This article is to clear up confusion over the colours of the 2017 Retina MacBook 12″, specifically the types of gold. When the range launched in June 2016 it featured the same Silver, Space Grey, Gold and Rose Gold colour options as the previous 2016 range.
In October 2018, Apple quietly changed the lineup. They dropped the Rose Gold option completely but confusingly changed the colour of the Gold model making it much redder and effectively producing a model half way between the original yellow Gold and the very pink Rose Gold. What they did not do is change what they called this warmer colour so it is still referred to as Gold. For clarity, we refer to this new colour as Gold v2 or Warm Gold.
This has led to these Warm Gold models being mis-identified as Rose Gold. It means when sourcing replacement casing parts, it is common to order the wrong colour part. Even if you know the MacBook is a Gold model, how do you tell if it is the v1 or v2 colour. All three are very different!
As you would expect, Apple has different service part numbers for the v1 and v2 Gold casing parts (display, top case & bottom case) with the exception of the bottom casing screws which it did not revise, and the audio board which always used the same part for the Gold and Rose Gold.
So how do you confirm which colour you have if you are unsure? When all three are next to each other it’s obvious but on their own it can be difficult to tell. One way is to enter your serial number into the Apple serial decoder on our Apple parts store. This may be able to confirm the colour but it may not in some cases. If you are really unsure and plan to purchase a case component, contact us first with your serial number and we can confirm it for you.
For reference, here are the Apple service part numbers for the case parts
| Rose Gold | Gold v1 | Gold v2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display | 661-06788 | 661-06787 | 661-09981 |
| Top Case | 661-06796 | 661-06795 | 661-09984 |
| Bottom Case | 661-06792 | 661-06791 | 661-09982 |
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