Editors' Rating
| Service & support |  |
5.0 |
| Design |  |
9.0 |
| Features | |
9.0 |
| Battery life |  |
8.0 |
| Performance | |
8.0 |
Published: 02 Mar 2009
When the latest 13in. and 15in. MacBooks were announced in October 2008, a similar revamp of the larger 17in. version of the MacBook Pro was conspicuously missing from the lineup. In January 2009, Apple announced the 17in. model would be getting the same 'unibody' aluminium chassis, buttonless (or more accurately, all-button) touchpad and edge-to-edge glass on the LED backlit display. It's actually taken until late February for the systems to start shipping, but finally big-screen fans can get all the latest and greatest Apple improvements in a desktop replacement form factor, starting at £1,949 (inc. VAT, £1,695 ex. VAT).
Internally, Apple has moved to an Nvidia chipset with improved integrated graphics, which is then paired with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card that can be turned off and on as needed to improve battery life or boost performance.
The MacBook Pro, although expensive, remains a must-have for media professionals, and the new 17in. version will be an especially welcome addition for photo and video types who have wanted the latest graphics, chassis and touchpad upgrades in an HD-friendly 1,920-by-1,200 package.
At a little bit less than 2.5cm thick, this 17in. system is actually thinner than some of the chunkier 10in. netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. Like the current 13in. and 15in. MacBooks, the 17in. Pro is constructed starting with a solid block of aluminium, which is carved down, rather than a thin outer shell that has had support struts added to it. The result is a lighter and thinner — yet stronger — chassis that feels very solid and substantial.
The glass touchpad is the same as found on the smaller MacBooks, and offers a much larger surface area than before — thanks to the elimination of a separate mouse button. In fact, the entire touchpad depresses like a button, although simple tapping, as on a PC notebook, will also work once you turn that option on in the settings menu. Although the touchpad seemed massive on the 13in. MacBook, we could actually stand to have an even bigger version on this model.
With its multi-touch gestures, you can hide all your apps by sweeping four fingers up on the pad, and you can also designate one corner of the touchpad as a 'right-click' zone. Very useful, as well, is sweeping four fingers left or right, which brings up the application switcher. Once you get used to that, going back to a regular touchpad would be difficult.
The wide-spaced, flat-key keyboard is an Apple standard and we're always a fan of backlit keys, which are standard on the Pro and also available on the higher-end 13in. MacBook.
The 17in. wide-screen LED display offers a native resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 pixels, which is particularly useful for working on 1,080p HD video content or editing large photos — two tasks that MacBooks are particularly associated with.
The colours are rich and deep, but the glass also grabs stray light rays with ease, making the glossy screen seem that much glossier. Adding a matte-screen coating is now an option, but one that costs an extra £34.99. On a system costing almost £2,000, Apple should really not pass that particular expense on to buyers.
Although the MacBook Pro line is one of the last bastions of the once-widespread FireWire port, we still think many users would love to have an SD or CF card slot and the option of a high-end Blu-ray drive — especially with such an eye-catching big-screen display.
Apple is making a firm move to the DisplayPort camp by including a mini-DisplayPort connection instead of mini-DVI or VGA, but a variety of external dongles (sold separately) will give you any video output you need. The company also offers up to a 256GB solid-state hard drive option, although that will set you back £600. Boosting the standard 320GB drive from 5,400rpm to 7,200rpm is much more reasonable — only costing an extra £34.99.
With a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, the MacBook Pro performed excellently on our standard benchmark tests, but only marginally faster than the 2.6GHz 15in. version (a 2.93GHz chip is available for an additional £210). Although Windows-based notebooks with similar CPUs are also fast and efficient systems, Apple has an advantage in our benchmark tests because many of the apps we test with, such as Quicktime, iTunes and Photoshop, run faster on Mac OS X.
Besides the dedicated GeForce 9600M, the 17in. Pro also includes the same integrated GeForce 9400 GPU found in the smaller MacBooks. The settings menu has two power options: high performance or longer battery life. Choosing high performance turns the 9600 chip on, while choosing longer battery life turns it off, leaving you with just the integrated 9400 chip. Apple still isn't making gaming machines, but with the integrated graphics we got 56.4 frames per second (fps) in Quake IV at a resolution of 1,024 by 768, and 86.2fps with the dedicated graphics.
Note that switching between GPUs doesn't require a reboot, but you do have to log out and log back into your user account, closing apps in the process.
With the GeForce 9600M GPU turned on, we got 4 hours and 14 minutes on our video playback test battery drain, which is very impressive for a system with a big, power-hungry, screen. Switching the 9600M off added about 30 minutes.
One concern we've heard voiced is about the sealed battery compartment, which means you can neither replace a worn-out battery nor bring a backup extra battery on long trip. A 4-hour-plus performance from a 17in. notebook should help assuage the extra battery concerns, since that's more than double what most desktop replacements get. The lack of a user-replaceable battery is a more serious issue. Apple claims the battery in the 17in. MacBook Pro is good for 1,000 recharge cycles, which, if true, means the battery should outlive the useful life of the notebook. Apple's retail stores will also open the chassis and replace the battery for a fee.
Not to sound like a broken record, but Apple continues to both frustrate and impress with its service and support. MacBooks include a one-year, parts-and-labour warranty, but only 90 days of free telephone support. This, along with the proprietary nature of Apple's products, makes purchasing an extended Apple Care warranty almost a necessity, but a necessity that will cost £273 for three total years of coverage.
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