Apple Announces New 17" MacBook Pro

Apple just announced a refresh to the 17” MacBook Pro, giving it the same treatment as the new 13.3” MacBook and 15.4” MacBook Pro. The updated design has frame cut from a single block of aluminum, larger glass surface multitouch touchpad, and non-user replaceable battery. With up to 8 hours of battery life, Apple hopes this is long enough where users won’t need to swap batteries on the road.

$2,799 17” MacBook Pro Specifications:

• 17” LED-backlit display (700:1 Contrast, Matte and Glossy options)
• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (6MB L2 Cache)
• 4 GB 1066MHz DDR3 memory
• Hybrid Graphics (NVIDIA 9400M Integrated/ 9600M Dedicated with 512MB)
• 320GB Hard Drive
• Slot-Loading SuperDrive

You can preorder the 17” MacBook Pro online right now but it has an estimated ship date late January.

 

Is the option for the anti-glare coating edge to edge like the glass screens?

 

I was looking for that but didnt see it mentioned. I REALLY hope it isn't a matte coated surface on top of the other screen.

 

There is an option for anti glare screen - $50

 

I don't understand why apple 17" never have the number pad, plus for 17" please give us something that should be at least twice as powerful as the 15" version.

 

Um... what kind of specs are we talking here that it would give you 8 hours of battery time??
And would that be on power saver with the screen at like 10% brightness? lol
Because even with a 12 cell battery 8 hours is quite a big number...

 

If the res isn't 1920 x 1200, then I don't see the point of making the 17". They didn't say...

 

$2800 Geez....

 

Id buy a 15" MBP and a 24" LED ACD. Thank you very much.

 

Yeah, they could have tossed in a quad core, ssd, and a 9700 gt at $2800. Who really cares how thin a 17" footprint is

 

Wow. Not only is this the lightest 17" laptop yet, but 8 hours of battery life on a standard battery? That's amazing. Apple's battery life estimates are usually pretty accurate for average use from what I've heard (as opposed to some companies who give idle battery lives), so I'd be interested in learning how they achieved this. Maybe this is similar to the MacBook Air in that it's 75% battery?

I agree, thinness is useless IMO, but the weight and battery life of this is incredible for a 17" laptop. Still a little expensive for me though, but I think it's an amazing laptop anyway (if the quoted stats are correct).

 

maybe its like a 12-15 cell battery thats built in?

 

I agree.. that really would not be a very good idea.

It would be interesting to see though if it is edge to edge. I would love to see something from either apple or hp like a matte view infinity.

 

Oh my... Notebooks really aren't designed to be disposable objects. Do this with iPods, well fine. But really, this is a step backwards. What happens if my charge capacity decreases? What if I'm on a big road trip and use multiple batteries?

 

Too expensive and Apple are acting like they invented this battery, while it is perhaps the cell shape that laptop manufacturers should move towards (depending on cost/safety issues) but ultimately it is just an enlarged version of what has been appearing in PMP's, Phone's and thousands of others handheld devices.

 

Nice Screen, Hopefully this higher spec LCD will become widely available

 

It is at 1920x1200.

 

$2800 and a 9600M GT is the best they could do? The display and battery life do justify a premium....but not nearly this much.

 

It's not a standard battery. They put a fixed battery in their, you cannot remove it. And they said that they were able to make the battery 40 percent larger than the previous one by making it non-removable.

 

no its not, it will make the notebook looks like the old macbook pro screen with bezel.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/06/live-from-the-macworld-2009-keynote/

scroll and scroll down to where they were presenting the 17MBP then you'll see a picture of it.

i wonder how it will affect the rigidity of the screen, after all; apple is touting the glass as a reinfocement to the lid.

im still not too sure about the non-removable battery.... but if it can retain 80% charge after 5 years... and can last for 7-10 years.... then ill cautiosly happy.... yes, i like to keep my notebook even after i buy a new one.... it cost over 5k here after you add the APP...

no removable panel also means no changing HDD and RAM though...
anyone notice it can take up to a massive 8GB of RAM!

are they using the same panel technology as the dreamcolour one that is used on HP elitebook?
any details?

 

By "standard battery" I mean it's not an "extended" high capacity battery that has an ugly cylinder or something sticking out the back like many laptops from HP/Dell/Sony/etc. that can reach 8+ hours.

