Although the MacBook and MacBook Pro line was initially relaunched last fall with the 17-inch version intact, it was recently revamped to sport the same sleek, unibody construction as its 13- and 15-inch siblings. Although it shares their design and the 15-inch Pro’s switchable graphics, it’s different in two key ways: its nonremovable battery promises up to 8 hours on a charge, and its display has a 60 percent increase in the 15-inch Pro’s color gamut. It’s also the thinnest and lightest 17-inch laptop on the planet. Starting at a hefty $2,799, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is not for everyone, but for creative professionals who can afford it, this machine is close to perfect.
Lightweight Design
If you’re inclined to avoid a 17-inch notebook because you think it will be less portable than a notebook with a smaller screen, think again. At 6.6 pounds and 0.98 inches thick, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is the world’s thinnest and lightest notebook with that size display. In fact, this system is only slightly heavier than the typical 15.4-inch laptop, and plenty of 16-inch models weigh more. The 15.6-inch Gateway MD Series, for example, weighs 6.8 pounds, and the 15.4-inch HP Pavilion dv5t weighs 6.4.
The 17-inch MacBook Pro sports the same sleek, aluminum design as the 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro. The unibody chassis is cut from a single piece of metal; you won’t find any seams or doors, not even for the battery. In addition to making for an eye-catching design, the unibody construction enhances the notebook’s durability. Rather than a latch enclosure, the lid keeps shut with an internal magnet. The notebook felt sturdy as we carried it from room to room.
Keyboard
Before the recent redesign, the old 17-inch MacBook Pro had a keyboard layout that felt larger than the 15-inch version’s; a bigger footprint meant bigger keys. For some, the 17-inch model’s keys were, in fact, too large.
The latest MacBook Pros have island keyboards, whose low-profile, Chiclet keys sit in the center of the keyboard deck, flanked by diminutive speaker strips. Like the other recently announced MacBooks, these take after the original MacBook Air, contrasting black keys against an aluminum body. While the keys themselves seem the same size, you might find yourself craning over a wider palm rest. As an added touch, the keyboard is backlit in low light, thanks to an ambient light sensor.
As always, the keys’ soft finish, and that they hardly make any noise, is pleasing. Although we prefer the 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro’s less-recessed keyboards, the accuracy of our typing didn’t change when we moved to the 17-inch version. (Users switching from plush to island keyboards will likely experience a learning curve, regardless of whether they opt for the 17-inch MacBook Pro or one of its smaller siblings.)
Multitouch Trackpad
Like the 13-inch aluminum MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro, the 17-inch Pro has a glass multitouch trackpad, which allows for the same multifingered gestures made famous by the iPhone: pinching, zooming, rotating, swiping, and scrolling. It’s important to note that although you can scroll through pages in any application using two fingers, the other gestures work only in Apple-licensed programs, such as Safari and iPhoto.
We’ve seen plenty of other gesture-enabled touchpads (as well as a couple of displays), but they’ve often made a bad impression: a simple drag of the finger caused it to over-scroll, or a pinching gesture would result in pages jerkily resizing themselves on-screen. But with the MacBook Pro, our gestures translated into smooth movement on-screen.
Also like the other models in the line, the trackpad has no touch buttons; rather, the touchpad is, itself, one giant, clickable button. It took a few minutes to stop pointing our fingers toward buttons that weren’t there, but bearing down on the trackpad soon began to feel more intuitive. This button was stiff on the 15-inch Pro, but easier to press on the 13-inch MacBook; here, too, it provided effortless tactile feedback.
Display and Sound
The 17-inch MacBook Pro’s high-resolution, 1920 x 1200-pixel display might feel like overkill when you’re doing simple tasks, such as Web surfing. Until you zoom in, Web pages will appear especially small at the screen’s native resolution.
It’s with other full-screen activities, such as movie-watching and multimedia programs, however, that the display really shines. Its edge-to-edge glass is a stunning, if purely cosmetic, design choice. Moreover, it’s not just LED-backlit, which makes the screen brighter and more energy-efficient: this panel has a 60 percent–greater color gamut than even the 15-inch MacBook Pro. The result: a gorgeous display. Virtually everything from Web pages to movies looked bright and brilliant. Creative professionals will especially appreciate the upgrade.
The glossy display only limited our viewing angles when we tried to watch from a severe 180-degree angle. Otherwise, viewing angles were decent when watching from the side, when dipping the screen forward, and when sitting a few feet away. For $50 extra, you can opt for an antiglare display.
Between the image quality and the powerful speakers, we immediately felt immersed in the episode of Heroes we played on DVD; the experience felt more theatrical than when we’ve watched on run-of-the-mill mainstream notebooks. Apple still doesn’t include a Blu-ray option in any of its notebooks, so you’ll have to settle for sharp-looking standard-def playback, at least if you’re playing media from the optical drive. At the moment, you can’t even watch HD movies from iTunes on this screen (though you can watch HDTV episodes); you have to spring for an Apple TV. Since it supports 1920 x 1080 digital HD video in its native format, however, you can edit HD video content in its native resolution without scaling.
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