MacBook Pro 17" Review Coming soon, What would you like to know?

Like the title says, I am getting close to finishing a review of my 17" MacBook Pro, 2.4Ghz C2D, 160GB 7200rpm HDD, 2GB (Soon to be 4GB) RAM, and 1920x1200 Display.

I have covered basically everything I could think of, so I figured I would just put it out there to see what future buyers or just curious observers would like to know about the system that I could include in the review.

Feel free to post any type of random question or thing you would like to know about the machine, I figured if I can just answer as many questions as possible in the review it would save some hassle and give people a good resource.

Post away.

 

How about this one:

After using a 17-inch MBP for a while now, do you find that it was a good purchase? Do you really find that the larger screen and higher screen resolution has really been an improvement over the 15.4-inch screen to justify its cost?

Just wondering . Looking forward to the review, and lots of pictures!

 

The Macbook Pro has been reviewed so many times, that most people know what they are getting before they get it. What is different about your machine? The WUXGA screen is different. An in-depth analysis of the screen, and some comparisons (photos, comments, etc.) to the WSXGA screen (if possible) would be great.

Sometimes I find battery benchmarks lacking in the reviews on this site. Please do some exhaustive battery benchmarks (DVD drain, Full screen brightness with wifi, browsing, and word processing, etc.).

I look forward to reading your review.

 

I have touched on that pretty heavily in the review already, so I guess I will just keep you waiting on that one.

Lets just say that I find it somewhat difficult to look at any other screen, haha.

I will definitely provide a lot of good photos, real photos, not the beautifully photoshopped gallery photos Apple already has, haha.

That is a great idea Ken Wind, we have yet to have a review of a 17" model on this site, and I can definitely provide an in depth comparison to a 17" WSXGA MBP model, as there are at least 10 of them in my studio.

Battery benchmarks are a good idea as well, I will try to set aside some time to provide some good battery test results.

I also wanted to ask, I won't be installing XP or Vista on this machine, as I don't really have any reason to, so what are some good equivalent Mac Benchmarking programs that can provide some actual numbers? Including Application scripts or tests that can be run as well.

I can already provide some in depth real world usage tests with software widely used in my industry.

I would like to provide some gaming benchmarks, but it just isn't something I do with this machine so that may have to come later.

 

Well if you are looking for cross-platform benchmarks between OS X and Windows, there really aren't that many of those. There's of course Cinebench and you might want to try Geekbench.

http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/

 

Discuss the size of the 17" mbp compared to other laptops...many people are always worried about whether it's simply "too big" to move around with.

Oh yeah, and definitely the screen...that's the most unique thing about the mbp when compared to the 15", I think.

 

Another vote to cross-platform benchmarking. Xp, Vista. Most of us are switchers around And I figure it will attract new switchers as well

 

Ya, perhaps a picture of a 15" next to a 17".

 

not a problem at all, why not 20 of them in a row?

I have access to a lot of MacBook Pros

 

If possible, I'd like to see Macbook vs. MacBook Pro comparison shots (15 and 17") but also comparison shots with the powerbook G4s. Maybe some comparable windows laptops should be photographed next to it , as well

 

The Macbook Pro is pictured with the HP 8510p in the 8510p review on this site. It is probably the most similar Windows notebook on the market right now.

 

This is pretty much the same model I have been eying for a few weeks now. A few questions I have...

> How does the screen perform in a bright, outdoor environment (in fact, how is its brightness in general)?
> Do you find the zoom utilities for the high-res screen easy to use?
> I'm sure the graphics on the 17" screen are great, but how is the readability of the text? In the Apple Store, it didn't seem that the screen was bright enough for long, text-intensive work.
> What do you estimate the maximum viewing angle to be?
> Have you hooked it up to an HD display or HD TV? How did it look?
> How's the operating temperature? Is it lap-tolerable?

Thanks!

 

BlueSky brings up a good point that I didn't really think about...how is the heat for the 17-inch MBP? I wonder if there's going to be a dramatic difference between that and the 15.4-inch MBP...surely is interesting to know.

 

I'd like to know how portable is it, do you take it with you everywhere? Is it more difficult to carry around, heavier, bigger? Are the speakers louder than the 15" mbp?

 

good questions everyone, and luckily a lot have already been answered in the review I have been preparing. before I submit it, I will go through this thread and make sure I have covered all the mentioned topics as well as I can.

 

Actually the Sony Vaio AR670 comes with the same hardware configuration as the Macbook Pro, and a 17" WUXGA display that is AT LEAST equal in quality to the Pro's. Also, it's almost just as overpriced.

 

I'd like to see real-world gaming benchmarks on a maxed-spec Macbook Pro for games such as Crysis, Bioshock, F.E.A.R., etc... then I'd like to see it compared to the gaming benchmarks of a PC Microworks Blackhawk XR5 with dual SATA 300 hard drives, a Q6700 processor, 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 memory, and 2 Geforce Go 8800GTX cards running in Sli. You can complain all you want about the difference in hardware specs, but both systems can be had for the same price - around $4100

 

$4100? not even close i'm afraid, I got my MBP for $2800 total.

no gaming benchmarks for this review, as I won't be dual booting.

