Apple Introduces new 17-inch MacBook Pro

So does the unibody MacBook and 15'' MacBook Pro also support 8 GB memory now? Or is that only reserved for this new 17''?

 

Just the 17" from what I can make out.

 

Looks very nice. One thing that bothers me is that it doesn't look like you can replace anything as there are no doors in the bottom to change the disk or memory so that you have to order it loaded from the start. I usually prefer to order a light configuration and then upgrade parts when they become bigger/faster/cheaper. Especially memory. I am very, very happy with my current 17 inch MacBook Pro and can't justify another one this year or probably even next year. But this new one is nice to think about. I'm hoping that someone in the office will buy one so that I can take a good look at it.

 

They say you can just unscrew the whole bottom for access to everything. Not too bad considering other notebooks (including the old MBP) need a person with the dexterity of a monkey to upgrade its internals.

 

Anyone else think that that new 17 MBP's Built in battery is just a Trojan Horse, for a MacBook Tablet with the same huge built in battery, non-user replaceable of course.

I can easily see some sleek tablet coming out thats basically all screen and using this newer big battery. with like a 12 hour battery life.

And just like the MacBook Air no DVD drive of course.

 

No...not really? What is your dealio?

 

I just configured a MBP 17 on the apple website with all the highest settings (2.98 proc 320gb 7200 hardrive, the various adapter plugs that only apple sells just so you can hook the laptop to the tv or lcd monitor)

and the final price was

Est. Total:$4,477.00



I do not want to hear from the macbook stans on this, you know those guys who cut apple symbols into their chest and like to feel the raw cool aluminum against their cheek *pause*

Would you guys pay $4,477.00 for a laptop with those specs?

 

I wouldn't, but then again, I don't think I'd need anything more than the base configuration, plus iWork and apple care. There's not that many people out there that would need 8gb of ram. Hell, I only had 2 with my mbp and it was more than fine, even for parallels. In the end the only win this version has for me over the high-end mbp is the resolution and battery life. Hopefully "available for late january" doesn't mean middle of february.

Also with ssd prices falling fast, the $900 256gb ssd will soon turn into $500. It's like circa said, you'd have to be stupid, rich, or involved in heavy 3d animation/whatever if you want to pay $1200 for 8gigs of ram. I mean, that's a mid-range macbook on amazon.com

 

$1200 of that is for 8GB of RAM, it is similarly priced from other places, if not just slightly less expensive. So, $3,200, would you rather have the MBP, a huge gaming notebook, or Lenovo's Dual Screen Frankenstein? MBP please.

 

Wow that is expensive.. I bought a 24" LED ACD (which the screen blows the 17" hi res out of the water in terms of picture quality and size), 2.53ghz unibody mbp + a intel x25-m ssd drive.

All of those came up to $3854 with tax and student discounts... I think my combo is much more worth it just my opinion.

Not to mention the SSD drive alone gives you a far more performance jump than going to 2.93ghz of the 17" compared to the 15" 2.53ghz.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403 check out the review of the intel x25-m. Even going to nehalem doesnt get more performance compared to a good ssd drive.

 

Well I don't think I will be the owner of any new MBP's. Aluminum or not it still should have way better specs then what it does for close on 3k when you put taxes on it.

No BR, POS GPU time to move on. Another example of Apple telling us what we want, instead of actually listening to us.
And don't go on on about licensing for BR. If sager/clevo, Dell, HP, Acer ect can get along with BR licensing then something is wrong with Apple.
I guess the good news for Apple is they continue forcing you to use Itunes to get Hi Def content on your mac. Good job apple. Another customer gone back to windows.

Ok rant complete lol..

 

^they ll change when economy+Win 7+new PC's start to play rough...you ll see more innovative products,better spec and prices

 

In my opinion new PC's have been playing rough lol. I love apple products but even I can't get with their pricing and lack of what is usually standard on other notebooks.

 

It's just a lack of a slightly higher end gfx card that has me worried. Everything else about this laptop I think is amazing. It's just a shame they couldn't upgrade to something a little more meaty gfx wise. Just how good is the 9600m gt?

Regards,
Simon

 

Same question he has above.

 

well I have the desktop version of the 9600gt (512mb). I play crysis everything max @1280x1024. It's comparable to a 8800gt. The mobile version I think is underspecced and also it's 128bit as opposed to 256bit. I guess it can be a problem if you want to play anything over 1440x900. Otherwise you will be fine.

