What things prove your MBP is actually brand new?

[jas5279]

Not putting this in the "I just bought thread" because I have a few questions to ask. I just bought a brand new MBP 2017 so how do I make sure that it is actually brand new. MBs are not sold officially here - no Apple Store. Computer sellers import MBs and then sell. So I want to make sure that my MBP is actually brand new. A few things that make me suspicious are as follows:

1) Estimated expiration dates:
Phone support ends on Jan 29, 2018 (makes sense if Apple offers this for 3 months)
Repairs and Service coverage ends on September 16, 2018 (shouldn't this be full 1 year?)

2) Health information > Cycle count: 2 (shouldn't this be 0 right now?)

3) Battery charge at 15% when first booted. Is this normal?

4) Model no. of the charger does not match model number of the MBP. Normal or not?

These were the only two things I knew to check to see if the machine is brand new. I don't know of anything else to check.

So... is this all normal for a brand new MBP?

 

[Brookzy]

Was it cellophane sealed?

1) Estimated expiration dates:
Phone support ends on Jan 29, 2018 (makes sense if Apple offers this for 3 months)
Repairs and Service coverage ends on September 16, 2018 (shouldn't this be full 1 year?)

It should be a year, but that will depend on when it was declared to Apple as sold. If you bought from an unofficial reseller, September 16/17 will be the moment the unofficial reseller bought it and that is how long the warranty will be.

2) Health information > Cycle count: 2 (shouldn't this be 0 right now?)

No, it is normal to have a few cycles. As long as it is under around 10 it is a new battery. Some are tested before leaving the factory. I've never had a MacBook show zero when new (and I've had a lot of MacBooks...)

3) Battery charge at 15% when first booted. Is this normal?

Lower than normal, but this depends on when it was manufactured. If you post the fourth and fifth characters of there serial number I can tell you when it was made (fourth indicates year, fifth indicates week).

 

[jas5279]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Was it cellophane sealed?

Yes, it was. Used a paper cutter to break the seal and remove it. But I don't think its too difficult to have it re-wrapped. What I mean to say is that this seal is not a definite answer.

It should be a year, but that will depend on when it was declared to Apple as sold. If you bought from an unofficial reseller, September 16/17 will be the moment the unofficial reseller bought it and that is how long the warranty will be.

This did raise some red flags. I thought the warranty starts from the moment you boot up the MBP for the first time/activate it. But I guess what you are saying makes sense too that whenever the reseller purchased it from Apple, the warranty was started and for this particular device that was this past September. I checked and it says that telephone warranty is for 90 days. This one makes sense because telephone warranty is set to expire exactly 90 days from today as I see when I check at coverage.apple site.

No, it is normal to have a few cycles. As long as it is under around 10 it is a new battery. Some are tested before leaving the factory. I've never had a MacBook show zero when new (and I've had a lot of MacBooks...)

Makes sense then. Mine shows 2.

Lower than normal, but this depends on when it was manufactured. If you post the fourth and fifth characters of there serial number I can tell you when it was made (fourth indicates year, fifth indicates week).

Fourth character is V and fifth character is 6.

One thing I just discovered - the model number on the charger is different than the model number of the MBP. Is this something normal? If they are supposed to be the same then it makes sense that this is not a new MBP and a different charger was put in the box with this MBP.

 

[Brookzy]

V6 = 7th-12th August 2017. 12 weeks is enough for the battery to go to 15%.

One thing I just discovered - the model number on the charger is different than the model number of the MBP.

Normal - the charger has its own model number.

It all seems legit to me!

 

[jas5279]

V6 = 7th-12th August 2017. 12 weeks is enough for the battery to go to 15%.


Normal - the charger has its own model number.

It all seems legit to me!

Looks like it indeed is brand new. Thanks for all the help, mate!