 

In my prior post I stated that a MAXED SPEC Macbook Pro was about $4100, and it is - http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...G2TWXM6M1WaxaSg8/12.0.28.9.5.33.3.0.23.0.3.26

... and that's not including any of the extra software offered, just maxed hardware. On top of that you need to buy windows to play most of the best games, so count that on top of the $4100. Still you're stuck with an 8600gt gpu so don't expect any spectacular benchmarks on newer games. My whole point here is that macbooks are grossly overpriced and much greater performance can be had for the same price or less.

 

I would like to know if I could have your MBP circa
Well you asked
Lynn

 

The PC Microworks Blackhawk XR5 is not in the same class as a MBP. The MBP is not a ultra gaming system, its a portable 17-inch multimedia notebook. The PC Microworks Blackhawk XR5 is something that would compete with something like the Dell XPS M1730.

As I said before, if you want the most power for the lowest price, it won't be a Mac. Take a look at Dell then. But there's little, subtle things that are helpful, and add up in price.

 

my maxed MBP, besides 2.6ghz proccessor, was only $2900 including 4gb of RAM and upgraded HDD.

and like many have said before, this isn't a gaming machine and that is not why I bought it what so ever.

I would like to see a real world benchmark of carrying around that heavy as machine and living with it everyday compared to a 17" MBP, and compare real world performance and efficiency for the price, in tasks that I actually do everyday. And trust me, I use programs that are far more intensive than many games out there.

 

I would like to see a side by side comparison of the 17" with one of the larger 15" laptops, like an Inspiron 6400 or something.

 

I would like to know if you had any issues with the Font Smoothing settings in OSX. I am a longtime windows user and recently purchased a 17" Macbook Pro with the high resolution screen.

I find the font's in OSX to be incredibly blurry at all smoothing settings. In fact i've just used a tool called tinkertool to remove the smoothing in most applications. The problem is the finder and many web pages in safari still use the smoothing.

What do you think about it?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

i find the font rendering to be much better on the 17" high res screen, and I really like the way OS X renders fonts as it actually keeps it accurate to its original, and I don't find it to be fuzzy at all.

honestly, if you do have a problem with it, I think it is much more worth your time to try and just get used to it, I guarantee that you can.

 

So do you use "Automatic" smoothing or one of the others?

Jeff

 

when will the review be published?

 

Ahh, one of the two classic Mactard solutions to problems; it's either "get used to" this or "buy another" that.

 

it is hard to characterize that as a common problem, like I said, I have absolutely no issues with it what so ever, and actually prefer it to anything else.

I am far from a Mactard however

 

trust me, that computer would smoke your mac no matter what program you are using. as for the weight, I guess I'm not too afraid of 12 lbs dislocating my shoulder. If I was that concerned with portability I wouldn't buy a 17" laptop in the first place.

 

Yeah I think I'd have to see it in person to even fully understand what you're all talking about, I can't imagine it bothering me though.

 

What type of font smoothing setting do you use?

Jeff

 

I dunno, whatever the default for OS X Tiger is. When I was running XP via BootCamp I never noticed a significant difference between the two, they both seemed just fine. Maybe I'm just not as observant about that sort of thing?

 

well, I finally got a break from school, and the reason the review is not quite finished yet is because I decided to go ahead an install Vista through bootcamp to run the benchmarks that I know everyone wants to see. I will also be running som gaming benchmarks using my favorite latest HL2 based games. Decided to do this to also be able to comment on running windows on the side, even though I don't really plan to continue doing so when the review is finished or school starts back up.

I must say, it is fun to be able to compare Vista and Leopard, and Apple has done an excellent job getting everything to work correctly in Bootcamp, even my Mighty Mouse works perfectly with nothing else installed, touch sensitive right click in all.

review should be done pretty soon, and should be about as thorough as it can get.

 

Good to hear its coming along, circa86! Excited to see the final product .

 

i have decided to really get into getting some good benchmark's, I don't think I will be overclocking or anything like that, as this GPU is absolutely fantastic, but I saw that Apple is actually supplying updated drivers, so it definitely can't hurt to update them and see if there is an improvement with the latest they are offering.

Very cool that they are offering new drivers, as so many companies could care less about that.

 

i finally finished taking photos and doing everything else for the review, it should be submitted and be up soon. it should be a good one ^_^

 

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but 3DMark would be good!

 

yep, its all ready to go, just waiting to get confirmation back from Andrew to get it all sent in.

 

well, I may be too late >_<

it is a great review though, you guys need to convince them to post my review.

 

hey it looks like they are going to post it, be on the lookout for an awesome MBP review ^_^

 

Wow, good to hear, circa! I'll be waiting!

Lots of pictures, right?!?

 

oh yes, and even a little animation, I'm embarrassed to say. haha.

 

Ooh, animation! Any YouTube videos?

 

Is the 17" MBP too big to put on your lap and browse the web on your coach on?

 

waiting eagerly for it

 

that is up to the site admins really, I send them the review, photos, and a quicktime, with the review laying out how I think it should all be put together. I think they have been using YouTube to upload most of their videos, instead of uploading directly to the site, just to make it simpler, so I am guessing that is what they will be doing.

it is really nothing special, more of a test really for using a Digital SLR to shoot very high quality stop motion animation. and I figured I might as well use this review as an excuse to animate something.