Macworld: The New 17-Inch Unibody MacBook Pro

After this morning's keynote address was played out by Tony Bennett, you could see why Steve Jobs decided he didn't need to play ringmaster at this year's Big Event. While there are some very interesting new features in the iLife and iWork software, there wasn't enough hardware unleashed to keep frothing MacHeads from feeling underwhelmed. In fact, there was just a single new hardware product unveiled: the newly revamped 17-inch MacBook Pro (MBP), which is fitted with the new aluminum unibody and given an extended life battery that isn't without controversy.

The MBP is given a power boost with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM right out of the box (with an 8 GB total RAM capacity), and it features the dual graphics processing scheme first offered in last fall's the 15.4-inch MacBook Pro (with the discrete NVIDIA 9600M GT getting a boost to 512 MB of dedicated video RAM).

The real story about the new 17-inch MBP, however, is the battery. And that should tell you everything you need to know about the excitement level of this conference. True, the engineering that went into creating this non-removable, extended life battery (with up to 8 hours of battery life when using the integrated NVIDIA 9400M graphics processor) is impressive (and you can read more about it as well as watch a video trumpeting its industrial design at Apple). But you can't switch batteries and when the battery runs out of cycles (it's supposed to provide up to 1000 recharges, which Apple estimates to be about 5 years of use), you'll need to get a replacement battery from Apple for a $179 charge.

Still, the battery might not be a deal killer for some, as it does give you a good amount of time away from your power brick, and it ostensibly greener since it lasts about three times longer than typical removable notebook batteries today. And Rich Mogull over at TidBITS notes that this might signal more laptops to come with proprietary, non-replaceable batteries.

Moving to a fully integrated battery is a risky move, but it is a direction the entire mobile computing industry is considering as users continue to demand power for bigger processors, better graphics, and more wireless networking. Notebook designers can build the batteries right into the laptops, taking advantage of custom designed cells that fit into the nooks and crannies left after squeezing in all the hardware.

But even with the impressiveness of the geeky industrial design, the battery life (if it's truthfully accurate), and the portable computing power that will surely appeal to graphic designer, videographers, and gamers, it just kinda feels like a let-down. This was an evolutionary release that just didn't feel "keynote worthy." And that lack of excitement seemed to translate to the Apple area of the show floor, where only about four models of the 17-incher were available for a hands-on look (they were complemented by a score of other MacBook models, ranging from Air to smaller Pro).

The 17-inch MacBook Pro is available now for pre-order from Amazon, and it's expected to ship at the end of January.

Comments

[D. Erickson on January 07, 2009 at 05:24 AM]

I own a macbook Pro 17" and I love it, I don't like this version. The black keys makes it look cheap, ugly, and unprofessional.

[D. Erickson on January 07, 2009 at 05:26 AM]

I own a macbook Pro 17" and I love it, I don't like this version. The black keys makes it look cheap, ugly, and unprofessional.

[CV on January 07, 2009 at 09:45 AM]

Will Amazon be selling only the 320GB Hard Drive version of the 17-inch MacBook Pro or will customers be able to purchase the the 256GB SSD version as well?

[Agen Schmitz on January 07, 2009 at 10:36 AM]

Currently, it's looking like Amazon's just getting the 320 GB hard disk drive. But we'll post an update when the SSD version comes available.

[Kurt Lueken on January 08, 2009 at 06:31 AM]

As an Apple user since 1984, I'd wait with a purchase until all the kinks are worked out.

Uusally this takes 3 months by which time the processors and sometimes the superdrives are faster, all for the same price.

We'd also get a read on the new battery issue (and whether it really is an issue)

Missing in action is a reason why Apply hasn't upgraded the hard drive capacities in all of it's notebooks.

Western Digital's passport HD's are up to 500GB in a small enough size to be incorporated into any notebook and they have a good reliability track record.

In summary I am dying to buy one, but knowing Apple's MOD I'll wait:-)

[Kurt Lueken on January 08, 2009 at 06:35 AM]

Forgot to mention that those complaining about the Firewire 400 missing port only have to buy a FW 800 to 400 cable. (Yes, overpriced)
but having used this cable with the WD passport I can confirm that it works just fine.

Since the MacPro 17" has one FW 800, you can do everything you did with FW 400.

[CV on January 08, 2009 at 07:23 AM]

Is there somewhere we can sign up to be notified if Amazon receives the 17-inch MacBook Pro version with the 256GB SSD?

[james braselton on February 17, 2009 at 06:23 AM]

HI THERE YES I DID FIND OUT THAT AMAZON CDW EBAY AND OTHER WEB SITES SELL THE 256 GB SSD INFACT YOU CAN GET THE FULLY LOADED MACBOOK PRO WITH A 2.93 GHZ DUO CORE CPU 8 GB OF RAM AND A 256 GB SSD DRIVE THERE GOSE $5,000 DOWN THE TUBE