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Macworld 2009: Hands-On With The Titanic Unibody 17" MacBook Pro

After the keynote yesterday, I managed to scamper over to the Apple Booth (well, after grabbing a bit of brunch - a man's gotta eat!) and got my mittens all over the new unibody 17" MacBook Pro.

At first, I actually bypassed the new MacBook as I searched for it along the demo tables. "Where's the behemoth?" I asked myself. After a first pass through the demo tables filled with MacBooks, I finally stopped and studied the laptops, and realised I was standing right next to the new 17" MacBook Pro!

That's the first thing that struck about the new 17 incher: it actually appears almost like a 15" notebook at first glance, until you concentrate on it and realise the screen real estate is bigger.

How the effect is accomplished I'm not quite sure. Part of the reason is certainly that the bezel is smaller than before, giving it a smaller size beyond the actual screen so the notebook as a whole appears more petite.

In fact, a representative from one of the numerous MacBook case vendors was next to me with their prototype for a new case for the 17" MacBook Pros, one they had built to a projected size based on the rest of the unibody MacBook line, and when he tried it on the new 17" MacBook Pro, his prototype was too big! Apple, it seems, has tried to shave as much unneeded extra size as necessary to make the 17" feel less like the Titanic and more like a notebook.

Hit the jump for the rest of my hands-on impressions of the 17" MacBook Pro!

The screen is big and beautiful, as you would expect, and glossy like the rest of the MacBook line (though you can add a $50 anti-glare option when you purchase if you're picky about such things like I am.) The touchpad is the new button-less multi-touch glass touchpad featured in the other unibody MacBooks, and behaves much the same.

The ports are your standard fare on the left side, with the sole outstanding fact being that only FireWire 800 is included, no 400 slot. Seen here from left to right are the MagSafe power connector, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, 3x USB 2.0, Mini DisplayPort, digital audio in & out, and an ExpressCard slot:

As I picked up the 17" MacBook Pro, the same solid feeling now familiar from the other MacBooks that feature Apple's new unibody construction was apparent. This notebook is solid. There's no creaking, no bending, just solid metal. The 6.6 lbs. of weight were light enough that my weak and skinny little arms (I'm not kidding here) were fine lifting its heft, and I could actually imagine myself carrying it around.

The Apple representative pointed out that the main reasons someone would want the 17" MacBook Pro is for the screen size and the battery.

"So does the battery use new Silver-Zinc technology?"

"No, it's actually lithium polymer," she said.

That's when I turned the 17" MacBook Pro over to take a gander at its backside (as I like to do):

As you can see, the backside is held on to the back by screws, with the fact that the battery is internal made apparent by a lack of a battery cover. "Can you upgrade the memory and hard drive?"

"Yes, but you have to remove the screws, and it'll be accessible right under the cover."

The back is held in place by 10 small phillips head screws, 4 on each long side and 1 on each short side:

Unfortunately, the Apple representative (and the scary security guy behind her) did not allow me to use the small phillips screwdriver that had magically appeared in my hand while she talked to another person (always the Boy Scout - be prepared!) in order to see exactly how easy it is to upgrade the memory and hard drive, but I'm sure once the 17" MacBook Pro ships at the end of the month we'll find out soon enough from sites like iFixIt.

Overall, the new 17 incher certainly shares the same sturdy construction as its smaller brethren, with a thinner bezel and build that gives it the appearance of a smaller notebook but the wide open screen real estate of a 17" display. If Apple isn't blowing smoke about the 8 hour battery life, then I think they've got a winner on their hands.

As I mentioned earlier today, the 17" MacBook Pro comes with 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 RAM, 2.66GHz Intel Core Duo 2, and 320GB SATA HDD standard.

Available for $2799 starting late January.