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First Macbook pros with Firewire: Which symbol?

O

Ojitos

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 11, 2008
15
0
Hello guys,

I recently bought a second hand macbook pro 13" i5 in China...

It works fine and really seems genuine except for 2 really strange things:

-My serial number doesn't seem to be valid when i tried to register it (?????)
-When I look at "About this mac", it says Macbookpro8.1. and in Hardware, it does mention Thunderbolt.
So it seems to be an early 2011 Macbook pro...

BUT the really weird thing is: there is no thunderbolt symbol next to the Mini-display port. It's got the old mini-display symbol...

I've tried to find if first MBP with thunderbolt technology had not changed their symbol yet but apparently they had...

What do you guys think??? Isn't that weird?
 
I Think

Ojitos said:
Hello guys,

I recently bought a second hand macbook pro 13" i5 in China...

It works fine and really seems genuine except for 2 really strange things:

-My serial number doesn't seem to be valid when i tried to register it (?????)
-When I look at "About this mac", it says Macbookpro8.1. and in Hardware, it does mention Thunderbolt.
So it seems to be an early 2011 Macbook pro...

BUT the really weird thing is: there is no thunderbolt symbol next to the Mini-display port. It's got the old mini-display symbol...

I've tried to find if first MBP with thunderbolt technology had not changed their symbol yet but apparently they had...

What do you guys think??? Isn't that weird?
Click to expand...

It's more likely that you have pirated software on a genuine machine. Nobody has yet copied the entire hardware (As far as I know)

A fresh purchased copy of the OS will reveal all.
 
Macman45 said:
It's more likely that you have pirated software on a genuine machine. Nobody has yet copied the entire hardware (As far as I know)

A fresh purchased copy of the OS will reveal all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.
But I am actually running a clean copy of LION that I had bought to install on my previous macs before moving to China. So the software should be clean...
 
Can you post some shots

Ojitos said:
Thanks for your reply.
But I am actually running a clean copy of LION that I had bought to install on my previous macs before moving to China. So the software should be clean...
Click to expand...

Of your "About this mac" ?

Click the apple, take shot, post....Might give an idea...I hope it's not stolen and re-sold...But it is a possibility.
 
have you benchmarked it yet? try that and check online to the result you got and it might help you figure it out, also mactracker might be able to help you, its an app that shows what mac model you have and it has every mac since the start of apple in it.
 
Here are screen captures:

Screen Shot 2012-01-01 at 11.47.03 PM.jpg

maril1111 said:
have you benchmarked it yet? try that and check online to the result you got and it might help you figure it out, also mactracker might be able to help you, its an app that shows what mac model you have and it has every mac since the start of apple in it.
Click to expand...

Hum. What do you mean by benchmarking it? I'm sorry, I don't know what this means.
Can you explain how to do this?
 
Ojitos said:
Here are screen captures:

View attachment 318091



Hum. What do you mean by benchmarking it? I'm sorry, I don't know what this means.
Can you explain how to do this?
Click to expand...

well read here and download the tool (you shouldn't run other apps apart from the benchmark one, it basically tests your computer and give it a rating in terms of processor performance: http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/


and than compare your number (your number can be a bit off but shouldn't be too much)

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/


yours should be 6484 in 64bit or 5906 in 32bit
 
Last edited:
maril1111 said:
well read here and download the tool (you shouldn't run other apps apart from the benchmark one, it basically tests your computer and give it a rating in terms of processor performance: http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/


and than compare your number (your number can be a bit off but shouldn't be too much)

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/


yours should be 6484 in 64bit or 5906 in 32bit
Click to expand...

Screen Shot 2012-01-02 at 12.23.52 AM.jpg

Well, here's what i got... But I've been too lazy to switch all the programs off, I had only iTunes and two browsers running.

Is that score alarming?
 
Ojitos said:
Hello guys,

I recently bought a second hand macbook pro 13" i5 in China...

It works fine and really seems genuine except for 2 really strange things:

-My serial number doesn't seem to be valid when i tried to register it (?????)
-When I look at "About this mac", it says Macbookpro8.1. and in Hardware, it does mention Thunderbolt.
So it seems to be an early 2011 Macbook pro...

BUT the really weird thing is: there is no thunderbolt symbol next to the Mini-display port. It's got the old mini-display symbol...

I've tried to find if first MBP with thunderbolt technology had not changed their symbol yet but apparently they had...

What do you guys think??? Isn't that weird?
Click to expand...

AFAIK the Thunderbolt symbol was on all the Thunderbolt equipped Macs. Is the Mini-DisplayPort symbol there or is there nothing there? It may have possibly rubbed off.

Another way of telling is the FaceTime camera. It should be the 720p "HD" camera and not the lesser iSight camera.

EDIT:
I see where you said there is the Mini-DisplayPort symbol. The information in system profiler can be changed so you shouldn't go by that. There is also a lot that can affect the results of the benchmark score so take that lightly. Just take pictures with the built-in camera and check the resolution, although you should be able to tell by quality alone.
 
Last edited:
Does the top or bottom port logo looks like yours?


