Apple 17″ MacBook Pro Specifications
Display: 17″ TN (Twisted Nematic) TFT LCD (non-glare optional)
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Pixel Format: 1920 x 1200
Viewing Angles: 140/120
Contrast Ratio: 700:1
Color Gamut: 60% greater (about 72% NTSC)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForece 9400M (integrated) and GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB
CPU: 2.66GHz or 2.89GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB L2 Cache
RAM: 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 up to 8GB
HDD: 320GB 5400RPM, 320GB 7200RPM, 128/256GB SSD
Optical: Slot-loading SuperDrive
Connectivity: Mini DisplayPort, USB 2.0 (3), FireWire 800, Audio In/Out, ExpressCard/34, Gigabit Ethernet
Availability: Late January 2009
Price: Starts at $2799
Apple unveiled its new aluminium-slab 17″ MacBook Pro at MacWorld 2009 today. The 17″ MBP sports a 1920 x 1200 pixel format LCD that has a lot of improvements. Just a quick note: Apple stuck with the 16:10 aspect ratio instead of going to 16:9. I think this is a solid move since we won’t be seeing Blu-ray drives on this MBPs for a while. First off is the availability of a matte (non-glare) option on the LCD (for $50). I don’t like glare and I’m sure there are many out there who don’t as well. But $50? That sounds a bit expensive to me. The option should be free.
The viewing angles are 140/120. Although that doesn’t sound too impressive typical LCDs that are used for notebook PCs are worse than that at around 90/50. Contrast ratio of 700:1 is excellent and is much better than the typical 500:1 that you see. 60% greater color gamut amounts to 72% NTSC since average notebook PC LCDs sport a 45% NTSC color gamut. A 72% NTSC color gamut is what you see in typical LCD monitors and LCD TVs. I’m sure the 17″ MBP will look fantastic compared to other notebook PCs.
Just looking at the display of the 17″ MBP tells you that this is a notebook PC that was designed with the professional in mind: professionals who require portable computing but a very good display too. The display is powered by a hybrid GPU design that we first saw on the 15″ MBP. The hybrid GPU design incorporates two NVIDIA GPUs: the integrated GeForce 9400M for normal and power saving operations and the discrete GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB for when you need more graphics power. The 9400M will save you 1 hour of batter life and let you keep going for 8 hours while the more powerful 9600M GT will last you 7 hours. Not bad.
Speaking of battery life, Apple decided to increase the battery size and get rid of all the enclosures and mechanisms for a removable. Apple has a pretty interesting video up on its website. Although the battery is not removable I do applaud Apple for thinking out of the box and getting the battery life up to 8 hours, which is a big improvement compared to the previous generation 17″ MBP of just 4-5 hours. That being said there are other companies such as Dell that has improved battery life to significantly more than 8 hours so Apple still has a ways to go. I look forward to a 24 hour battery life in 2010 for the 17″ MBP.
Here’s Philip Schiller’s introduction of the 17″ MacBook Pro at MacWorld 2009:
Source: Apple
[tags]Apple, Apple MacBook Pro, Apple 17″ MacBook Pro, 17″ MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro, 1920 x 1200, LED Backlight[/tags]
