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| Apple MacBook Pro MC226LL/A 17-Inch Laptop | |||||||||||||||
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Amazon.com has certified this product is Frustration Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without hard plastic "clamshell" casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging during shipping. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box. Learn more about Frustration-Free Packaging. Featuring a precision unibody enclosure crafted from a single block of aluminum, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than its predecessor as well as stronger and more durable. But Apple didn't stop innovating with the body's design. The MacBook Pro also includes a new high-resolution LED-backlit widescreen with a 1920-by-1200-pixel resolution, a greater color gamut for more vibrant colors, and a 700:1 contrast ratio that makes whites brighter and blacks blacker. It also includes the new glass trackpad that does away with the trackpad button (for larger tracking area) and features Apple's Multi-Touch technology. And the non-removable battery 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.
Other hardware features include a 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of installed RAM (which can be upgraded to 8 GB), an 8x combo Superdrive (for burning dual-layer DVDs as well as CDs), built-in Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), FireWire 800 port, Mini DisplayPort video output (for DVI and VGA connections), and an ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot for expansion solutions such as 3G cellular networking. It comes pre-loaded with Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system--an operating system custom-designed for the advanced technology inside--and it also comes with the iLife '09 suite of applications, including iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and iTunes. The Unibody MacBook Pro Design
The keyboard has also been improved, with the rigid aluminum keyboard webbing cut precisely to hold the keys, which are curved to perfectly fit fingers. And it's illuminated, so when you're in low-light settings, such as airplanes or conference rooms, you can always see what you're typing. Vibrant Display Long-Lasting Battery Giving it a lifespan of up to 1000 recharges required breakthroughs in battery technology. Apple electro-chemists developed advanced chemistry that maintains the battery's charging capabilities longer than ever. And while most notebooks wear down their batteries by charging them at a constant rate, the 17-inch MacBook Pro takes a different approach. Using an Apple-developed technology called Adaptive Charging, a microchip on the battery constantly communicates with the computer to determine the optimal way to charge its cells, adjusting the current up and down depending on a variety of conditions. Combined, these advancements offer a dramatic improvement in battery lifespan: more than three times the lifespan of typical notebook batteries--up to five years.
Experience improved energy efficiency, expanded wireless connectivity, and amazing battery life with the 2.80 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, which has a super-fast 1066 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and an extra-large 6 MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.) The hafnium-infused circuitry--which reduces electrical current leakage in transistors--conserves even more energy, giving you more time away from the wall outlet. With 6 MB of shared L2 cache, data and instructions can be kept close to the two processor cores, greatly increasing performance and allowing the entire system to work more efficiently. And, because the processor cores share the L2 cache, either can use the entire amount if the other happens to be idle. Video Processing & Output The MacBook Pro includes a next generation Mini DisplayPort, which delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, and is compatible with Apple's 24-inch Cinema Display. Adapters are also available for using VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays Hard Drive and Memory Wireless Connectivity Video Conferencing with Built-in iSight Other Features
Apple has worked hard to eliminate many of the toxins that are a common part of computer manufacturing. Apple engineers removed the majority of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from circuit boards, internal cables, connectors, insulators, adhesives, and more in the MacBook Pro. Because Apple makes both the hardware and the software for the MacBook, they're designed to work together to produce a smarter product that uses less electricity. For instance, to reduce energy consumption, the hard drive spins down automatically when inactive. MacBook Air also decides which processor--CPU or GPU--is best suited to efficiently perform a task. The LED-backlit display in the MacBook Pro is another feature that plays an important part in conserving energy, consuming 30 percent less power than conventional LCD displays. And the display is designed to dim when you enter a darkened room. The MacBook Pro meets the stringent low power requirements set by the EPA, giving it ENERGY STAR certification. MacBook also meets the latest efficiency requirements of ENERGY STAR Version 5.0 Specification for Computers before its July 2009 effective date. The MacBook Pro has also earned the highest rating of EPEAT Gold. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, evaluates the environmental impact of a product based on how recyclable it is, how much energy it uses, and how it's designed and manufactured.
Every Mac comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world's most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple's innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar. Installed software
What's in the Box |
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
- 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor
- 500 GB hard drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive, 4 GB DDR3 RAM
- NVIDIA Geforce 9400M + 9600M GT Graphics, 17 inch LED Display
- Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard Operating System
 Macbook Pro 17-inch (Mid 2009)...fantastic desktop replacement |
| Review Date: July 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Greg L. Stewart, San Antonio, TX USA |
| Simply put, the best laptop I've ever owned. I configured it through Apple with the 128GB SSD and apps install incredibly fast and launch instantly. The screen is a marvel, 1920 X 1200 with LCD backlight. I opted to go with the glossy, so there are some reflections but only when using directly in front of a bright window, otherwise its not a problem (for me anyway).
