Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro 2009 Reviews – an excellent desktop replacement
- Monday, March 23, 2009, 5:49
- Laptops
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Measuring 15.5 inches wide by 10.5 inches deep by 0.98 inch thick, the Apple macBook Pro weighs 6.5 pounds (the AC adapter adds another 0.7 pound). The $2,799 laptop is powered by 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM. The graphics are handled by Nvidia GeForce 9400M (integrated) and 512MB Nvidia 9600M GT (dedicated). The laptop comes with preinstalled Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system and the graphics are integrated on Nvidia MCP79 chipset. The laptop provided storage of 320GB on its hard drive spinning at 5,400rpm. Apple also gives the option of adding up to a 256GB solid-state hard-drive which will cost you $750. The better option could be changing the 320GB drive from 5,400rpm to 7,200rpm, which will cost you extra $50.
Like its any other product, Apple has been successful to impress with the design of MacBook Pro. The laptop is less than 1-inch thick though it is 17-inch desktop replacement. The MacBook Pro is much thinner than some 10-inch Netbooks. Like its 13- and 15-inch siblings, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is made from a single block of aluminum. As a result, Apple has been able to provide a lighter and thinner laptop which feels pretty strong and solid chassis.
Like its siblings, the 17-inch Pro is also equipped with glass trackpad but it is larger than the one found on smaller MacBooks. Apple has removed the mouse button; in fact the entire trackpad acts as a mouse button. You also have the option to use multitouch gestures, and one corner of the trackpad can be used as a “right-click” zone.
The MacBook Pro boasts of 17-inch wide-screen LED display which has native resolution of 1920×1200 pixels. The display is perfectly suited for managing the 1080p HD video content or large photos. The display looks very bright as the glass also grabs stray light. You can also go for matte-screen coating which will cost additional $50.
The MacBook has all the necessary ports and connectors which include Mini DisplayPort, stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks, 3 USB 2.0, FireWire, ExpressCard/34, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and DVD burner. The MacBook features Apple’s mini DisplayPort instead of mini-DVI or VGA, but you can get any type of output by variety of external dongles.
