I don't think anyone needs to be told how expensive Apple technology can be. And if on a budget iPad you can still “ save up from lunch", You can't buy a MacBook that way. For most people, Apple's new laptops are sky-high.
You should not solve the problem with another loan, perhaps the best option for the price is already waiting for a new owner on secondary market... But then the question immediately arises, how to properly check the MacBook before giving money for it?
Important: checking a MacBook is a long process with many nuances. Better to make an appointment with the seller in some cafe with free Wi-Fi. Be prepared to spend half an hour of your time.
The safest option is to take your MacBook to a good service center for a detailed check. After all, the covered video chip could warm up, and the laptop itself may have been flooded and poorly cleaned. Such sores are not immediately noticeable, but only emerge during use.
But this payable service, and not every seller will agree to open his laptop in some unknown place. So, you have to put up with the risks and do it on your own. Here is a list of problem areas to look out for before buying.
Step 0: preparing the USB stick
We cannot do without preparation. You need to get a USB flash drive with a minimal set of programs and files. Useful for testing: color pictures (black, white, RGB), film, Heaven Benchmark, Macs Fan Control, Coconut Battery, Geekbench, Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and MacTracker. It's cool if you have time to create a bootable USB flash drive with Apple Service Diagnostic installed.
Throw in the whole set at once, it will be needed at various stages of the test.
First step: passwords
In a MacBook, prepared for sale, three passwords must be missing: in iCloud, in user accounts, in the firmware itself (EFI).
- ICloud password: "System Preferences -> iCloud"
Login password: "System settings -> Users and groups"
Password for the firmware: reboot with the Alt key pressed (does not ask for a password, it means it is not)
If the seller finds it difficult to remove one of the passwords - leave, you will not be able to fully use such a MacBook.
Simplest: appearance
Alas, anodized aluminum does not lend itself to polishing, so other people's scratches on the case will always be an eyesore to you. Decide to what extent " slaughter»You are ready to accept.
You also need to pay attention to the top cover: it can be easily folded back with one hand and held in any position, and in the closed state there should be no distortions and shifts.
Turn the MacBook over and inspect the bolts. These tricky pieces of iron must be unscrewed with a special screwdriver at the right angle. If the repair was carried out in artisanal conditions, then extra marks will appear on the bolts. Small round bumps-points on the back side indicate that the screw is screwed in the wrong size.
Swing chargers can also fail at any time. Check the complete set of wires for tears or frayed wires.
Main consumable: battery
The battery in modern MacBooks is rated for approximately 1000 recharge cycles. It's almost three years in typical use. After the battery loses its capacity, it will have to be replaced.
"Mileage" can be viewed in the system report. The necessary line is hidden here: "About this Mac -> System report -> Power supply". True, it can " twist", Just like on an old car. This is where a prepared flash drive with the Coconut Battery application comes in handy.
We launch the utility and see detailed information about the battery. Do not be alarmed if its capacity drops to 80-90%. If the age of the laptop is comparable, then this is normal, natural wear and tear.
Everything according to the passport: MacBook configuration
Passing a junior model to an older one is the most common way of cheating when selling a MacBook. Especially relevant on the pumped "proshki". Of course, you can try to check using MacTracker, but in some cases even it will not help.
What's the trick: unscrupulous sellers edit the information in "About This Mac", turn off extra lines in the "System Report", put the back cover with the donor's serial number and block the EFI exit with a password. Or they program the microcircuit by entering a new number there. The output is a top-end model, the serial beats on the Apple base - you can't dig.
The real configuration will come out when you reinstall the system. An unpleasant surprise that can be avoided.
In 90% of cases, it is enough to restart the MacBook while holding down the Option + D keys. The laptop will carry out internal diagnostics, after which it will issue an error report. You can see the decoding of all codes. The serial number will be shown on the same screen. It’s something we are breaking through the Apple database, comparing the model of the device. It should match the number on the lid, About This Mac, and on the box.
If you think that you are "lucky" to run into virtuoso scammers, then you can check the real hardware configuration using the Apple Service Diagnostic utility launched from a bootable flash drive.
There is another way: just run the Geekbench test and compare the resulting value with the reference figure from the Internet. It turns out not very accurately, but in general it reflects the situation.
Speed test: hard drive
Old MacBooks with HDD on board turn on in 40-90 seconds, and new laptops with SSD-drives will start up in 5-25 seconds.