Bear in mind, this is a BIG laptop...its a tray table...but very sturdy and NO flex in the chassis. The trackpad is also very useable, although I still opted for a mouse (Logitech M555b Bluetooth, highly recommended also). It doesn't heat up much and has incredible battery life...if I switch to the 9400M integrated graphics (which is fine for most uses), I can get 6 hours on a charge no problem, with WiFi, Bluetooth, brightness at about 60% and the SSD as the primary HD. With a different config YMMV, but I'd bet 5-6 hours is the norm for this machine. All-in-all, a great laptop. I'll have this 2-3 years no problems. |
| 17 Inch MacBook Pro Compared |
| Review Date: January 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Ronald Hammond, Key West, FL USA |
| I had a MacBook Pro 13 inch, have owned and liked both the 15 and 17 inch MacBook Pros. I sold the 15 inch machine, because I carry a machine around with me all day long and the smaller 13 inch was a better fit in my backpack and it weighed less. The 17 inch MacBook Pro I used as a desktop and it worked well for me, but I needed more screen real estate, so I bought a Mac Mini and hooked up two older 23 inch Apple cinema displays. So I thought I was good to go, but sadly, a dirty, rotten, no good, son of a you-know-what, swiped my backpack and gone was my trusty MacBook Pro. I had lots of stuff on there that I couldn't afford to lose, but fortunately I'm a crazy nut about backing up. Still, the loss of the machine hurt.
So, now I own a new MacBook, have had it for a couple weeks now, so I believe, having owned all of Apple's current MacBooks and the MacBook Pro, that I'm qualified to comment on and compare them here. First off, let me admit, I'm not a fan of the glare on Apple's new machines. I spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen and that bright light staring back at me gives me headaches, plus the reflection is distracting. That's why I bought the 17 inch Macbook Pro with a non reflective screen. In many ways it was a dream machine. Fast with a 2.8GHZ processor and 4GB of ram, it's all the desktop most people would ever need, especially if, like me, you get it with a 500 GB hard drive. One big advantage of using this machine as a desktop is that it is portable. If you don't need a laptop on your person 24/7 like I do, you can have your cake and eat it too with this machine. I would have kept this computer forever, had I not needed more screen real estate. I could have added a Cinema display to the machine, but a friend, who is in love with the new glossy Apple screens, sold me his two 23 inch displays for a ridiculously cheap price, so I sold my MacBook Pro on eBay and bought a Mini, which drives the two displays beautifully. Sadly, it's not as fast as the 17 inch Macbook Pro, but sometimes you can't have everything. Apple claims this machine gets eight hours on the battery, but I can't verify that, because as it was on my desk, it was always plugged in. I was using the 15 inch MacBook Pro as my laptop and this a dream machine. I had the glossy screen changed out to a non reflective one. You can do this without voiding your warranty for a couple C notes by sending your computer off to a company called TechRestore. You can find them online. Sadly, right after I changed the screen out, Apple came out with a non reflective screen for the 15 inch MacBook Pro for only fifty dollars more. I guess I took it in the shorts on that one. However, I will say that my upgrade had a black bezel, whereas the Apple version has a grey one and ascetically, I think the black border around the screen just looks better. I can't think of one bad thing to say about this machine, other than it's smaller sibling is lighter and, of course, smaller. For many, this could be the only compter you need. I had the 2.8GHz version with a 500GB hard drive, which was the mirror of the drive on my 17 inch MacBook Pro. Most people would have been happy with these two machines and looking back, maybe I should have just purchased one of those Cinema displays and saved myself some money, but I didn't. The fastest 13 inch MacBook Pro runs at 2.53GHz, slower than the MacBook Pro I sold to get it, but the size and weight were the major factors for me. Like with the above 15 inch, I changed out the screen. I also upgraded the hard drive to 500GB and to make it even sweeter, after I got it back with the new screen, I sent it off to MCE in Southern California and had the DVD drive swapped out for a second 500GB harddrive. They not only put the second drive in my MacBook Pro, but they put the DVD drive into a nice little case, so that you can hook it up to your MacBook Pro via USB 2.0. This was my dream laptop. I took it with me everywhere and I can't, absolutely can't recommend this machine highly enough. Then someone stole it. So now I had that Mac Mini with the two displays, but no laptop. And sadly, I've got a lot less money now, because I'm getting a whole lot less work, because of the downturn. So, this time around I can't afford to trick out my machine to just the way I want it. I had to settle. So I bought the new unibody MacBook. No Firewire and at first I thought I'd be pretty cheesed not having it, but my external harddrives all use USB 2.0 as well and you know, I'm not really missing Firewire at all. Of course I can't use target disk mode, but that's the breaks. Also, I did have to upgrade the memory, come on Apple, everybody who's ever put fingers to a keyboard knows 2GB or ram isn't enough. But I'm living with the 250GB harddrive. The 2.26GHz processor doesn't really seem all that much slower than what I had on the stolen MacBook Pro and I really like the rubberized bottom. I called TechRestore to see if they have an upgrade to a matte screen for these machines yet and they do and I will probably change out the screen, maybe, but maybe not, because I'm finding if I move the computer around a bit and turn down the display, I can almost live with the glossy screen. We'll see. In conclusion I've got to say, having owned them all, that they are all great and wonderful machines. I hope I'm not sounding like an Apple fan boy, because I'm not. They could have made the machines better, by offering a matte display to those of us who wanted it for no extra money on the 15 and 17 inch one. Also you don't have to be a professional with a lot of money to be bugged by glare, they could have offered a matte display on their two 13 inch models. They could have put 4GB of RAM into the MacBook, but they wanted to keep the price under a thousand dollars. Still, even with those gripes, these are the best laptops out there. Besides, consider the alternative, Windows 7, horror of horrors. |
