MacBook Pro Index

17″ MacBook Pro (Core Duo)

Overview

In an unusual Monday product announcement (Apple usually reveals new products on Tuesday), Apple introduced the 17" MacBook Pro (MBP) with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo CPU. It's the first MacBook to support FireWire 800, and it also has a dual-layer SuperDrive (vs. single-layer in the 15" MacBook Pro).

17" MacBook ProThe 17" MBP looks a lot like the old 17" PowerBook G4, and its 1680 x 1050 display matches its predecessor's. It is a bit deeper (10.4" vs. 10.2") than the 17" PowerBook G4.

There are two visual clues that this 'Book is different. There's a black square above the display - that's the iSight webcam. And there's a round spot on the front, a receiver that works with Apple's remote control, which works with Apple's Front Row software.

The 17" MacBook Pro uses the same MagSafe power connector as the 15" model. It's designed to detach itself when someone trips over the cord - preventing your 'Book from crashing to the floor.

This model includes built-in dual-DVI support for Apple's 30" Cinema Display, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics, and an ExpressCard/34 slot (replacing the older PC Card). It has 3 USB 2.0 ports, one more than the 15" MBP offers.

Note that the built-in display is only capable of 18-bit color, not the full 24-bit color you might expect.

Closed Lid Mode: All Intel 'Books support "lid closed" (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To used closed lid mode, your 'Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your 'Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your 'Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display. Since all video RAM is now dedicated to the external monitor, you may have more colors available at higher resolutions.

To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your 'Book and restore use of the built-in display.

Intel-based Macs us a new partitioning scheme known as GPT. Macintel models can only boot from GPT hard drives; APM (Apple's old partitioning scheme) hard drives cannot be used to boot them. Further, Power PC Macs running any version of the Mac OS prior to 10.4.2 cannot mount GPT volumes.

On the plus side, Macintel models are the only Macs that can boot OS X from a USB hard drive. That should make a lot of Mac users happy, although it may be the beginning of the end for external drives with dual FireWire 400/USB 2.0 support.

The MacBook Pro ships with Mac OS X 10.4.6. It also includes iLife '06.

Battery life is comparable to the 17" PowerBook G4.

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