Some people have reported 3dmark06 scores of close to 6000 with the high-end mbp.

 

Since the new MacBook Pro has both intergated graphics and discrete graphics, Can it use both at the same time like a Hybrid SLI, and combine the the power of both to get really good graphics performance.

Or can it only use one at a time.?

 

to consider 8800mgts(7816) and 9600mgt(5154) on 3dmark06, how are they even close?

numpad is actually very important if you need it for accounting/financing, it is a pity apple doesn't try to cater us.

a little disappointed about the 17inch mbp, 15inch variant seems to make much more sense in comparison(higher resolution will be even more welcomed)

 

Only one at a time and you have to log out when switching from one to the other.

 

He didn't say the 9600mgt, he said he has the desktop version.
In terms of a numpad just buy a usb one if you need it. I've used keyboards with numpads on 17" laptops before and they are a pain! The keyboard gets moved over to the left which forces the hand to rest on the case in a funny way. NEVER again will I buy a keyboard with a numpad.

Regards,
Si

 

I agree. Most graphic and engineering departments I've serviced use as much ram as possible when possible.

lol, too funny....

But seriously, a bud who attended MWX raved over the 17" unit (while sending me pics). He is uber picky, and I swear he was ready to marry it. ~3ghz power, decent video chipset coupled with a gorgeous 17" screen and a to die for form factor @ 6.6lbs? It is the perfect synergy of power and form.

It would be really close to impossible to put a more powerful GPU in it without sacrificing size and form for thermal management. Anyone who has used a top of the line gaming notebook can attest to the heat these puppies produce. Heck, even my old HDX18t which is a larger footprint and weight heated up pretty juicy with a 9600m in it.

Most makers tend to spec out hardware then make it fit as best as possible. Apple seems to spec out ergonomics and then spec hardware that is conducive to their design. There's a certain beauty to that.

As for Apple's move to Nvidia's core logic chipset, I always felt it was to move away from Intel so down the road they can go in another direction along with thwarting the hordes of hackintoshers out there. But that's just me going all Area-51 on it.

 

Hi electrosoft,

I see you have the Dell m6400.. I do 3D animation in xsi and maya, and for me it's either the Dell (raw power) or this new macbook. The cpu, screen, memory, etc, is great in the Mac. My only worry is the gfx card. For animation though the app mainly uses the cpu (single thread) for animation, all the gfx card does is draw the result to screen- as most times you're working with a simple character for speed I'm hoping the mac will be fine?

What are your thoughts on this? Should I go with the Mac or the dell for animation?

Regards,
Simon

 

GPU wise, the M6400 buries the new Macbooks badly.

I mean, there is no comparison between the 9600m (which is most similar to the Quadro 770M) and the 3700 in the M6400 (which is even more powerful than the 9800m gtx).

To give you an idea, 3DMark06 on the M6400 (Quadro 3700) = ~12,100. 3Dmark06 on my old HDX18t (9600m GT) = ~4,300. Both systems had Intel Quad Core QX9300 CPUs.

If you're shooting for sheer GPU power, again, there is no contest at all. The Quadro 3700 just crushes the 9600m into the ground. I mean, there's just no other way to put it.

If the GPU is of secondary concern and rendering is relatively fast and acceptable on middle type hardware, the 17" Unibody MBP is a sexy beast that is pretty powerful in every other aspect and while you don't get an exactly state of the art GPU, you do get everything else imho.

 

Yep, that's what I thought. Thing is unless you're pushing millions of polygons around or trying to play the very latest games on max settings I'm not sure I need the extra power of the 3700FX gfx card.

Regards,
Simon

 

BTW,GPU in HDX is DDR2,while macbook uses DDR3

 

Yup, and that adds a big, massive, ~800 points +/- 200 (yawn). It really won't make a difference when pushed to the wall. I'm glad they went with DDR3, but, meh.

The extra bandwidth is nice, but just overall it isn't in the same league as the Quadro 3700. Not even close. Just a brutal beat down. If the 9600m is De La Hoya, then the 3700 is Pacquiao.

With that being said, I understand why Apple went with the 9600. The 17" MBP is really nice and elegant IMHO. At a point, power takes a back seat to portability and usability and outside a somewhat weak GPU (which is an upgrade over the previous generation of GPUs in MBP, so in that context it is an upgrade), the 17" MBP is all types of sexy.

