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Keeping Track of 6900 MacBook Airs and 100 MacBook Pros


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Keeping Track of 6900 MacBook Airs and 100 MacBook Pros
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cozmo
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2012-02-10, 16:09

So my school district is moving to the Mac. We are currently a HP school district. We will be a mixed enviroment, with the business side of the district staying Windows and the Educational side moving to Mac. It is basically a cost measure, we do not want to buy Macs for the entire district.

Currently we have our own made from scratch inventory system that is a SQL database. We can search by type of device (PC, laptop, monitor, printer, etc.) Serial Number, Asset Number (our internal bar code sticker), Model Number (d530, 6710b, 6730b, etc.) along with Hardware Address. My question is, when we start getting in the MacBook Airs, we will go to enter the Model #MC965LL/A and it will look like that. But they only place we can find it labeled anywhere is on the box. It is not on the bottom of the laptop, and when I went into About this Mac, they do not have the model number anywhere it just says Late Summer '11 for the model number. What do other people use for the model # when they enter their Macs into their inventory?

Thanks in advance, any help will be appreciated.
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MBHockey
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2012-02-10, 16:32

How about using the model identifier? You can get that from System Report.

It looks like this: MacBookAir4,2

This site might be helpful as it is a giant database of all Macs ever. Maybe you can get some ideas from how they've set it up:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...011-specs.html
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PB PM
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2012-02-10, 16:33

Serial number might be the easiest way.
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chucker
 
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2012-02-10, 16:35

What MBH said. MC965LL/A is the product inventory number ("Order Number", according to Mactracker) for Apple's sales; what you want is the Model Identifier. You can also use Mactracker, available for Mac OS X and iOS, as a convenient database. (It has a "My Models" feature as well, though this isn't really meant to scale to a whole school district.)
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chucker
 
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2012-02-10, 16:40

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM View Post
Serial number might be the easiest way.
I think the question is about grouping by model, though.

As for the serial number, there's a few useful tools as well:
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cozmo
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2012-02-10, 18:23

Quote:
Originally Posted by MBHockey View Post
How about using the model identifier? You can get that from System Report.

It looks like this: MacBookAir4,2

This site might be helpful as it is a giant database of all Macs ever. Maybe you can get some ideas from how they've set it up:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...011-specs.html
This might have to be the only way I believe, because we each year we will have to report to the state on how many laptops, PCs we have and what the specs are. So I was hoping to find a way that we could look up a model # and see how many we have district wide. I think we are getting different models of MacBook Airs for the kids then we are the teachers. I was just kind of hoping there was a way we could do that with out turning the machine on.

I understand the Serial Number lookup, but since that is on a sticker, I can't rely on that to be there all the time. These machines will be abused day in and day out. I am not sure who will be harder on them, the students or the teachers?

We will use the Serial Number as well, and start with that as the first identifier, and then see if that will stay on the machine long.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
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kscherer
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2012-02-10, 18:25

According to our service guys, the MacBook line has no "model number" identifier on the computer, itself. There is a "chassis number", but that can remain consistent across multiple models, so it will likely do you no good.

I agree with MBHockey, the Model Identifier would likely be the most consistent number across a model line. It can be located by going to the Apple Menu, clicking "About this Mac", then click "More Info", then click "Hardware", and look for "Model Identifier" in the Hardware Overview.

This number changes which each respective model release and would certainly help you track by model "number".

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kscherer
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2012-02-10, 18:26

Quote:
Originally Posted by cozmo View Post
*snip*
Beat me by two minutes!
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chucker
 
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2012-02-10, 18:41

Quote:
Originally Posted by cozmo View Post
I understand the Serial Number lookup, but since that is on a sticker, I can't rely on that to be there all the time.
It isn't only on a sticker. It can also be viewed in  → About This Mac (click on "Version <…>" twice), and numerous other means (e.g., "system_profiler SPHardwareDataType" in Terminal).
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cozmo
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2012-02-10, 18:46

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
It isn't only on a sticker. It can also be viewed in  → About This Mac (click on "Version <…>" twice), and numerous other means (e.g., "system_profiler SPHardwareDataType" in Terminal).
I was hoping of getting the SN without turning the machine on. Thanks though.
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Majost
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2012-02-10, 18:55

Quote:
Originally Posted by cozmo View Post
I think we are getting different models of MacBook Airs for the kids then we are the teachers. I was just kind of hoping there was a way we could do that with out turning the machine on.
Ah, then you're in trouble. The MacbookAirX,Y identifier is good for a whole generation of Macbooks. It doesn't discriminate between the low end and high end or BTO models.
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aimey
 
 
2012-02-11, 02:12

Yes, i too think serial number is best
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cozmo
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2012-02-16, 06:27

We ended up going with the Serial Number, seems the best way to search it. Thanks for that input. Now just getting ready to receive in all of the Airs in a couple of months. I got a Mac Mini for my desk for now, hopefully I will get an Air as well.
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cozmo
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2012-03-28, 05:50

Well its official, as of last night, we will be placing an order for 7750 MacBook Airs in the next week. I wish we could wait until the new version comes out, but we do not have that kind of time.
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Xaqtly
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2012-03-28, 10:45

That is a lot of Airs. Yeah I'm late to this party, but wanted to confirm that the serial number is the only unique identifier. The model identifier will be the same for all 7750 Airs.

I manage Macs on a much smaller scale, but I built a Filemaker database to handle tracking. There are a lot of fields, including username, location, model ID, serial number, etc., and each field can be searched. You can get the serial number off the box without opening it.
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cozmo
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2012-05-25, 05:37

Just an update, we have received about 1200 MacBook Airs as of right now, they just keep coming in each week!
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