's change in manufacturing policy. First the plant number field increase shows they are planning to use a lot more CM than the usually do. I'll let the rest of you figure out the rest.

Ya, maybe if you're a stock holder... still, it should be on page 2.

I have done this type of change in the past and it is not something that you embark on lightly. The pain level (given all the internal manufacturing systems that are affected) is really high.

I'm sure it was painful, and so, i'm sure, is cleaning the bathrooms at cupertino HQ after someone's made a huge mess, but we don't hear that reported in the news now do we. "MASSIVE MESS IN LAVATORY, JANITORS PISSED!" Oh but i'm so intrigued! "WATER IN BATHROOM KNEE DEEP AND RISING"
 
Aug 26, 2008
1,339
1
so Macrumors can't report on a major change in Apple's products? I don't think some of you get it. Serial numbers are actually discussed relatively often on these forums.
 

spillproof

macrumors 68020
Jun 4, 2009
2,028
2
USA
This new system just seems confusing with the letters. Why not add just another P and C. The week number should automatically tell you what half of the year it was produced in, there is no need for letters. But, then again, I'm just the consumer.
 

mctape

macrumors member
Jan 6, 2009
58
13
This new system just seems confusing with the letters. Why not add just another P and C. The week number should automatically tell you what half of the year it was produced in, there is no need for letters. But, then again, I'm just the consumer.

It seems to me that they wanted more options for the model number and manufacturing plant segments, but didn't want to increase the size of the serial number by two characters (for who knows what reason... my guess is to have to avoid writing/editing some software used at some point in the process). I think the half of the year/week thing is a pretty good solution.

I probably wouldn't give a crap about serial number formats if I never worked at an Apple Store, but I did, so this gets me right in my nerdcenter.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
Wow. This just shows that apple has the **GOLD STANDARD** in product serial numbers.



Expect AAPL to hit $350 by Tuesday.
 
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