Apple MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz - 17" TFT

...I am a fan of Apple computer. This is no secret. I love more or less everything they do, and although I hope to be objective, here, you are reading the review of a card carrying member of the Cult of Mac.

I had heard that apple had been prepping a redesign to the MacBook pro line for some time, and had held off on purchasing my new macbook pro until this happened. Sadly, the updates came, and the 17 inch top end model was not part ...
...quite easy to achieve the apple quoted "5 hours wireless productivity" and when wireless and bluetooth are switched off, and the screen brightness turned down, you will easily achieve a full days college work on a single charge. The battery is quite large, physically, and carrying a spare will add significant weight to the bag, but thankfully, under most circumstances, will not be necersarry.

The computer also includes clever ... more

Let me be frank. I am a fan of Apple computer. This is no secret. I love more or less everything they do, and although I hope to be objective, here, you are reading the review of a card carrying member of the Cult of Mac.

I had heard that apple had been prepping a redesign to the MacBook pro line for some time, and had held off on purchasing my new macbook pro until this happened. Sadly, the updates came, and the 17 inch top end model was not part of the refresh. The cool new unibody macbook pro's are limited to the 15 inch model. I agonised over the choice for some time, the new 15 inch MBP's are so impressive, but eventually, screen real estate won out, and I brought the older design 17 inch model. I have to say, I am not disappointed.

The computer is a replacement for my old 17 inch PowerBook G4, which was itself no slouch however, after a good few years service it was definitely worth an update... and using the new model makes me wish I hadn't waited as long.

The new model looks more or less the same as the PowerBooks they replaced several years ago. This is a shame. The 17" Aluminium PowerBook was launched in early 2003, and here we are, late 2008 and but for the presence of the built in iSight camera and IR Reciever, at a glance it is nearly impossible to spot the difference.

The MacBook Pro 17" is not an ugly machine, not at all. Even based on a 2003 design, it is a classy, professional looking machine. It is nearly completely of high grade anodised aluminium, with only a tiny amount of plastic anywhere. The computer looks and feels like a high end machine, and is still about the best looking computer money can buy (with the exception of the new unibody machines).

It is, as it's name implies, designed around the large, 17" display. The whole machine is only slightly larger than the display itself, approximately 1/4 of an inch larger on the left and right side, and 1/2 of an inch larger on the top and bottom. The computer is a shade less than an inch thick when closed, and around about 3 KG. It is a large laptop, but is about the thinest and lightest large screen laptop available.

It's specs are impressive, what you expect from a top end mac, a dual core 2.5GHz processor, large 320GB hard disc, 4GB ram as standard and NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory make this a powerful road warrior laptop.

It includes most of the additional features you find on high end computers too. 802.11 B/G/N wireless networking, gigabit ethernet, bluetooth 2.1 EDR, an iSight webcam and remote control.

And of course, it is a mac, so you can expect that it will all work out of the box.

As far as what all of this means to you, it all adds up to one impressive machine.

Like all new Macs sold, it runs Apples super stable OS X software, which really screams on this computer. Everything you could want to do is quick and responsive. The OS includes many useful feature which the MacBook pro really takes advantage of. Under normal use, you will be hard pressed to even scratch the surface of what the machine can do. Apps like Safari (web browsing) Mail, iCal (calendars), iTunes (music) and iPhoto (pictures) launch in a flash, run quickly and concurrently without slowing down or crashing. Even processor intensive Applications like Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut, After Effects and Logic run better than I could have hoped for.

The Core 2 Duo and LED backlight mean the computer is surprisingly efficient. When running on battery power under normal usage, it is quite easy to achieve the apple quoted "5 hours wireless productivity" and when wireless and bluetooth are switched off, and the screen brightness turned down, you will easily achieve a full days college work on a single charge. The battery is quite large, physically, and carrying a spare will add significant weight to the bag, but thankfully, under most circumstances, will not be necersarry.

