How To Tell Which MacBook You Have | Apple Macs iMac MacBook Repairs in Durban, Umhlanga KwaZulu Natal
How To Tell Which MacBook You Have | Apple Macs iMac MacBook Repairs in Durban, Umhlanga KwaZulu Natal
Screen Size
One way to tell which model you have is to measure the screen. Apple tends to name its laptops according to screen size measured diagonally in inches.
The MacBook Pro screen will either be 13″, 15″ or 16″. The 16″ model was introduced in 2019. The 15″ model is actually 15.2″.
Another simple way to tell is to open the lid of your Mac laptop – you will possibly see the name of the model printed on the black bar below the screen. That’s as long as you don’t have a MacBook Pro from between 2012 and 2016 – Apple removed the name from the bezel for a number of years, but the name returned in later models.
Another way to distinguish is the screen quality – older MacBook Air’s from before 2018, and some older models of the MacBook Pro do not have Retina displays. Retina displays have more pixels for a superior image.
Size/weight
The now discontinued MacBook weighed just 0.92kg.
The MacBook Air is currently Apple’s smallest and lightest Mac at 1.29kg. Only the long-dead 11in MacBook Air weighed a fraction less at 1.25kg.
The current MacBook Pro is only a little thicker than MacBook Air – but previous generations have been considerably bigger and heavier.
Colour
The pre-2018 MacBook Air was only available in silver, while the newer design of the MacBook Air (which is slimmer) comes in Gold, Space Grey and Silver.
The MacBook Pro has always had a metal case since it’s introduction in 2006 (when it replaced the PowerBook G4 series). Initially the MacBook Pro was a silver aluminium finish, but since 2016 it has come in Space Grey or Silver.
The MacBook came in three Colours: Gold, Space Grey and Silver (there was once a Rose Gold version too). If you go even further back in time there were white and black MacBook models, the switch from plastic to aluminum came in 2006, around the time Apple moved to Intel processors.
Ports
From its introduction in 2015 until it was discontinued in 2019 the MacBook only had one port – a USB-C port which you use to charge as well as for plugging in peripherals.
Since 2018 the MacBook Air has two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports (the port is the same). Pre-2018 MacBook Air models had a Mag-Safe port, two USB 3 ports, Headphone jack, SDXC card slot, and Thunderbolt 2.
The MacBook Pro has two or four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports (depending on whether it is 13″ or 16″ (or 15″) model, and a headphone jack. Since 2016 some 13″ and all 15″ MacBook Pro models have featured a Touch Bar strip above the keyboard.
