We oftentimes run across a situation where one of our clients needs assistance determining their current hardware and software specifications. The most common reason for this is that they would like to install a software application or use a new shiny device with their several year old machine.
The first thing we are going to need to determine how to help you with your upgrade questions is a survey of the hardware and software you currently have installed. Thankfully, Apple has included a software product (yes, there’s an app for that) that does just that. It is called the System Profiler. This has been around since the days of Mac OS 9 and it has a very handy ability to export a file that can be sent to a repair shop or consultant (that would be us), and we can instantly take a look at it and know pretty much everything we need to know about your current computer so that we can make solid recommendations.
So if, during our conversations, we ask you to send us a “System Profiler” report…here is how to do it:
- Select “About this Mac” from the “Apple” Menu in the upper left corner of your screen.
- Click the “More Info” button in the “About This Mac” dialog box
- The “System Profiler” application will load and become the active application.
- Select “Save As…” from the “File” menu.
- Save the file as a “System Profiler (XML)” file and put it somewhere it is easy to locate. We recommend the desktop.
You can now go ahead and email the file that was exported in step 5 so that we can make accurate recommendations for your specific machine.
