Mac CPU Type Spotter's Guide

Older Macs are PowerPC (PPC) based

• Any Apple product with the word "Power" in its name, e.g.:
  • PowerMac (G3,G4,G5)
    
    These may be found in various ResNet clusters.
  • PowerBook
• G4 iMac
  
  Found in the Le Mans cluster, LLC, Music Lab, Library Reference area
• G5 iMac
  
  Found in Regina 145B
  It is difficult to tell these appart from early Intel iMacs. I have observed that none of the G5 iMacs we have in clusters sport a built-in iSight camera, while all Intel iMacs (regardless of vintage) do. Ultimately, if you're unsure, you should perform a definitive test.
• iBook
• Mac Mini

Newer Macs are Intel CPU based

• Mac Pro
• MacBook
• MacBook Pro
• Mac Mini (there are PPC-based Mac Minis, but we don't have any)
  
  Found in some lecterns
• iMac (white)
  
  Found in Moreau 324, Science 134 cluster, Regina 145B lectern
  It is difficult to tell these appart from G5 iMacs. I have observed that none of the G5 iMacs we have in clusters sport a built-in iSight camera, while all Intel iMacs (regardless of vintage) do. Ultimately, if you're unsure, you should perform a definitive test.
• iMac (aluminum)
  
  Found in Trumper (including the consultant Mac)

Definitive Test

If you cannot readily identify the CPU architecture of a Mac. You should do the following. If the machine in question is not bootable (why else would you be re-imaging, right?), you can do this on one of its neighbors as we have presumably deployed the same model in a given cluster. If the machine is alone and not bootable witih its internal disk, you can do this test if you boot from an external drive. Note that this will not work on net-booted machines.

• Boot the machine
• Log in (any account will do)
• In the Apple menu, select "About This Mac"
  You should see something like this:
  
  As you can see, this indicates the machine has an Intel CPU.
  PowerPC machines would be indicated as "Power PC G4" or something similar.