The computer also includes clever Apple features like the multi-touch trackpad, allowing for scrolling using 2 fingers, and backlit keyboard, which automatically lights up when it gets dark. It also has internal features like the sudden motion sensors, accelerometers which allow the computer to detect drops and knocks and disengage the hard disk and other components so as to prevent damage, and the magsafe adaptor which automatically unplugs when tugged to prevent many of the drops in the first place. All of these features add value to the computer, and are all included as standard. You'll probably not think about how useful they are until you go back to a computer without them, when you will really miss them

The MBP is also a more than capable windows laptop. In fact, the Apple computer is probably the best Vista computer I have used. Like all modern Apple Laptops, it includes the excellent boot camp software. It makes it simple and painless to install Windows XP or Vista on your Mac, and choose between the two. This feature eliminates the fear of switching for most new mac users, and makes available those few windows applications that many of us still need. As well, this opens up the MBP as a more than capable gaming laptop.

As with all computers, it is not perfect, and there are definitely improvements to be made, and problems to be addressed.

In terms of improvements, I think most of us would have preferred to see a unibody design, like that of the new 15 inch MBP, but even if the manufacture of a 17 inch unibody enclosure is causing apple difficulties, I don't think the inclusion of many of it's features into the current design would have been a big ask. I would have loved to see the new, glass "big button" track pad installed into the 17 inch MBP, which I can't imagine would have been difficult. I would have also like to have seen the option of the new NVIDEA Multi-GPU solutions added to the MBP17, and of course, the new display-port would have been nice, as i would have loved to have used the new LED cinema Displays, however, I assume most of these will be added when they finally iron out the kinks in the 17 inch unibody process.

The bigger niggles for me are the things apple still refuse to include. The obvious big one being blu-ray. Apple has always supported the blu-ray format, and was one of the first companies to join the board of directors outside of the "founders" group. On a high-res 17 inch screen, including HD content seems logical, even obvious, yet as of present, apple do not offer a blu-ray build to order option, or even allow Blu-Ray playback. This is annoying, since so many of us buying a 17 inch laptop are doing so because we're involved in the video industry.

Additionally, as previously mentioned by many users. the magsafe adaptor included is in desperate need of a redesign, as the chargers seem to fail at an alarming rate. Apple seem to know this, and offer advice on prolonging their life, and will more often than not replace them even out of warranty if you argue long enough, but this is such a huge disappointment for a company who pride themselves on the quality and longevity of their products.

My final niggle is what they don't include for your money. This is a nearly £2000 laptop, and yet they still ask you to fork out another £30 for the apple remote to fully use some of the built in features. It is sad that they removed this from the box, as previous generations included it as standard. It is only mildly useful in all honesty, but it Apple are not known for cutting corners, and this seems kind of cheap-skate-ish on Apples parts. I would like to see it return to future generations.

The one benefit of basing most of this laptop on an old design is that the hardware and software are very mature, and it is one of the most stable computers Apple sells. The new unibody MBs And MBPs seem to be experiencing a few teething problems which are simply non-existent on the new 17 inch model.

And of course, the biggest problem is that the 17 inch model now occupies an even bigger niche market than it previously did. In the past, the choice between the 15 and 17 inch model was a touch one for most users. The 17 inch had a lot of features not present on the 15 inch (processor speed, LED bakcklight etc) and was only a few hundred pounds more than the 15 inch. Now, most of the best user features are shared between the Unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro 15, with the 17 being significantly more expensive, and ultimately relegated to those in need of the large screen only.

Amongst creative pros, photographers, video editors, designers etc, the 17 inch is still the benchmark for mobile computing, but most users will want to choose between the new unibody computers.

All in all, it is still one of the most excellent computers on the market today, but it's smaller siblings seem to have surpassed it in most ways.

Consider it, definitely, if you want a powerful, large screen, high resolution laptop, but certainly consider the new Unibody models too. 

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