Apple's latest netbook gets tried and tested by the T3 team
When it comes to laptops, netbooks are the current big thing. Low cost, low spec machines designed for low-end computing. But there will always be users with needs way above that which netbooks can offer. Video editors demand processing power, graphic designers need a large-format high-end display and naturally, Mac fans want Mac OS. Even in these credit-crunched times there will always be a market for quality, and that’s what Apple’s latest MacBook Pro delivers in spades…
The 17-inch MacBook Pro’s biggest innovation is its revolutionary battery technology. It offers a battery life of up to eight hours, giving you a whole day’s work on a single charge. It can be recharged around 1,000 times before wearing out too, which is approximately five years of normal use and three times the predicted lifespan of a standard notebook battery.
Apple’s engineers achieved this feat by making the battery non-removable. It’s fitted inside the MacBook Pro’s glorious unibody casing, which is machined from a single block of aluminium for strength and lightness. By removing the housings and mechanisms demanded by removable batteries, Apple is able to use a much bigger and more powerful unit without taking a toll on the thickness and weight of the laptop. Sure, having to get it replaced professionally when eventually it wears out is a pain, but the cost will almost certainly be offset by its lasting three times as long as its user-removable cousin.
At under an inch thick and weighing just 6.6 pounds, the new MacBook Pro is described as ‘the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook,’ but not at the cost of processing power. In our benchmarking tests, the new notebook performed incredibly well. Although performance increases over last year’s 15-inch MacBook Pro are incremental rather than revolutionary, the new high-end laptop does enough to justify Apple’s claim that it’s ‘the most powerful Mac notebook yet’.
The machine’s NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor is impressively fast. Using the frame-rate test contained in the popular first-person shooter Doom 3, running at a 1024 x 778 screen resolution and with all graphical FX options set to their highest levels, it ran at an extremely impressive 56.1 frames per second. If you’re not carrying out GPU-intensive tasks such as playing Doom 3 or rendering graphics, you can switch to its NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for a better battery life.
Apple displays have enjoyed a step up in quality over the last couple of years, and the 17-inch MacBook Pro has reaped the benefits. Its ultra-thin, widescreen glossy 1920 x 1200 display offers 78% more pixels and a 60 percent greater colour gamut than the 15-inch version. Its LED-backlit display gives it an instant-on performance, while using up to 30% less energy than standard fluorescent tube-powered backlights.
Its colours are rich and even, though there’s a little shadowing in the bottom corners. Nothing you’d notice in real-world use, but a smidgen shy of absolute perfection. It does a great job of reproducing shades of grey, with our black-to-white gradient test showing virtually no banding. It acquitted itself very well when offering near-black and near-white shades too, something many displays find difficult.
Apple’s 17-inch MacBook Pro gives us few causes for complaint. An optional Blu-ray drive would be a boon for those who need one, and is certainly something Apple should consider now the format war is over. At almost £2,000 it isn’t exactly cheap either, but nor is it overpriced given its quality.
The netbooks may hog the headlines, but it’s great to see a new performance laptop that’s been put together with real care and attention to detail. Many will baulk at price tag of £1,949, but if you’re after a real top-of-the-range notebook – and you can afford it – the 17-inch MacBook Pro could be right up your street.
From T3
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