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Is there a guide to part numbers, classes, and components?

Hi! I've been dealing with lots of A1181s lately, and I tend to go by the part numbers of the logic boards, because that is a fairly absolute and unmistakable way to reference a board, however it seems there is not a good way to cross-reference the board numbers with the early/mid/late year designations, or the classes of machines(Penryn, Santa Rosa, etc.), or to know definitively which of them has which variation heatsync (3-wall or 4-wall connectors, straight or curved), or which battery connector (Energy Star vs non-Energy Star). Some people will go by "mid 2008", others with say "Santa Rosa", and another might reference a board number, but beyond vague references to these things I don't think most people really comprehend what any of it means, which is not surprising because it's not like Apple makes it at all obvious.

Does anyone know of a comprehensive and reliable index which cross-references all these confusing terms and parts? I've found a few, but they are generally incomplete and filled with errors, and I need something I can depend on when telling any given person that a board will/won't work in a machine. It's almost as if Apple is intentionally confusing the issue, and on the back-end they probably have a system that they aren't letting the rest of us see.

Thanks!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Thanks guys -- that helps! It looks like between the sites you've mentioned, and iFixit's ID-Your-Mac page, it will be possible to drill down and get a pretty good idea, or as close as is possible, anyway. I think at the end of the day though I will still have to leave the responsibility with the buyers to make sure the inverter, heatsync, and optical connectors match what I am selling. I have a couple hundred boards I'm trying to make sense of and sort out, and I'm finding variations even within part numbers, and it's just too risky to guarantee a board will work on any given machine, especially if the buyer hasn't taken off the topcase to verify what they've got.

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Hello John. I asked this question myself and Ralph had a pretty good suggestion. Hope it helps. The cool thing is that you can actually save and archive these breakdowns.

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+ nice reference

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I haven't seen what you're looking for. But if the machine will boot there's no problem. Go under the Apple to "about this Mac", get the last three letters of the serial number and go here:http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-loo...

that gets you to the correct machine. Take that info and go here: http://www.welovemacs.com/parts.html

Select the machine and go to the parts blow up. The logic board part number will be listed. If you have the logic board part number, put it in the search box here: http://www.welovemacs.com/parts.html

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I usually use We Love Macs also. +

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It's definitely hard. We've done all this research, and incorporated it into our ID-Your-Mac system. It's far more complex than it looks on the surface—as you've found out. We have more information we could make available, but it's not in a very user-friendly format.

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The last three letters of the serial number has been the most helpful thing I've found

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rdklinc will be eternally grateful.
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