250019-apple-macbook-pro-mini-displayport-vs-thunderbolt.jpg



BTW, I don't think I would ever buy anything Apple second hand in China.
 
Based on the MDP logo but system info claiming to be thunderbolt, and the RAM clocked at 1067MHz; my guess is that it has been put together using working parts parts from multiple broken MacBooks.

It sounds like you have the internals of an early 2011 MBP (or most of them anyway) inside a 2009/2010 top case. Maybe your MBP was replaced at the Genius Bar under warranty, causing Apple to remove the serial number from their systems as the MBP was 'out of circulation' as far as they were concerned. If that MBP's logic board then illegitimately found its way into another computer and then onto the market, it's possible that you would have a working and legitimate logic board, but whose serial number doesn't exist as far as Apple is concerned.

What's the serial number printed on the underside? Does it match the one in system info?
 
thundersteele said:
It's a bit surprising that it has 1066 MHz RAM. These models were sold with 1333 MHz RAM as far as I know.
Click to expand...

According to the apple site it should have a 2.4 or 2.8 Ghz CPU and 1333 MHz RAM. His has neither. Ack my bad I thought he had a LATE and not an EARLY.

It still should have 1333MHz as far as I know though.
 
HippieMagic said:
According to the apple site it should have a 2.4 or 2.8 Ghz CPU and 1333 MHz RAM. His has neither. Ack my bad I thought he had a LATE and not an EARLY.

It still should have 1333MHz as far as I know though.
Click to expand...

2.3GHz and 2.7GHz were the "February 2011" 13" models
 
Just an FYI, I have a 2008 15" MBP, and it also lists Thunderbolt in the System Report screen. But if you click on it, it says "No hardware was found." I think Lion automatically looks for it and then reports it as missing on any Macs that don't have it, even if they were created before Thunderbolt was available.

Not sure if that helps you or not.
 
HippieMagic said:
According to the apple site it should have a 2.4 or 2.8 Ghz CPU and 1333 MHz RAM. His has neither. Ack my bad I thought he had a LATE and not an EARLY.

It still should have 1333MHz as far as I know though.
Click to expand...

This was a very good observation, but it doesn't make the mystery more exciting. After a little googling, 1066mhz ram does work on sandy bridge macs (2011).

It could have been a mashup of an unregistered refurbished casing (explaining the serials) with a harvested 2011 mobo. Seller was too cheap to find the fastest ram and put in older 1066mhz DDR3 modules.

I wouldn't be to critical of the actual legitimacy of the parts since it works and not to take our doubt of an enterprising Chinese businessman too far. The parts are definitely from apple or at least some factory rejects from apple. (To state the obvious, the cost of making imitations of the mobo or casing in that specific form factor are too high and it would be ridiculous to suspect this.)

What you don't have is warranty and the recognition of operating safety of the machine. They could have replaced the battery with some lower quality OEM one, cleaned the aluminum body with some carcinogenic agent to make it feel new (I'm kidding, but you can choose to be this paranoid).
 
I'm not sure if this is relevant or not, but I've got an early-2011 13" MacBook Pro and my serial number has 12-digits, the OP's only has 11-digits. I wonder if the OPs serial number on the the back of the MacBook Pro matches the one in the System Profiler?
 
Thanks a lot for all your answers!!

lgwells1 said:
Does the top or bottom port logo looks like yours?
Image


BTW, I don't think I would ever buy anything Apple second hand in China.
Click to expand...

Mine looks like the first one, that's why I am concerned!

The idea of an early 2011 MBP components into an older case seems the most credible one...

Some of you asked me to check if my serial number matches the one printed underneath... Well, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING printed on the underside of my macbook. :)

----------
sweetbrat said:
Just an FYI, I have a 2008 15" MBP, and it also lists Thunderbolt in the System Report screen. But if you click on it, it says "No hardware was found." I think Lion automatically looks for it and then reports it as missing on any Macs that don't have it, even if they were created before Thunderbolt was available.

Not sure if that helps you or not.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Well, mine doesn't say that no hardware was found... It seems to have found it. :)
 
Ojitos said:
Thanks a lot for all your answers!!



Mine looks like the first one, that's why I am concerned!

The idea of an early 2011 MBP components into an older case seems the most credible one...

Some of you asked me to check if my serial number matches the one printed underneath... Well, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING printed on the underside of my macbook. :)

----------



Thanks! Well, mine doesn't say that no hardware was found... It seems to have found it. :)
Click to expand...

Ok, the best case scenario seems to be that your MBP had some smaller accident and the top and bottom case got replaced. How big is your hard disc?
 
derickdub said:
Another way of telling is the FaceTime camera. It should be the 720p "HD" camera and not the lesser iSight camera.
Just take pictures with the built-in camera and check the resolution, although you should be able to tell by quality alone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, that's a good idea!
Well, I can't really tell. The pics don't look good, but then I did it with poor lighting and I'm not sure how great looking are Facetime HD supposed to look like.
The pic dimension is 1080x720. So it is 720p, but how can i know if it's HD?
 
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