| Never back to PCs |
| Review Date: November 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dr. Goetz K. Oertel, Potomac, MD |
| This is my second Mac, an upgrade in size and disk capacity from my first Mac, a MacBook Pro 15 with Intel processor. There was nothing whatever wrong with that old Mac - after 3 1/2 years I just needed more area on the screen for my work and did not mind the much greater disk capacity of the new model The most telling aspect of my first Mac had been that it never "crashed", unlike generations of PCs I had used. If I managed to do something really "naughty" to my Mac, it sometimes closed a software program - but without noticeable loss of data. In stark contrast to my PC days, I never had to scramble to recover data. The worst I ever did was to inadvertently delete some ancient email messages. They proved easily recoverable from the external backup. Yes, initially it took a few hours to re-learn keystrokes that are different on the Mac than on PCs. I saved that back in no time, then received big dividends because my Mac never crashed. It just always works as it is designed to do.
The most amazing experience with the new Mac was the transfer of my "stuff" from old to new Mac. I went at it with some trepidation because it had taken seemingly endless hours to migrate "stuff" from old to new PCs. By contrast, everything had migrated from old Mac to new Mac in less than one hour via firewire - and all worked perfectly. By 'everything" I mean not just all data - files, records, contact information, photos, calendar, etc.- but also all software I had installed on the old Mac. And, everything was exactly where and how I was used to it, and everything worked as it should on my brilliant and larger new Mac. It is now backed up by even greater memory and processor speed, and runs on Snow Leopard - which is just as flawlessly reliable as the previous operating system but faster and more efficient, with a few neat new features strewn in. I can still hardly believe that it took years, no decades, before I got fed up and dumped PCs and their flawed operating systems and incompatible software and data bases for something that works. A student in my family just "took the plunge" to Mac when she inherited my first Mac - she is thrilled. Before that I had loaned it to friends - decades long PC users - who promptly made me a nice offer for it and who have since bought new Macs from the local Apple Store. They are extremely conservative and frugal folks - but it did not take them long to figure out that one Mac every decade that always works is better than a new PC every three years that frequently "crashes". Macs serve their owners and serve them well. PCs work sometimes and expect their owners to serve and service them.. Who is master and who slave? There is never a doubt with a Mac! |
| Brilliant! |
| Review Date: December 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mr. S. Shetty, UK |
| The best and the right decision that I made! I used a friend's mac for couple of hours last month (when he showed off) and immediately realised why MAC was a cut above the rest. When I decided to buy, thought as well should go for the best in the MACBOOK Pro range. I had so many Windows based laptops over the last decade but this I can say is a prized possession! No more crashes, viruses, firewalls, messy uninstalls, painfully slow startups, blue (or black) screens, registry headaches etc.,
After using this, I definitely made a decision not to go back to Windows again. If I did want to use Windows for whatever reason, bootcamp gives the option but not sure why would one want to? After seeing me praise the MAC some of my colleagues have either bought or in the process of buying one. The others who have bought it already say the MAC is 'just awesome!' If you're reading this with a view to whether you should buy or not, don't waste your time! Just go for it - you won't regret your decision. |
| The Best! |
| Review Date: October 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Daniel Lenzmeier, |
| Defnitely the best laptop you can buy. It's almost perfect and hats saying a lot considering how great their products are already. They just keep getting better and better, but this machine is so great it will last me a long time before another upgrade. Bravo! |
| AppleCare Protection Plan - For Portable Apple Computers 15 Inches and Above |
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| List Price: $349.00 |
| Amazon Price: $289.95 |
| Speck MacBook Pro 17 Aluminum Unibody Laptop See Thru Crystal Case - CLEAR |
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| Amazon Price: $37.66 |
| AppleCare Protection Plan MC259LL/A - For Portable Apple Computers 15 Inches and Above |
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| List Price: $349.00 |
| Amazon Price: Too low to display |
| Speck Products MacBook Pro 17-Inch Aluminum Unibody/Black Keyboard See Through Satin Soft Touch Hard Shell Case (Black) |
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| List Price: $49.95 |
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| iWork '09 |
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| List Price: $79.00 |
| Amazon Price: $68.72 |
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