Vaguely described Mac devices and how to identify them
Wanted to share something possibly useful for those of us who spend a lot of time on Answers: I copied and pasted the model/EMC numbers and such for all Mac models into a spreadsheet, and lined them up with the corresponding entries from iFixit's content tree. Here is the result:
The problem this is intended to solve is that users identify their Macs in all kinds of interesting ways, and often it's hard to tell which set of guides corresponds to their question. They might call their device a Late 2008 MacBook, or a MacBook5,1, or MB466, or Model A1278, or EMC 2254—all of which are the same thing! That used to send me Googling for the right model and/or scouring iFixit's category system for a matching device. This should reduce that process to a simple CMD + F.
For bonus points, moderators/admins can copy the corresponding iFixit device name from this index and paste it straight into the "Choose a Device" field of the OP's question—which will correctly categorize the post so that other people with the same device/problem have a better chance of finding it.
Right now this index includes all MacBook/MBP/MBA, Mac Mini, and iMacs going back to the G5 era. If people find it useful, I can continue to expand it.
Hope it helps! Thanks. :)
Is this a worthwhile discussion?