How to check the specs of your Mac: find out processor and RAM information

How to check the specs of your Mac: find out processor and RAM information

There are many reasons why you might need to know exactly what components are inside your Mac. Perhaps you're thinking of buying a new game, app or accessory and you want to check whether it's compatible or if your Mac has enough power to run it. Or you may be thinking about , in which case you may also want to know which processor it is using, and how much RAM is inside.

You may also want to identify which Mac it is and what year the model is from, in which case, read: . Whatever the reason, there's a quick and easy, here's how to find out all of your Mac's specs: While the About This Mac window will reveal some details about your processor, e.g. 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5. It wont reveal which generation processor is inside your Mac, e.g.

Broadwell, Haswell, Kaby Lake. If you want to find out which generation of Intel processor is inside the Mac in question (or, if the Mac is really old whether its an Intel processor or a PowerPC), Apple doesnt make it easy for you.

This makes it difficult to compare different generations of Mac, because one 3.2GHz processor isnt necessarily the same as another 3.2GHz processor if one is two generations older than the other there could be a big difference in performance.

To discover which generation of processor is inside the Mac you need to find out the following from About This Mac: Once you have this information, visit for their comprehensive list of all Mac processors.

If you want to find out how different processors compare, read As before, you can check how much RAM your Mac has by following these steps: We have a . If you would like to know more about your Mac you can click on the System Report button found within the About This Mac window. This will pop out another window which will provide you with detailed information about your Mac. In here you can find specific information about your hardware, network and even software.

If you need to change your battery, or just want to list the information within the specs of your MacBook in your sale listing, you may want to fid out the size and detailed information about your battery. To do so, follow these instructions: The Cycle Count is an interesting number to analyse for your battery's health, where a higher Cycle Count could give you a slight indication about the Mac being used to a great extent.

With thescreenshot below you'll be able to see our reasonably new Mac, whichhas only had one charge cycle, as it has been plugged in since we got it into the office. We do normally recommend usingthe battery, by letting it discharge to around 40% and then charging it to around 80% as this will extend its battery life.