Regarding it being non-removable, I think they probably should have made it removable, but it's not a huge problem that they didn't IMO because they might not have been able to make it with this good battery life otherwise. The only real disadvantage is that you can't swap batteries during a long trip, but with 8 hours of battery life it's unlikely you'll need to do this anyway.

Regarding the non-removable battery making it a "throw away laptop", that's silly. Yes, I'm sure it will be somewhat a hassle to have to send it in to Apple to get the battery replaced, but with a battery that lasts this long, I don't know why anyone's worrying about it.

 

If they make replacing the battery a quick and painless procedure and it actually lasts a long time without losing much of its capacity i dont see much of a problem with the non removable battery. The rest of the specs don't justfy the freakin price tag though!

 

True that it does not stick out or anything but it is 40 percent bigger, so it is not a standard sized battery no matter which way you cut it, it is a larger higher capacity battery. The reason it does not stick out or anything is because they removed mechanisms for making it removable.

 

I would think that if you are on an extended flight or road trip and you need more than that 8hr life span you would have purchased the travel plug as well.

The only good thing about this is that Best Buy will be cutting prices on the old ones to make room for this.

 

I didn't say standard sized, I said standard - in other words, the battery is standard for the machine.

But arguing over this is pointless anyway - in the end the only thing that matters is that this new 17" laptop is very light (for it's size), thin, and gets ~8 hours of battery life. Regardless of how they did it, this is an amazing accomplishment.

Personally I think more laptops should integrate larger capacity batteries as standard (not protruding).

 

I don't get why apple is making such a big deal about it now. The Li-po batteries are used in the MacBook, MBA, and the Lenovo X300. And some other notebooks stuff. The battery must be pretty big anyway, and being big and removable usually translates to a larger removable section of the notebook which then translate to a weaker structure. Li-po is more flexible and suits apple's design unlike Li-ion which are in cells and are heavier.

HP has partnered with a company and are coming out with some different Li-ion batteries, supposed to come out at some point in 2009. So i guess we'll see some interesting stuff.

 

Well yeah, considering Apple only offered up to an 8600 GT in their highest end MBP before this refresh it makes sense. Apple just definitely doesn't want to cater towards the people who need/and or want a nice GPU...

 

I personally would love to have a larger gpu in this 17 incher too, but probably one would not fit considering apple's obsession with thiness.

Plus I argree that apple seems to be always missing features, ports, etc. yet charging up the you know what.

 

Even Apple says it's not really 8 hours if you so much as turn on the GPU. Now turn the settings from max battery life to normal or performance, add a 3G modem, use it for 6 months, and you're at 4 hours and screwed halfway through the day.

I'll be very curious to see what real world testing shows for this thing - 6 months in.

 

It isn't, it is the same bezel design as the older model MBPs, it is displayed in the Keynote.

The whole point with the battery is that your average batter starts fading fast after 300 cycles, this one should be good for 1000 cycles, at 200 cycles per year, more than what the average battery sees on a notebook I would say, that is 5 years. Only time will tell, but I highly Apple would advertise this unless it was quite accurate. There testing procedure is clearly stated on their website.

 

I only bought a MBP last october.

However with this new 17" version I am highly tempted to sell mine off and get 2 new macbooks.

1 Macbook Air SSD for on the go

and

1 Macbook Pro 17" for on the go!

Convert my current desktop to a linux ISCSI machine with Xen virtual desktops (if I need access to windows/vista etc).

Man brilliant.

 

what a deal! I'll take three!

 

I put the challenge out to Apple, HP or any other manufacturer ... give us a matteview infinity display, and you will have my money.

 

am I the only crazy retard who thinks the anti-glare option with the silver-lined screen looks MUCH better? Granted, I think this is the most beautiful of the three new Macbook/Macbook Pros due to having the thinnest bezel around the screen but still...

now if they could only make those keys silver or the whole body black anodized aluminum, that would, in my opinion, restore the perfect balance and elegance of the last generation models.

As soon as the discounts hit in the apple stores for the one or two days they have the old ones left and the new ones arrive, hopefully I can get one for 600-700 off.

-Andrei

 

nope, you're not the only one. i think those black borders are utterly ugly and non-stylish. they would've been okay for others but not for "simple is everything" apple.

