Big Screen Dynamo - MacBook 17-Inch Unibody

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The recently released unibody Aluminum MacBook Pro with the 17-inch LED screen is the answer to the prayers of lovers of digital photography, graphic designers and video editors. Revealed at the otherwise lackluster Macworld event earlier this month, the new 17 completes the Mac portable line’s transition to the newer, more resilient unibody enclosure.

What sets the 17 apart from the rest, aside from the increased weight and larger footprint, is the inclusion of a non-user removable 8-hour battery as well as an option for a matte screen upgrade (without the glossy glass overaly). The battery is a new direction for Apple which was hinted at with last year’s introduction of the MacBook Air, to the disdain of road warriors who insisted that the non-removable 5-hour battery was insufficient for a full days worth of work.

More on the 17-inch MacBook Pro after the jump


Apple’s website explains the thinking behind the new 17’s battery solution:

“The battery in the new 17-inch MacBook Pro lasts up to 8 hours on a single charge and can be recharged up to 1000 times — compared with only 200 to 300 times for typical notebooks. To do this, Apple engineers custom-designed lithium-polymer cells to create the largest possible battery, then they went even further: They built the battery right into the computer, eliminating the space-consuming mechanisms and housings that standard removable batteries require. The result is a battery that’s 40 percent bigger than the previous generation and offers up to 8 hours of wireless productivity on a single charge — all in a notebook that’s less than an inch thin, weighs just 6.6 pounds, and remains the same price as the previous-generation model.”

Granted that a 17-inch notebook isn’t really designed for a lot of travel, I can see a lot of people having problems with the idea of a non-removable battery. Having used a MacBook Air exclusively (and realizing that the 4.5 battery life is really 3 hours at best, even with all settings tweaked to minimum) you need to carry you power adapter.

Apple’s 8 hour claim is likely closer to 5 hours, specially after a few months when the battery has seen substantial use. Still, 8 hours on a 17-inch behemoth is unheard of in the industry and a definite sign of things to come.



Now, can Apple apply this magnificent battery technology and adaptive charging backwards to existing models? They should, people will pay good money for even a 6-hour replacement battery for their Macbook Air or replaceable cells for their 15' inch Pros and MacBooks.

The new 17 offers processors ranging from a standard 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo to a pretty beefy 2.93GHz Core 2 Duo. 4 GB of RAM come standard and can be bumped up to a mind-numbing 8 GB. Those with an SSD jones can put out even more cash for a 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive. It would have been cool to offer a build-to-order feature eliminating the SuperDrive with an additional HD or SSD drive for people who need more storage space.

As with the other MacBooks, the 17 is Greenpeace compliant and eliminates a lot of toxic materials and bi-products. It offers highly recyclable parts and even has a Mercury-free LED-backlit display which will appease those of greener inclinations.



With a whopping $2,800 price, this really is a tool that your office or job should pay for. Students and those with more modest needs should look to the Macbook line, which seems to be the sweet spot in terms of price, size and features.