Macbook Pro 17″ unibody is the King of all the laptops from Apple. Its bigger and better in every aspect, when compared to all the other laptops from Apple which include the Macbook Aluminum Unibody, the Macbook Air and the Macbook Pro 13″ and 15″. Apple calls it “world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook” and we cannot disagree. Its sleek and thin, with the Aluminum body that’s made of a single exterior covering, similar to the smaller Macbook Pro laptops. The 17″ model has a lot to talk about, but would it be a laptop of choice for people who want to get their hands on a high-specifications laptop? Lets see.
The design
After a few years, Apple had finally decided to change the way Macbook Pro looks, and they introduced the Aluminum unibody design with everything packed into a single enclosure, first in the 13″ and 15″ and then later into the 17″ model. Ever since the Apple Macbook Air was launched, the designs of other laptops have seen a lot of betterment, and the esthetic feel of Macbook Pro has a nice appeal, with a single aluminum bar that packs the entire base and sides which not only looks better, but also gives more strength to the laptop, than those assembled-looking Macbook Pro earlier. The area around the screen is black, in contrast to the aluminum shine on the base section. That suits the shiny screen and the Aluminum metal shade.
The Pro has rounded corners, and sharp edges which Apple continued to maintain from the iMac. The keyboard, trackpad are both having certain things to be highlighted, which you will read later below. Usually with the increase in screen size, the thickness of laptops too proportionately rise, but here there is no much change in the thickness. The difference is just 0.03″ between the 17″ and 13″ Macbook Pro. And its thin! The 0.98″ can say that.
The Aluminum body is for sure advantageous over the polycarbonate material, being scratch-resistant. Although I won’t say it won’t get scratches at all, but still they would not be easily visible. One more esthetic advantage. On the either side of the depressed keyboard, you see the in-built stereo speakers, extending the breadth of the keyboard. The left panel includes the Magsafe power adapter, gigabit ethernet, Firewire 800, Mini DisplayPort, 3 USB slots, Audio In/Out sockets, Expresscard/34 slot, and the battery indicator lights. The battery indicator lights were seen at the bottom earlier, when the unibody design was not introduced, but now in the side panel. The unibody Macbook 13″ and 15″ doesn’t include the battery indicator at all, as the base was covered by a rubber sheet. There are no video adapters included with the Pro, but the Mini DisplayPort supports VGA, DVI, and dual-link DVI video output if the appropriate adapters are available.
Because of the wide stereo speakers, there is a lot of space available to place your hands with comfort, to type and drag the fingers on the trackpad. Also, the lock to prevent theft, is shifted to right, beside the CD/DVD drive from the left side in all the previous macbooks. The Apple logo on the side behind screen is white and not transparent, which gets more brighter when you switch the laptop on. The latch has become a lot better, which doesn’t need you to pull hard to lift the screen (or is it the lighter weight of the screen body that makes it lift easily?) and there is an InfraRed receiver beside the sleep indicator.
Applications
There is nothing new or special that you would find here. Apple maintains a list of applications that it would be packing in every Mac, which includes the iChat, iMovie, iTunes, Quicktime player (which is improved a lot), iDVD, iWeb, Photo Booth, iCal, Safari browser, Mail.app and lot more in the utilities. That’s more than enough for someone to start off with a Macbook. The iSight camera provided the same picture quality to the other Macbooks when clicked through its Photo Booth application. And broadcasting through iChat, Skype is pretty good. The same Photo Booth can be used for recording good quality videos through the iSight camera.
But as always, you are limited to home usage applications, and you might have to buy the iWork or Microsoft Office for Mac separately, which would be a must as Macbook Pro is mostly used for such heavy documentation and stuff.
Connectivity
AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking2 on IEEE 802.11n specification, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 2.1 technology are the primary connectivity options. Files sent through bluetooth move faster between 2 apple products, than any other.
Overall
Except the pricing, everything is great. So, if you have set a low or average budget for your purchase, forget about the Macbook Pro 17″, as it costs you more than anything. You would see great alternatives. But for a flexible budget, Macbook Pro is the one you should consider getting if you want it for heavy work, office use and to show-off. The design, the battery life, and the metal-make, everything speaks up for it. For an Apple user, its a good upgrade. But for any new user who’s planning to get their hands on Apple from Windows, better go for a basic Mac rather than the Pro. It costs you a lot, you will hate it soon for that reason.
This article is a part of our Extensive Hands-on Review of Apple MacBook Pro Review -
Great Review Amit. I guess i would buy this one day.
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