Mactracker, Find out Everything You Want to Know about Apple Hardware

Whether you are curious about the history and development of Mac over time, need to know the specifications of any particular Mac or accessory or are a true Mac geek who wants a readily available source of information about any and all Apple computers, there is one program that was written especially for you… Mactracker.

What it does
Mactracker is a database program that holds all the information you ever wanted to know about any Mac or other Apple product out there. From the specifications, to the history of the model, photo and details about the release date and availability, everything you could possibly want to know is available here.

Although it is named Mactracker, it also holds information about Apple iPods, displays, peripherals, printers and even the Mac OS.

Lots of information
For every product in its database, there is a lot of information available. Most of this information is grouped under several tabs to make it more easily accessible.

For computers, the tabs are General, Memory/Graphics, Expansion/Ports, History and Notes. These tabs differ from device to device - a monitor has different tabs, and so does an iPod.

The information found under the tabs ranges from the introduction and discontinuation date, as well as whether the computer is still supported, to the firmware updates that were released over time for that model.

You can also find all the technical specifications of the machine and the configuration it is originally shipped with. Additionally, under the history tab you can find information about the background of the machine, the context of its release and other interesting trivia facts about it as well as a photograph.

Under the Notes tab, you can add your own notes and web links. By default the program already offers you links to the product's official page, if it still exists, and the support pages for it.

Perhaps one of the best things about this program is how the tab implementation saves you time and mouse clicks. When you open a new window for another device, it will automatically open with the tab you had focused in the previous window. As such, if you are only interested in say the history of the device, you never even have to see any of the other tabs. This can save a lot more time than is apparent if you are going through a lot of machines looking for specific information.

Many ways to find what you are looking for
Searching in Mactracker can be done in one of two ways. The first is searching straight from the main window using the field at the top, but this will only search in the category that is currently selected. This approach is ideal for quickly locating a product from a category you already know.
Alternatively, you can search throughout the entire database, and have the results grouped by category and specifications, which makes it easy to locate the more elusive products.

Taking on the trend started by Apple with its smart playlists and folders, Mactracker offers you smart categories. This lets you create categories that will be populated based on certain criteria that you select. You can, for example, have a dynamically updated list of all Macs that have an Intel processor.

While this is not as fast or practical as a search for one time queries, it is by far the best approach for grouping information in a way that is relevant to you.

Smart categories do have one major limitation however and that is that they cannot have more than one criterion per group. You cannot search for all machines shipped with Tiger that also have Firewire800 ports. This limitation cuts down on the usefulness of this feature significantly, but it is still better than nothing.

The last but not least way of seeing information is the Timeline view, that lets you see all the Apple products, grouped chronologically by launch date. Everything is grouped under the year of release, so it is easy to see the evolution of the machines and how previous models influenced the newer ones.

The Good
An invaluable source of information about all Apple hardware products released over the years. The centralized database makes looking for such information on the Internet pointless.

The Bad
The smart categories could be a little smarter, and the search a little speedier.

The Truth
If you want information about Apple hardware at your fingertips, then look no further than Mactracker. It is the best source of information for all Apple hardware products.

Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge: