Apple 17-Inch MacBook Pro Is A Head-Turner

The 17-inch MacBook Pro weighs in at 6.6 pounds (3 kg), relatively low for a 17-inch system, but still, well, 6.6 pounds. For users who need the premium MacBook Pro but in a more portable package, the 15-inch version shaves just over a pound off the weight.

That said, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is the thinnest and certainly the lightest laptop currently available, with this size display. Most rival 17-inch systems are significantly heavier but usually come with more memory and drive capacity. The 8.2-pound (3.7 kg) Sony Vaio AW, which uses the 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (a processor option for the 17-inch MacBook Pro), comes with a larger, 18.4-inch widescreen display, a hard drive of up to 1TB and an available 256GB solid state drive (SSD) with Blu-ray Disc playback and recording. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725, which comes with the Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9000 and pretty much more of everything, weighs 9 pounds (4 kg). Lenovo, HP and Dell all make systems that could be considered in this category, as well.

The 17-inch ultra-thin LED display is a great complement to the graphics capabilities provided by the Nvidia GPUs. We tested the standard glossy display. Reflection was noticeable, but the bright LED display and sharp blacks made up for the annoyance. The display is also available with a matte finish to reduce glare and reflection (with a silver instead of black bezel, to let people know you paid extra) for £34.99.

I loaded Final Cut Pro 5 on the system, and was able to edit 1,080p high-definition video.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro’s connections are mounted on the left side of the system. Connections include a MagSafe power port, Gigabit Ethernet port, single FireWire 800 port, three USB 2.0 ports, Mini DisplayPort, audio line in/out and ExpressCard/34 slot. The Mini DisplayPort, an open and royalty-free connector, is something of a competitor to HDMI, so I wasn’t surprised that the MacBook Pro doesn’t sport an HDMI port. However, users will probably find that a conversion dongle is necessary more often than not until Mini DisplayPort devices become more common.

Conclusion

Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro is appropriate for high-value content producers and executives who desire a highly capable desktop replacement that turns heads when it enters the room.

Cameron Sturdevant is technical director at eWEEK.