I can't imagine lugging the M6400 to, let's say, a Starbucks, Borders or something similar. But I can see taking the MBP with it's smaller weight and especially wicked battery life.

 

my mistake, but using desktop as comparison is needless anyways. i bought my own numpad but that's extra to carry with me for the start in addition to yet another numpad(calculator), while this is not extra weight, it does add inconvenience. and since there isn't much changed from 15.4 to 17 mbp, do they really need the extra venting? or they had placed a better speakers inside those grills?

besides RBG screen, i really hope that notebook manufacturers will ally together and convince LCD panel makers to preserve some production capabilities on IPS instead of TV...

 

But you seemed very interested in the Dell M6400 and the HP8730w which both have numpads
Seriously now, I will never buy a 17" notebook *without* numpad. Numpad is actually one of the factors I went for 17" instead of the more compact 15.4".
I see no ergonomic difficulty (at least on my HP8730w) and, especially for VFX apps, the numpad is indispensable. Lots of apps make use of it (for example AfterEffects, SynthEyes etc). I also use it a lot when typing coordinates fast.
I agree that if someone is a writer for example, the centered keyboard might be more convenient, but for practical usage in lots of other fields (VFX included) the numpad has good use.

Dragos

 

this is always an option if you really want a mac and a number pad ;p

 

Very ture... maybe never is too strong a word, I must admit those laptops had, and still do in many ways, me looking at them big time.
I had major problems with the keyboard layout though on one I used a while back and a lot of people report the dell to have problems as well... Maybe it's not so much the keypad but the shape of the case?

So having the keyboard on the left has been fine with your 8730w then?

Regards,
Simon

 

Absolutely. Again, I use it for VFX and some email and office work (no games) and the ergonomics are excellent. Maybe if I'd be writing novels 10 hours a day I would feel different, but I'm not.

Dragos

 

It adds ~ 1500-1600...and I agree with rest!I love the look of 6400 canyou post some high res pictures
?

 

I have a 15.4 inch Dell laptop with a 1920x1200 display and I do like it. If Apple had this display in the 15.4 inch MBP, I think that I'd go for it.

The 17 inch seems very, very nice but it's hard to buy something when you know that Nehalem is coming down the road and you already have something nice.

 

This is SO expensive and such lackluster specs. No high-end graphics, no Blu-ray, and so thin there's no way it runs cool.

It may be a couple pounds lighter, but do I want to spend an extra $1500+ for two pounds? NO. And a thin laptop is actually a disadvantage: it doesn't cool well because there's not enough room for a good cooling system.

My Macbook looks more and more like it will be the last Mac I ever buy.

 

I will pass, I will never buy any computer with a build in battery. It is retarded. I hate Apple for doing this crap.

 

It doesnt mean the battery is soldered onto the macbook pro. Its just that you have to get it replaced than user replaceable.

Anyways, you probably wont have to worry about it for the next 3-4 years since the battery lasts 3x longer than the typical battery and most likely upgrade to a newer machine by then anyway.

 

Interesting hands-on with the 17" MBP:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/hands-on-new-17-inch-apple-macbook-pro-review-499512

Includes this interesting tidbit: The matte screen option requires a totally different screen and look, it has an aluminium bezel instead of the black, glossy one. It basically looks similar to the old MBP 17!

At least I now know I am going to get friendly with glossy

I have a 15" matte screen but I must say when I am outside, or there's sunlight around, I get reflections. The reflections are matted out instead of mirror-like but I am not sure that's such a big difference in the end. You have reflections either way.

@Numpad: God, no, please. I never use a numpad. Luckily, Apple seems to agree there. They probably know the percentage of people using numpads and it's probably very low. I don't use VFX or any other programs that would be better with a numpad. Less is more, sometimes, and with the numpad that's certainly the case for me. On a laptop the numpad also means that the QWERTY part of the keyboard is not centered - no, thanks!

Complaining about the non-user serviceable battery is a bit silly. Would you otherwise actually have bought the MBP 17? If not, please be quiet. If yes, I wonder why - non-user-serviceable in this case means a 40% increased capacity. I'll take the capacity over the ability to swap batteries any day. I have two batteries for my 15" MBP. I never swap them - it's not worth it considering the effort required to then charge both batteries.

 

very-irremovable...

 

I rarely use the numpad, but it was very useful... for instance in programs like After Effects...

How Apple defines "Pro" is getting kinda loose...