Which MacBook Pro do I have? How to find the exact model

Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen and choose About This Mac. Apple calls this the easiest way to find your model: the window shows a picture of your Mac and its full name, such as MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021), along with the serial number. If the Mac will not start, turn it over. A serial number is usually printed on the underside, and Apple's coverage site, checkcoverage.apple.com, turns it into the model name.

That takes about ten seconds. The rest of this post covers the other ways to check, what each part of the name tells you, and how to tell the generations apart by eye, which helps most when you are looking at a used one.

Step 1: About This Mac

1. Click the Apple menu in the corner of the screen.
2. Choose About This Mac.
3. Read the name under the picture of your Mac.

The name has a size and a year in brackets, and sometimes a chip or a port count to separate models from the same year: MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5), for example, or MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports). Copy it down exactly. That full name is what Apple Support, repair shops and accessory makers ask for.

Step 2: the details in System Settings

For more, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click About. Apple's guide says this pane shows your Mac's name, its chip (on Apple silicon) or processor (on Intel), its memory and its serial number. The layout has shifted between versions of macOS, so the order may differ on yours.

Two more routes, both from Apple's own instructions:

• System Information. Hold the Option key and choose Apple menu > System Information, then click Hardware. You will see the model identifier, such as MacBookPro18,1, and the serial number. Apple's identify page lists models by identifier, and the serial number works at checkcoverage.apple.com.
• Your Apple Account. Sign in at account.apple.com from any device and open Devices. If your Mac is listed, its model name and serial number are there, which helps when the Mac is not with you.

Step 3: if the Mac will not start

The serial number is usually printed on the underside, near the regulatory markings, and sometimes on the original box next to a barcode. Enter it at checkcoverage.apple.com to see the model name.

Apple notes one trap. If the logic board was replaced during a repair, the printed serial number may no longer be the active one, so use About This Mac or your Apple Account whenever you can.

What the name tells you

• The size. 13, 14, 15 or 16 inches, or 17 on models from 2011 and earlier. The 15-inch line ended in 2019, the same year the first 16-inch arrived with Intel. The 14-inch arrived in 2021.
• The 13-inch. Sold with Intel processors, then with M1 in 2020 and M2 in 2022.
• The year. The year the model was introduced, not the year you bought it.
• The chip. On Apple silicon, M1 through M6, with Pro and Max versions. Pro and Max chips only come in the 14 and 16-inch sizes.

For how your model compares with today's line-up, see which MacBook Pro to buy.

Visual clues

If you cannot get to the screen, look at the machine.

Notch or no notch

The notch is the dark cut-out in the middle of the top edge of the screen, around the camera. It came to the MacBook Pro with the 14 and 16-inch models of 2021, with M1 Pro and M1 Max. So a notch means a 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021 or later, and a plain top edge means an earlier model: a 13-inch, a 15-inch, a 2019 16-inch or one of the old 17-inch models.

The one exception is new. Apple's OLED MacBook Pro, arriving on 6 November 2026, has a Dynamic Island where the notch would be.

The ports

The 2021 redesign brought back HDMI, an SD card slot and MagSafe, and every 14 and 16-inch model since has kept that set. If you see only USB-C ports, it is an earlier design: a 13-inch, a 15-inch or the 2019 16-inch.

On recent models the port type narrows it further. Models with M5 Pro or M5 Max carry three Thunderbolt 5 ports, while the 14-inch M5 and M6 carry three Thunderbolt 4. Apple's identify page names the port type for recent models.

The Touch Bar

A strip of changing icons where the function keys would be is a Touch Bar. Apple's tech specs list it on models such as the 2019 16-inch and the 2022 13-inch with M2. The 14 and 16-inch models that brought the notch dropped it. So a Touch Bar means no notch, and a notch with a row of full-height function keys means 2021 or later.

The color

Apple's identify page lists silver and space gray for the earlier models, and silver and space black from the M3 Pro and M3 Max models of late 2023 onward. A space black MacBook Pro is therefore from late 2023 or later. Silver tells you very little.

What the model tells you about macOS

Apple's identify page lists the newest macOS each model can run. The last Intel MacBook Pros, the 2019 16-inch and the 2020 13-inch with four Thunderbolt 3 ports, top out at macOS Tahoe, and Apple's compatibility list for macOS Golden Gate includes only Macs with Apple silicon. So Tahoe is the last macOS for an Intel MacBook Pro. Every Apple silicon MacBook Pro, back to the 13-inch M1 from 2020, can run Golden Gate.

If yours is one of the Intel models, upgrading from an Intel MacBook Pro covers what changes when you move.

If you are buying used

Ask for a photo of the About This Mac window, or for the serial number, and check it at checkcoverage.apple.com. Then make sure the size, chip and year match the listing. A listing that says only "MacBook Pro 2021" could be a 14-inch or a 16-inch, with M1 Pro or M1 Max, so ask for both before you agree on anything.

Where Notchpals shows up on yours

Your model also decides where Notchpals appears. On a 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro with a notch, from 2021 on, the characters peek out of it. On an older MacBook Pro without one, Notchpals draws its own black island centered at the top of the main display, and the crew peeks out of that instead. Either way the Mac needs macOS 14 or later, and both Apple silicon and Intel models are supported.

Click a character and it answers. Jot, the sticky note from the Focus area, is a good one to try:

JotDid you need something? I'm always here, stuck as ever.

Jot's real job comes at the start of the day: on weekday mornings it asks for the one task that matters most.

Why it is worth knowing

The exact model saves time in four places. Support and repair start with it. Cases, sleeves and docks fit by generation. Upgrade decisions depend on how far back you are, and upgrading from an M1 MacBook Pro is written for the first Apple silicon generation. And when you sell, the buyer asks for it first.

The one-minute version

1. Apple menu > About This Mac: note the full model name.
2. System Settings > General > About: chip, memory and serial number.
3. Mac will not start: the serial on the underside, checked at checkcoverage.apple.com.
4. No screen at all: the notch, the ports, the Touch Bar and the color tell you the generation.