System specs with no OS installed?

Seventh

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Hopefully this is the right forum for this. :)

I picked up an older Macbook 13" at work, and it has no Operating System on it at all. I have a Snow Leopard upgrade DVD and the restore DVDs from my iMac, 17" MBP and Mini, but none of them will install on it - so I assume I need to purchase a new copy (no biggie).

I'm trying to determine if my machine is a PPC or an Intel, but with no OS I'm not sure how to go about getting the system/processor specs on it. All I can find on the outside is a model # of A1181, which Google tells me is Intel, so I think I should be in luck.

As an aside, is there indeed a way that I can use any of my 3 system restore DVDs or my Snow Leopard upgrade DVD to install OSX on this guy? This machine had an OS on it when I got it, but like a good geeky guy, i wanted to blow it away and start fresh - and I did that, before realizing that I didn't have the DVDs that came with the system..

Thanks!
 
chscag

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I'm trying to determine if my machine is a PPC or an Intel, but with no OS I'm not sure how to go about getting the system/processor specs on it. All I can find on the outside is a model # of A1181, which Google tells me is Intel, so I think I should be in luck.
Click to expand...

That model number denotes that it is indeed an Intel machine. It's a Core 2 Duo.

As an aside, is there indeed a way that I can use any of my 3 system restore DVDs or my Snow Leopard upgrade DVD to install OSX on this guy? This machine had an OS on it when I got it, but like a good geeky guy, i wanted to blow it away and start fresh - and I did that, before realizing that I didn't have the DVDs that came with the system..
Click to expand...

The system restore DVD set is out, they're specific for your iMac and won't work on the MacBook. Best bet is to give Apple customer support a call and ask them to send you an original Leopard install set for your MacBook. I'm not sure how much Apple will charge but it should be less expensive than trying to buy a retail full install version of either Leopard or SL. (After installing Leopard, you can use the SL upgrade DVD.)

Regards.
 
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Seventh

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Right on, thank you! :)

I'm going to kill my IT department. "We usually just throw things like the restore discs away"...
 
McYukon

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Seventh said:
I'm going to kill my IT department. "We usually just throw things like the restore discs away"...
Click to expand...
One would think they would know better than that…
 
rman

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I would not worry about killing the IT department. :) They did what you would have done. When you get a lot of one system or another. You tend to keep only a small subset of things to rebuild a system.

Since I have to maintain several thousand systems. I don't need the install media that came with each system.
 
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rman said:
I would not worry about killing the IT department. :) They did what you would have done. When you get a lot of one system or another. You tend to keep only a small subset of things to rebuild a system.

Since I have to maintain several thousand systems. I don't need the install media that came with each system.
Click to expand...

And more to point in these systems everything is normally the same with all user files kept on the server,thus making Restore disks useless to the IT Department.
 
harryb2448

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And if they are like most IT departments, you can bet they are all PC experts and not a Mac enthusiast amongst them otherwise he/she would hoard those system discs like crazy.
 
DarkestRitual

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Seventh said:
Hopefully this is the right forum for this. :)

I picked up an older Macbook 13" at work, and it has no Operating System on it at all. I have a Snow Leopard upgrade DVD and the restore DVDs from my iMac, 17" MBP and Mini, but none of them will install on it - so I assume I need to purchase a new copy (no biggie).

I'm trying to determine if my machine is a PPC or an Intel, but with no OS I'm not sure how to go about getting the system/processor specs on it. All I can find on the outside is a model # of A1181, which Google tells me is Intel, so I think I should be in luck.

As an aside, is there indeed a way that I can use any of my 3 system restore DVDs or my Snow Leopard upgrade DVD to install OSX on this guy? This machine had an OS on it when I got it, but like a good geeky guy, i wanted to blow it away and start fresh - and I did that, before realizing that I didn't have the DVDs that came with the system..

Thanks!
Click to expand...

All you had to do to figure out PPC or intel is read what it says underneath the display. If it says any variation of the word "MacBook," then it's an intel machine. If it said, "iBook," or "PowerBook," then it's a PPC machine.
 

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