The Intel Broadwell problem is well known. Intel is having production issues that prevent them from releasing the new microprocessor to computer vendors in large quantities. Because of this problem, Apple has been releasing minor upgrades to its line of Macs throughout 2014. The upgrades are simple minor speed increases that don’t improve the performance dramatically.
Yesterday, while updating the Mac longevity table I noticed that all new 2014 Apple laptop models share the same Model Identifier as the 2013 models.
The Model Identifier is used by Apple to differentiate different generations of Mac. It is widely used to identify which Mac models are supported with a specific OS X version.
All MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro released from mid-2013 to today have the same values:
- MacBookAir6,1
- MacBookAir6,2
- MacBookPro11,1
- MacBookPro11,2
- MacBookPro11,3
- MacBookAir6,1
- MacBookAir6,2
- MacBookPro11,1
- MacBookPro11,2
- MacBookPro11,3
We knew that the mid-2014 models were simply speed bumps over the previous Macs. After seeing the Model Identifier we can be optimistic that all mid-2013 Mac laptops are going to have the same lifespan as the Mac released in mid-2014. It’s a good idea to check the for some good bargains on the old models as I did a couple of weeks ago.