Accurate read and write speeds can be obtained by running the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. The utility is already on the flash drive, remember? Click Start and check the numbers. The HDD should deliver around 90 Mbps, while SSDs show nearly 250 Mbps. In general, the program is tailored for working with video, but it reflects the situation as a whole.
Picture check: video under load and display
This is where color pictures and a film come in handy. Open the images in full screen one at a time and look at possible dead pixels or highlights. The film, in turn, should be played without brakes, even with a sharp change in the position of the window or its size.
You can also run the Heaven benchmark, and with it the Mac Fan Control diagnostic utility. Thus, we will kill two birds with one stone - load the video core more seriously and measure the temperature of iron in stressful situations. In idle mode, the normal rate will be 40-50 degrees, and under load, 85-95. Sudden surges or overshooting indicates an unreliable cooling system. Perhaps the thermal grease has long ago fallen into disrepair or the coolers are completely clogged with dust. You shouldn't mess with such a MacBook.
Input devices: keyboard and trackpad
It's turn primitive but effective methods.
The keyboard is checked in an elementary way - TextEdit opens and all the buttons are slowly shaken. It's not enough just to see all the pressed characters, you need the buttons to be pressed clearly, without clicks and squeaks.
The trackpad needs to be given equal attention. Try different gestures with several fingers, check the entire area of the panel. Only a narrow strip on top should not respond to touch. The trackpad itself is always pressed without unnecessary crackling, with approximately the same sound.
Newer MacBooks don't have a physical button below the trackpad. The Taptic Engine is responsible for the recoil here, and the sensor itself recognizes the pressure. This also needs to be checked immediately.
Almost there: wireless connectivity and ports
Be sure to pay attention to the functionality of wireless communications. Check Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. To do this, it is enough to go to the local Network or connect to your phone.
More difficult check ports... If in the new MacBook Pro there are only four USB Type-C connectors, then in the old one you can find a card reader and Thunderbolt and HDMI. The bulk of the connectors are checked by an external hard drive with adapters, but with HDMI you have to invent something.
When choosing a computer, we usually carefully study all the existing types and characteristics in order to. But after long-term use, we forget such details and remember only the name of the brand. In some cases, this is not enough, for example, if you want to update, or check the possibility and cost of repairs at a service center, or sell your MacBook, then you will need to know the exact model of the MacBook.
Apple beeches are available in different variations, each of which has its own model, plus they differ among themselves in configuration. The case usually displays only a kind of Mac, the rest of the information can be obtained from documents, receipts or on the laptop itself.
If you've forgotten which model of your Mac is, we'll show you how to determine it.
Varieties of MacBooks
MacBooks come in Classic, Pro and Air. They differ both externally and technically. All modern MacBooks run on Mac OS Sierra.
MacBook is a compact 12-inch Intel 6th Generation processor (2016 model) with over 3 million pixels, 1.3 cm thick. Able to work up to 10 hours without recharging. Designed for maximum wireless operation, equipped with a universal high-speed USB-C port.
Pro is faster and more powerful and has the best color rendering screen. Features a glass touchpad, 13 '' or 15 '' display (2016 models), Touch ID (not available on all configurations), high-speed Thunderbolt 3, powerful GPU and enhanced speakers.
Air - light and thin, with 5th generation Intel processors, can last up to 12 hours on a single charge, 1.7 cm thick body, 1.35 kg weight, support for the latest Wi-Fi 802.11ac technology, fast flash instead of traditional hard drive.
MacBook Air is midway between regular and Pro in terms of technical characteristics, which is why Air is very popular among Apple tech lovers.
Determination methods
Apple releases MacBook, Pro and Air. They differ in technical characteristics and externally, but in management they are similar and the ways to check the model are the same for them:
The downside to using an identifier is that you don't know the exact configuration. And the same MacBook Air is available in different versions of the processor and memory.
Therefore, it is best to find out this information by the serial number on the Apple website by entering it into a special search field.
Serial number is a unique combination of numbers and letters that characterizes any Apple device, be it Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPad, as well as all accessories produced by Apple: cables, cases, adapters, etc. While the serial number looks like a random combination of arbitrary characters, it is not. The serial number contains encrypted information about the place of manufacture of the device, about the year and week of its release, as well as about the model of the gadget produced.
