Apple MacBook Pro 17in 2011
Flagship quad-core notebook
Review A slap across the face is what I need. It’s the only language I understand. My problem is that I have played with too many Apple MacBooks over the past 18 months. They were starting to look similar, a little standard perhaps, maybe even ordinary.
Quad core as standard: Apple's 17in MacBook Pro
So I took another peek at the colourful new HP Pavilion notebook I’d bought as my daughter’s going-to-uni present. Bendy plastic case, standard WXGA screen, power supply transformer weighs a ton - now THAT’S a standard notebook.
Back in the office, I lift open the MacBook Pro 17in case and... Slap. This is no ordinary laptop. It is an exceptional one.
It’s only with your face smarting that you realise what a beautiful feat of engineering the MacBook Pro is. It is encased in a single piece of seamless aluminium, so as well as not collecting dust in the cracks it doesn’t have, it doesn’t creak or squeak when you pick it up, open and close it, balance it on your knees and so on.
At nearly 3kg, it’s hardly the lightest notebook in the world but it is perfectly weighted. Try it for yourself at a Mac dealer: just place the MacBook Pro on a desk and lift open the lid with one hand. Any other notebook will tip backwards, but the MacBook Pro stays put. Nor is there a clumsy clasp to manipulate: when you close the clamshell, it stays shut with the help of magnets.
Don’t worry, I don’t intend boring you by repeating my fan-boi review of the 15in edition of Apple’s previous range of MacBook Pros. The razor-sharp screen quality, the safety-first magnetic mains power connector, the superb feel of the keyboard and trackpad - it’s all here in the newer 17in model too.
The Magic Trackpad is particularly Lion-friendly, supporting a wide range of multi-touch gestures.
But allow me to praise Apple for its power supply design, featuring a flat transformer and a full two metres of cable between the transformer and the computer, and another metre in the other direction to the mains socket. I have used too many notebooks with a heavy and hideous ‘dead rat’ style of transformer housebrick hanging halfway down the back of a desk, constantly tugging the plug away from the computer. By contrast, the MacBook Pro’s shiny white transformer sits safely on the floor.
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COMMENTS
Firewire
I use it a lot. Beats USB2 hands down for file transfer.
The express port is also damm useful.
I'll probably be upgrading my 4yr old 17in MBP as a chrissy present to myself.
Numeric keypads a bad idea on notebooks
The problem with numeric keypads on notebooks is that the main keyboard is then shunted to the side of the screen. Makes the things bloody awkward to use.
Have a look next time you're using a full size standalone keyboard -- I bet it's not placed centrally to your screen.
Erm
You say that its performanve is amazing compared to other laptops then list it with a bunch of other machines that make it look decidedly average. I took a quick look at the acer and can get it from tesco for under 900 quid. Being as i use my 17" pavillion as a replacement desktop that i can take with me to clients i could buy the acer and an apple 27" cinema display. That way i get huge screen silly resolution kick ass performance usb3.0 and change left over to buy a moch choca pony and trapacino instead of peripherals to make my mac talk to run of the mill components.
Hell i could even buy 2x 27" dell screens instead and have one at home and leave one on client site.
+2 for Firewire
I use it for keeping raw HD footage on prior to editing (not enough room on the internal drive). USB2 really isn't fast enough in sustained transfer to be usable.
I suspect Apple skipped USB3 as Thunderbolt has the potential to make it look a bit old and silly for things where data tx rates matter. For uses that don't, USB2 is fine.
Here's hoping Apple and Intel don't mess up the marketing and licensing of Thunderbolt in the same way Apple did with the original Firewire.
