A Mac’s “Model Identifier” tells more about your Mac than any other single piece of information. Whether you want to find out exactly which Mac you have, are trying to confirm that the latest SSD or memory upgrade you’ve had your eye on is compatible with your Mac, or you’re trying to find a particular specification such as screen size or maximum memory – with your Model ID in hand, you’ll be armed with the information needed.
And when paired with an app such as Mactracker or a site such as EveryMac, the Model ID can help you find out anything you need to know about your Mac with just a few clicks.
Most items available from OWC conveniently include a compatibility grid below the item description, so if you know your Mac’s Model ID, you can be confident that you are getting the right item for you.
You may even notice that we include a link for finding a Mac’s Model ID at the top of that grid, which brings up this helpful image without ever leaving the page:
Trouble booting?
If your machine does not boot, you can also find the Model ID using the serial number with another site tool on EveryMac. You can find your serial number on the back (Mac Pro) or bottom (most other models) of the exterior of your machine. Some older Macs will have this inside an access panel or battery bay. More details on location are available from Apple or EveryMac.
If you are unsure where to look for the best upgrades for your Mac, assistance from an OWC customer service representative is only a call or click away. With your Mac’s Model ID, you can help us help you as quickly as possible. So be sure to keep the Model ID handy and refer to it whenever you need to know something about your machine!
COMMENT: APPLE SUCKS. I’m border line ready to walk away. I need a 17″ model for travel to do video editng The 15″ is too small and I need a portable. I am really upset about this. I hear 15″ screens are cheaper purchased in bulk and Apple saves money. I see no reason except their pocketbook not to offer a 17″ model at a premium. It’s all about Apple and not the customer. It took them forever to upgrade the Mac Pro and now it’s priced mostly way out of reach of smaller working professionals and aimed at corporate deep pockets buyers. Their lower end priced stuff is really lower end. The new un-upgradeable IMAC and the limted versatility in the lower priced MacAir and MacPro. Underpowered, drives that are too small and require upgrades for most people; just really disappointing. When my current 17″ kicks into retirement, I probably will get something off the DellCreate website of their high end models. I want a bigger screen than 15″. They have no problem making phones and tablets bigger. But, they are shrinking the laptops and the options for a big laptop screen. And moving to stuff that can’t be upgraded? It’s really time to look at alternatives. Samsung is catching up or has arguably eclipsed in the tablet arena, it’s time to seriously look at alternatives
ALWAYS look at the screen RESOLUTION, and not the screen physical SIZE, as that’s the specification that really matters. Why carry a bigger/heavier machine that doesn’t really give you a better display?
As far as buying from OWC, I’ve used them to upgrade all my recent Macs, and OWC hardware has always been top notch and VERY long-lived, as well as having a great selection tool that tells you what’s compatible with your EXACT model, as mentioned in this article. :-) It will even keep what devices you have, so you just need to get your model number one time! :-)
And, better late than never, right??? (the original is from 2014, but this reply is from 2018, and I’m sure he waited to buy until he heard from me, right?! ;-)
Another question: if I buy a brand new 2014 Macbook Pro, will I be able to upgrade the RAM later as I can on my older model? Same thing with the SSD or hard drives or am I stuck with what I buy in the new model when I buy it?
The MacBook Pro without a Retina display has upgradable drives (including the optical drive bay) and RAM.
The MacBook pro with Retina display has the RAM soldered in the logic board, so it is not upgradable.
Please advise:
this is my model:
17-inch mid2009 3.06ghz Core 2 Duo 8gb ram. I do video editing on it and I want to know if that top of line SSD will work and show improvement on this unit or I should just use the lower priced SSD. I believe it’s the cache difference of 3 to 6? Is that what I’m referring to? I want the fastest possible performance and I can get 1TB for around $700 from you, but, is there a faster SSD that will get me better performance than that model?
It sounds like you have a MacBookPro5,2, which has a unique issue with its SATA connections. They are best suited for 3G interfaced drives. A 6G interface drive will not be properly down clocked to the computer’s 3G interface, it will be down clocked to 1.5G causing it to be 1/2 as slow as it should be. For this reason we highly recommend one of our Link Mercury Electra 3G SSDs. The largest capacity we have is 960GB