Previously, using the serial number, it was easiest to find out the release date of the device - it was enough to look at the third, fourth and fifth characters, which were always numbers. The third showed the last digit of the year of manufacture (for example, 8 = 2008, 9 = 2009), and the fourth and fifth together gave the number of the week in which the device was released (from 01 to 52). But such a system operated only during the first decade of the 21st century. Since 2010, Apple began to switch to a new format for serial numbers, instead of 11-digit serial numbers, 12-digit ones are now used.
An example of such a new serial number is shown above. There are no more familiar numbers in it. But does this mean that the year and the number of the week will no longer be found out? Not at all. True, it is much more difficult to do it based on the 12-digit serial number.
The structure of Apple's 12-digit serial numbers is as follows:
- the first three characters are the code of the factory in which the device was released. Unfortunately, no one except Apple employees knows the full list of these codes.
- fourth character - half year code in which the device is released
- fifth character - release week code within this half-year
- the sixth, seventh and eighth characters - a code unique for each device
- the last four characters are the model code showing generation, memory size, color, characteristics, etc.
You and I are interested in the year and week of release - but without additional decryption, you won't be able to recognize them. You need to look at the fourth and fifth characters of the serial number. As we have already said, the fourth character encodes a half-year, and according to a very strange system - the half-year starts from 2010, and the numbering is alphabetic, starting with the letter C. The letters E, I, O and U are excluded from the numbering. In total, 20 letters are obtained, i.e. Apple will use 12-digit serial numbers for exactly ten years, and in 2020 it will switch to a new format (possibly 13-digit numbers). The correspondence between letters and years is as follows:
The fifth character of the serial encodes the number of the week of release within the half-year, both with numbers and with letters. First there are numbers from 1 to 9, then the letters of the Latin alphabet (except for A, B, E, I, O, S, U, Z) - a total of 27 possible values. The fifth character cannot be deciphered without the fourth: first you must find out if the device was released in the first or second half of the year.
Hard? Let's analyze it using a practical example from the beginning of the article:
DMPJL8QEF18G
The fourth character is J, which means this is the second half of 2012. The fifth character is L, taking into account the second half of the year, this is the 43rd week of 2012.
Fair, not overpriced or understated. There should be prices on the Service website. Necessarily! without "asterisks", it is clear and detailed, where it is technically possible - the most accurate, final.
With the availability of spare parts, up to 85% of complex repairs can be completed in 1-2 days. Modular repairs take much less time. The website lists the approximate duration of any repairs.
Warranty and liability
Any repairs must be guaranteed. Everything is described on the website and in the documents. The guarantee is self-confidence and respect for you. A 3-6 month warranty is good and sufficient. It is needed to check quality and hidden defects that cannot be detected immediately. You see honest and realistic terms (not 3 years), you can be sure that they will help you.
Half of the success in Apple repair is the quality and reliability of spare parts, so a good service works with suppliers directly, there are always several reliable channels and your own warehouse with proven spare parts of current models so that you do not have to waste extra time.
Free diagnostics
This is very important and has already become a good form for the service center. Diagnostics is the most difficult and important part of the repair, but you should not pay a dime for it, even if you do not repair the device as a result.
Repair in service and delivery
A good service values your time and therefore offers free shipping. And for the same reason, repairs are carried out only in the workshop of the service center: correctly and according to technology, it can only be done at a prepared place.
Convenient schedule
If the Service works for you, and not for itself, then it is always open! absolutely. The schedule should be convenient so that you can catch up with before and after work. Good service works both on weekends and on holidays. We are waiting for you and working on your devices every day: 9:00 - 21:00
The reputation of professionals consists of several points
Age and experience of the company
Reliable and experienced service has been known for a long time.
If a company has been on the market for many years, and it has managed to establish itself as an expert, people turn to it, write about it, recommend it. We know what we are talking about, since 98% of incoming devices in the SC are being restored.
We are trusted and passed on by other service centers for difficult cases.
How many masters in directions
If several engineers are always waiting for you for each type of equipment, you can be sure:
1. there will be no queue (or it will be minimal) - your device will be taken over immediately.
2. You are giving Macbook repairs to an expert in the field of Mac repairs. He knows all the secrets of these devices
Technical literacy
If you ask a question, a specialist must answer it as accurately as possible.
So that you have an idea of what exactly you need.
They will try to solve the problem. In most cases, the description tells you what happened and how to fix the problem.
