The good: New aluminum unibody construction comes to the 17-inch model; useful multitouch trackpad gestures; attractive edge-to-edge glass on display; dual graphics provide more power or more battery life.

The bad: All-clicking trackpad is a bit awkward; matte screen option costs extra; switching GPUs is not as seamless as it should be.

The bottom line: A little late to the party, Apple's redesigned 17-inch MacBook Pro joins the 15-inch model with a redesigned aluminum body, new trackpad with expanded functionality, and a dual graphics setup for either longer battery life or better performance.

Read full review of the Apple MacBook Pro »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Mar 3, 2009

When the latest 13- and 15-inch MacBooks were announced in October 2008, a similar revamp of the larger 17-inch version of the MacBook Pro was conspicuously missing from the lineup. In January of 2009, Apple announced that the 17-inch model would be getting the same "unibody" aluminum chassis, buttonless (or more accurately, all-button) trackpad, and edge-to-edge glass on the LED backlit display. It's actually taken until late February for the systems to start shipping, but finally, big-screen fans can get all the latest and greatest Apple improvements in a desktop replacement design, starting at S$4,388 (US$3,159.33).

Internally, Apple has moved to an Nvidia chipset with improved integrated graphics, which is then paired with a dedicated Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card that can be turned off and on as needed to improve battery life or boost performance.

The MacBook Pro, while expensive, remains a go-to for media professionals, and the new 17-inch version will be an especially welcome addition for photo and video types who have wanted the latest graphics, chassis, and trackpad upgrades in an HD-friendly 1,920 x 1,200 package.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

At 25mm thick, this 17-inch desktop replacement is actually thinner than some of the chunkier 10-inch Netbooks such as the Asus Eee PC 1000H. Like the current 13- and 15-inch MacBooks, the 17-inch Pro is constructed starting with a solid block of aluminum which is carved down, rather than a thin outer shell that has had support struts added to it. The result is a lighter and thinner, yet stronger chassis that feels very solid and substantial.



The glass trackpad is the same as that found on the smaller MacBooks, and offers a much larger surface area than before, thanks to the elimination of a separate mouse button. In fact, the entire trackpad depresses like a button, although simple tapping, as on a PC laptop, will also work once you turn that option on in the settings menu. While it seemed massive on the 13-inch MacBook, we could actually stand to have an even bigger version on this model.

With its multitouch gestures, you can hide all your apps by sweeping four fingers up on the pad, and you can also designate one corner of the trackpad as a "right-click" zone. Very useful, as well, is sweeping four fingers left or right, which brings up the application switcher. Once you get used to that, going back to a regular trackpad would be difficult.

The wide-spaced, flat-key keyboard is an Apple standard, and we're always a fan of backlit keys which are standard on the Pro and also available on the higher-end 13-inch MacBook.

Tags: Netbook, Apple MacBook, Intel Core 2 Duo, NVidia Corp., Apple MacBook Pro

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