Inside the 17” MacBook Pro
While the Mac user community is still having difficulty adapting to the new MacBook, the old PowerBook line of notebooks is approaching the end of its illustrious career. This week, Apple introduced the flagship 17” MacBook Pro that will replace the 17” PowerBook.
The latest MacBook Pro has a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo processor. While Apple’s own benchmark claims of it being 5 times faster than the 1.67GHz PowerBook may be exaggerated, this is a significantly faster machine than any of its predecessors. These notebooks start at $2699, which is about $300 more than a similar specification 15” Pro.
Many of the features on this notebook are already available in the 15” version, such as PCI Express, a Serial ATA hard drive, and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card. The 17” also has the iSight camera just above the display, Front Row is part of the package and so is the MagSafe power adaptor to save you from horrible accidents when you inevitably trip over the cord.
The major differences in this revision of the MacBook Pro is the availability of both Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 (which was absent in the 15”). Also, it has one extra USB 2.0 port- 2 on one side and 1 on the other. One major feature of the 17” MacBook Pro is the introduction of a dual-layer 8x SuperDrive which allow you to fit significantly more data on a DVD, provided you buy the correct blank media. The 17” MacBook also has a 1680 x 1050 native resolution as opposed to a 1440 by 900 for the 15” and a battery life that is supposed to be one hour longer at 5.5 hours.
There has been speculation that the 12” PowerBook and iBook will be replaced by a 13” widescreen MacBook soon. The pricing of the 15” and 17” models is very strange, with a similarly built 15” model actually costing more than the 17” model. A price drop on the 15” model can be expected shortly.
So where have all the PowerBooks gone? As of now, only the 12” is available for sale directly from Apple unless you are willing to dig deeper and maybe take a chance. Apple still has refurbished 15” and 17” PowerBooks for sale on their site, but there is no telling how soon those will be gone as well. Also many Apple resellers still have PowerBooks, so if you really want one you should act fast.
And finally, do not worry. A few years from now, there will still be those who will refer to all high end Apple notebooks as PowerBooks- just as there may still be people waiting for the Apple IV- but most of us will have gotten used to the MacBook name. The tired fast-food jokes, howerver, will be unavoidable (“Would you like fries with your MacBook Pro?”).
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Comments
Once again, the 17” model misses the bet to use some of that HUGE amount of base space for a real numeric keypad. I don’t mind that my 12” iBook doesn’t have one, but what excuse does a 17” widescreen “laptop” have?
“There was also some initial concern about the pricing, where it seemed like there was not much of a price difference between the 15” and the 17” notebooks, but as it stands right now the two MacBook Pros are within the same ballpark but a few hundred dollars apart.”
I’m sorry, but this could not be more wrong. Look at the apple store online.
Pricing for the MacBook Pro:
17”: 2.16GHz, 1GB, 100GB 7200RPM, 8x superdrive, FW8/400, USB2.0 = $2,799.00
Now, look at the 15.4” model, upgraded to as close to those specs as you can get it:
15.4” 2.16GHz, 1GB, 100GB 7200RPM, 4x superdrive, FW400 = $2,899.00.
Where did you people learn math? $2899 > $2799. There is a difference: When given the same configuration, the 15.4” MBP, with its smaller screen, lower resolution, slower firewire ports, and inferior superdrive costs $100 MORE than the 17” MBP. Could you explain to me again how you guys think this makes sense?
And Robinhood, the only explanation I can think of for the lack of a numeric keypad (other than the fact that on laptops, the exclusion of the numpad is the norm, rather than the exception) is that to include it would cause the keyboard to have to be offset to the left. Granted, I’ve never used a laptop with a keyboard configuration like that, but it seems to me that it could make for awkward use.
Personally, I’m fine with just buying a peripheral numpad and connecting it to a USB port, but I know a lot of people would have liked to see the numpad included on the MBP17.
Ted,
I agree. The pricing is bordering on scandalous IMO. I’m not sure how Apple expects to continue to sell maxed out 15” MBPs when the 17” has more to offer for less money. Perhaps this is a way to entice 17” adoption from those who want the extra power but wouyld normally opt for a smaller notebook. In any event, this is the first time that I have ever felt ripped off by Apple. I bought a 15” 2.16 w/ 7200rpm hard drive just last Thursday. I’m okay with the price I paid in a vacuum, but in the new Intel fantasy-land where 2 extra inches, faster FW, and faster DVDR with DL support cost less, I’m bordering on being enfuriated. The 17” has never cost less than the 15” when processor and hard disk specs were the same. That they do now is ridiculous and I would hope that Apple fixes this pricing mess asap. However, I expect that Apple will do whatever it can to avoid its own refund policy and not lower prices until after 14 days, if they lower them at all.
e:leaf, they’ll swap it out for a 17” since you purchased it less than thirty days ago.
Is this 30 day grace period new? I bought a single processor 1.8 Ghz PowerMac ONE DAY before they released the dual processor.
Did they swap it out? Noooooo. I had to pay a 10% restocking fee. Okay, they threw in a free Applecare that made up for half the restock fee.
That’s my biggest gripe with Apple. They like to screw their customers that way. In fact Apple really is not a customer oriented company. But dang the product is nice. Usually.
@TedShultz, thanks for pointing out my mistake in the article. I have corrected it now to reflect the correct price of the MacBooks. I thought I had made sure to take every spec into account when I made my comparison, but I missed the processor speed. Bumping the 15” up from 2.0GHz to 2.16 GHz makes a $300 difference!
I see nothing surprising here. Notebooks are supposed to be portable, 17” notebooks are less portable (= worse). For most users 17” MacBook Pro can only be a desktop (i.e. iMac) replacement. Is Macbook Pro a better desktop than iMac? I don’t think so (for many reasons).
And, by the way, 15” MacBooks are already expensive. If 17” MacBooks were more expensive they would become a niche product. (Well, they already are a niche product, but you get what I mean…).
“Is Macbook Pro a better desktop than iMac?”
Well it’s now more powerful. It wastes less power. It comes with more RAM. And if you’re in the market for a desktop replacement, it might be somewhat easier to use, say, on a train. It does potentially have a smaller screen though.
Basically I’d rather have a 17” MBP and no desktop than a 20” iMac and no notebook. So for me, I guess the answer to your question is: yes.
Oh by the way, I agree - I don’t find it especially shocking that the tricked out 15” is more expensive than a similar 17”, though I do expect apple to revise the pricing soon.