Apple MacBook Pro 17″ Review
Its been three years since the original 17-inch MacBook Pro debuted. And within that time the 17-inch notebook market has had a lot of competition. So it was only right for Apple to step up its game and redesign their flagship system.
Design
The design of the new MacBook Pro 17-inch has been completely reworked. Thanks to Apple’s new Brick manufacturing technology the entire shell is composed of a single sheet of aluminum, thus the need for screws and bolts to hold the pieces together is nonexistent. This allows better access to components and a more environmental friendly system according to Apple.
The new shell is only 0.95 of an inch thick making it the thinnest 17-inch system to date. As for weight, the MacBook Pro weighs in at 5.5 pounds.
As the name suggests the notebook is fitted with a 17-inch screen that carries an edge to edge glass LED display that gives a 700:1 aspect ratio. There is a little problem with glare though due to the glossy display. But Apple has a non-glossy screen option which will set you back $50.
Hard drive options and SSD options include: 320GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA along with an optional 320GB 7200-rpm ATA HDD and or 128GB ot 256GB SSD. 4GB of DDR3 RAM comes standard with the option to go up to 8GB which is about equal to 16GB of DDR2.
The multi touch trackpad that first debuted on the MacBook Air earlier last year is also available on this system. Multitouch support is available as well as two, three and four finger jesters.
The only major drawback to the design is the integrated battery that is only good for 1000 recharges before needing to be replaced. The battery is rated at 7-8 hours on a single charge but real world tests reveled that it was 30-45 minutes below the Apple’s PR release.
Performance
Performance is good and Apple has really nailed down some solid performance marks. Thanks to the integrated NVIDIA graphics option as well as the discrete, the system earns high marks for video and photo editing as well as average gaming abilities.
The system does require that a user logs off and on again to change from integrated to discrete graphics (and vise versa) which is a little odd seeing that Sony’s Z series can perform the same task with a switch of a button.
WiFi was a charm and we were able to pick up some pretty strong numbers even when we were more than 50 feet away from the router. The system supports 802.11b/g/n so you won’t have to worry about those next generation routers that have been popping up lately. Bluetooth 2.0 is also supported so the need for wired headphones becomes less apparent.
Conclusion
The newly redesigned MacBook Pro 17-inch is a solid offering. It carries some great features and thanks to such refinements as glass mutitouch trackpad as well as backlit a keyboard, its hard to find fault with the system. Our only major concern with the system was the integrated battery which is going to be a hard sell to non-Mac fans and the steep price. Our test system clocked in at $2,900 and there are still a few options that we left out. But if you have the money to afford it, you will not be disappointed.