Let’s take a step into the wayback machine.. back to 2017 – whatever happened to the TouchBar? In hindsight, it’s easy to tell from a future when this model has just been phased out – the implementation felt offbeat. This model also suffered from keyboard and LCD flex cable issues, as well as the one the year prior. It prompted Apple to make a slight redesign to the keyboard and flex cable in the 2018 13″/15″ to remedy the issue, and a scissor keyboard was released in 2019 with the 16″ MacBook Pro. The main deal comes down to the way the butterfly keyboard is designed in and of itself. The hinge in the middle that holds together the two keyboard switch parts, allows a lot of gunk to get into it. Then, the key gets stuck, could repeat-type the same character, or just stop working altogether. In a world of computers, this was and still is a bit of a race car. But like a race car, some of these had to be rebuilt.

Indeed this body style was the thinnest MacBook Pro at the time, coming in at 15.5mm, only 4.5mm thicker than an M1 iMac. The chassis was not the most suitable for the type of heat output the CPUs and GPUs were giving. The first thing you’d wanna install is Macs Fan Control. This was a plenty-fast computer to use especially for work in 2017, and some heavy-ish games would run on here, but my recommendation – treat it like a Titanium PowerBook G4, air-dust the keyboard twice daily, and keep the original box if you can.

The Intel UHD/HD line of Integrated Graphics continue trend of “vampire video” (that’s where the video bites into system memory). The 2006 Mac mini was the first Mac in a long, long time to do this, and more Macs started doing this in the late 2000’s – early 2010’s. Apple Silicon GPUs have unified memory, changing the traditional views on how system memory is used and shared throughout the system. The dedicated AMD GPU (dGPU) does not share it’s VRAM with the rest of the system, nor does it pull from the RAM.

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.

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.

Battery life is claimed to be 10 hours of wireless productivity.

Unsupported macOS

Although it is not officially supported, the 15″ 2017 MacBook Pro can run the latest intel build of macOS via OCLP. This MacBook Pro has a Polaris GPU which is compatible in later versions of macOS. All Core branded products in the 7th generation have AVX 2, so it shouldn’t have issues with hardware acceleration even if the OS is unsupported, until Apple drops the AMD Polaris platform.

Details

• Announced June 5th 2017
• Apple model number: A1707 (EMC 3162)
• Model ID: MacBookPro14,3
• Order: MPTR2LL/A* (2.8 i7)
  • MPTT2LL/A* (2.9 i7)
  • BTO/CTO (3.1 i7)
• Discontinued July 12th 2018

Mac OS

• Requires macOS 10.12.5 (16F2073) Sierra through macOS Ventura 13.7.1 officially.

Core System

All CPU options are Quad-Core, Hyper Threaded, 14nm Kaby Lake i7 CPUs.

• 2.8 Ghz Intel Core i7-7700HQ ($2399), 45w TDP
  • 256k L2 Per Core, 6MB L3, Turbo Boost 2.0 to 3.8 Ghz
• 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7-7820HQ ($2799),
  • 256k L2 Per Core, 8MB L3, Turbo Boost 2.0 to 3.9 Ghz
• 3.1 Ghz Intel Core i7-7920HQ (+$300) option,
  • 256k L2 Per Core, 8MB L3, Turbo Boost 2.0 to 4.1 Ghz

Memory

• 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM, soldiered onboard

Video

• All models shipped standard with Intel UHD 630 1536 MB GPU, 350 MHz – 1.1 Ghz
• AMD Radeon Pro 555 2 GB GDDR5
  • Configurable to: AMD Radeon Pro 560 4 GB GDDR5
• 15.4″ 2880 x 1800 LED-backlit TFT LCD IPS Retina display, 220 ppi
  • Support for millions of colors
  • 500 nits brightness max
  • Wide Color (P3)
• Support for native display resolution while also plugging in:
  • Up to 2x 5120 x 2880 @60Hz w/over a Billion colors
  • Up to 4x 4096 x 2304 @60 Hz w/Millions of colors
  • Up to 4x 4K60 w/over a Billion colors

Drives

• 256 GB PCIe SSD (Base model)
  • 512GB (+$200), 1TB (+$600), 2 TB (+$1400)
• 512 GB PCIe SSD 2.9/3.1 i7
  • 1TB (+$400), 2 TB (+$1200)

Expansion

• Thunderbolt 3: 4x USB-C ports, up to 40 Gb/s
  • Support for USB 3.1 Gen 2, up to 10 Gb/s
• FireWire 400: optional via Thunderbolt adapter
• FireWire 800: optional via Thunderbolt adapter
• Ethernet: optional via Thunderbolt adapter
• WiFi: 802.11ac AirPort Extreme built in
• Modem: No longer offered by Apple
• Bluetooth: BT 4.2 built in
• ExpressCard/34: none
• SD Card Slot: none
• expansions bays: none
• IR receiver: none
• webcam: FaceTime 720p HD camera
• Three Microphones

Power

• battery: 76 Watt-hours, 10 hours of wireless productivity
• AC adapter: 87W USB-C Power Adapter
• 30 Days standby time

Physical

• size: 9.48 x 13.75 x 0.61″ (240.7 x 349.3 x 15.5 mm)
• Weight: 4.02 pounds (1.83 kg)