 

Battery life seems to be very good. It seems a little odd to me though because i don't know anyone that uses a 17 inch notebook on the go. The 15 in MBP and the MB would have benefitted more from better battery life in my opinion.

 

I don't see anywhere in the specs that this thing has built-in mobile broadband capability, like my 2-year old Dell does. Or am I mistaken? I guess you can always insert an external card or USB stick...but built-in would be nice.

 

no,it doesn't have one!

 

I think the reason they took the num pad out was for style. The keyboard has a very clean look to it with the speakers on each side. The extended battery life is good but would no doubt cost 3X or more to replace over a windows battery.. I've seen HP compatible 12 cells for my dv6500 for as low as 75 bucks. Again apple has a winner for a very stylish design and made a lighter/thinner form factor for a 17" notebook. People who buy these machines no doubt are more conscious about looks and will overlook things like the missing number pad or a stronger gpu. I just hope that Apple will support replacing this battery for years to come. I remember buying a creative mp3 player with replaceable batteries which were end of lifed just after a few years.. so when I needed more batteries there were none to be found. At least with windows notebooks there are tons of third market battery companies that continue to support many models. I really don't like the idea of only having apple as my only option for battery replacement. In that case, you know you are going to pay full smash. But I give credit to apple to make a lighter 17" that can be termed portable with this kind of battery life. Most 17" models have pathetic battery life compared to this.

 

not worth the money IMO

 

Ouch... the laptop features are worth maybe $1500 at a $2700 pricetag.

You can build a custom Sager Single-GPU 9800m GTX PC 17" with all the trimmings + Blu-ray for that much and can almost build yourself a quad-core SLI "laptop"!

I can understand choosing a middle-end GPU and marketing to people who game occasionally, but paying that much for that little is a bit insane even for Apple.

 

I guess part of the appeal of this is to impress clients with how the laptop looks. I dont see any other reason for compromising performance for thinness.

And, does anyone really believe this is going to get 8 hrs in normal working conditions?

 

Maybe, but really have you ever seen a businessman bring a 17" laptop to a conference or a meeting??

What I'm saying is, that thinness, battery life, and portability aren't what people are looking for in a 17"...

 

No way - the thing has non-swappable batteries, start using a 3G modem and watch your 7 hour with GPU battery life (if that's even real) drop to 5.

 

Well that's the premium people pay for Apple Macbook Pros...even the last generation Pros cost around the same, if not, more...besides...do you guys see notebooks out there with edge to edge screens featuring LED backlighting? Not really...and I own an HP dv5t with an infinity screen...

I'm really loving the feel of the aluminum unibody...no creaks or cheap feeling...that's what your paying for...plus the thinness...

Great notebook in my opinion...does it support 30" monitors?

 

I agree!!

 

In this economy making super expensive, super disposable laptops is not a good move IMO. People want cheaper things now not more expensive things. m Notice how CES didn't have things like "Who has the world's largest flat panel" its not because technology hit a wall that's for sure.

So apple makes a premium laptop with a premium tag and they remove things like a removable battery one a 17" laptop. I would be surprised if it got 8 hours. And having to lose my laptop to send it to Apple to have its battery replaced doesn't sound convenient at all. Oh I am sure they will be more then willing to rent out a laptop to you at an additional cost. And lord knows how much the battery replacement will even cost probably like $150. And forget it if you want more ram or a larger hard drive lets make that harder too. They finally made it accessible last year and now they take a step back again and lock everything up.

Face it this is meant as a disposable product with a premium price tag. Not exactly brilliant strategy. Of course at that price tag I guess if you can afford it you have the disposable income to replace it so often.

 

Promised cheaper than the prev edition 13.3'' and 15'' - Not done!

Promised at least very good specs for the high prices(not stup*d 9600gt and dvd-rw) - Not done!

New 17'' expensive for it's bottom mid-range specs, Apple? Yeah right! Keep your goals with our money ..

 

$1200 for 8GB of Korean ram. I priced once and it came to $5200. I have to pass for now. I will wait to see how the batteries hold up and for someone to buy one and sell it for way cheaper after a year.

 

Apple has some big fan base, which all listen to the almighty Steve Jobs no matter what price Apple throws at them. So I don't think they will have any trouble.