Apple Quietly Discontinues MacBook Pro 17"

Keep the MacBook Pro 17-inch

I use the MacBook Pro 17-inch as my main computer. I travel a lot, and back up my files using CrashPlan. I use my 17-inch for print and web, and bottom-line, if I need to view something at 100% for print, there's no way the 13" or 15" can compare for screen real estate. I can't do what I need to do on small temporary in-transit machines - keeping software up-to-date on 2 machines adds to workload. It seems Apple expects users to now buy two machines, a desktop, AND a small laptop for on-the-go use. Sorry, but I hate to say it, this makes me contemplate buying a PC, yeeeshhh!!! And that's really saying something. Very disappointed in Apple. The whole idea is that Apple is loved by all us creative folk, many of us travel a lot, and the whole idea of graphic design and internet means we can do what we do from wherever we want to be in the world, not chained to a desktop. Come on Apple, don't retire the 17-inch yet. I'm sure you can come up with a better business & marketing plan for the 17-inch, if it's a numbers game, manufacture only the amount that sells on average per year, and lord knows you can create killer ads to sell the rats out of it for us serious designers who use the 17-inch as our main workhorse. Not like Apple to be so defeatist....

I like my MBP 17". I'm sad to see this model go. I'd by another.

There are plenty of companies out there still making 17, 18, and 19 inch laptops so there is clearly a market for them. If they only made up 1% of sales at Apple, that's just poor marketing/design, not that there isn't a market for them.

My personal belief is that people see the price of a 15 MBP and don't understand why so much more money for an additional 2 inchs of screen.

If Apple sold a 17" Macbook Pro at 15" price + $100-$200 (more reasonable), you can bet the thing will sell just as well as the 15.

Blackberryroid said:

A few months ago, Apple released the revolutionary Retina Display MacBook Pro, the best laptop on the planet.

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I fail to see anything "revolutionary" in a machine where I have to view the screen at less than 20 cm distance to even notice a difference, yet I have to buy and carry a bag of adaptors and externals, making it actually less portable, all paired with not upgrade/replaceable ram and a proprietary ssd.

Have fun with the "best laptop on the planet" FOR YOU. Once all Apple laptops end up like this I'll switch to a Windows 7 machine. I used to like Apples machines and the OS for the past 15 years, but these days I have to choose between two machines I don't like with two operating systems I don't like - so I might as well get the cheaper one.

chaosbunny said:

I fail to see anything "revolutionary" in a machine where I have to view the screen at less than 20 cm distance to even notice a difference, yet I have to buy and carry a bag of adaptors and externals, making it actually less portable, all paired with not upgrade/replaceable ram and a proprietary ssd.

Have fun with the "best laptop on the planet" FOR YOU. Once all Apple laptops end up like this I'll switch to a Windows 7 machine. I used to like Apples machines and the OS for the past 15 years, but these days I have to choose between two machines I don't like with two operating systems I don't like - so I might as well get the cheaper one.

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First of all, you didn't get my sarcasm. That was supposed to be sarcasm, you know. I was against the discontinuation of the 17 Inch.

Second, you obviously haven't seen the Retina display. Or, if you have, you just simply haven't used it long enough. It's an amazing display. Gorgeous details. After 30 minutes, every other displays look pixelated.

Think of it like 480p going all the way to 1080p. People with DVDs once said "480p is detailed enough, why go 1080p?". They were wrong when they bought a Blu-ray player. It's much better.

Same goes to this one, only it's clearer.

chaosbunny said:

I fail to see anything "revolutionary" in a machine where I have to view the screen at less than 20 cm distance to even notice a difference, yet I have to buy and carry a bag of adaptors and externals, making it actually less portable, all paired with not upgrade/replaceable ram and a proprietary ssd.

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I don't see the appeal of the rMBP at all. The only advantage it has over a standard MBP is the Retina display and even that isn't worth the extra you pay for it. I don't like the fact it's not upgradeable.

Blackberryroid said:

First of all, you didn't get my sarcasm. That was supposed to be sarcasm, you know. I was against the discontinuation of the 17 Inch.

Second, you obviously haven't seen the Retina display. Or, if you have, you just simply haven't used it long enough. It's an amazing display. Gorgeous details. After 30 minutes, every other displays look pixelated.

Think of it like 480p going all the way to 1080p. People with DVDs once said "480p is detailed enough, why go 1080p?". They were wrong when they bought a Blu-ray player. It's much better.

Same goes to this one, only it's clearer.

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To this day I have not seen a rMBP, nor Blu-ray in action. Willful ignorance is much cheaper.

SkyBell said:

To this day I have not seen a rMBP, nor Blu-ray in action. Willful ignorance is much cheaper.

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Judging by you hating modern technology, (Intel Macs, Blu-ray) you can't let to of the past.

You can't hang on with those machines forever. One day the SCSI HDD of your machine will eventually fail and nothing to replace it with because nobody has a SCSI HDD anymore. Something will fail, and it will be irreplacable.

You're going to have to choose between Intel Macs or Intel PCS, Apple TV or Blu-Ray. I can't wait to find out which one you're going for.

Blackberryroid said:

First of all, you didn't get my sarcasm. That was supposed to be sarcasm, you know. I was against the discontinuation of the 17 Inch.

Second, you obviously haven't seen the Retina display. Or, if you have, you just simply haven't used it long enough. It's an amazing display. Gorgeous details. After 30 minutes, every other displays look pixelated.

Think of it like 480p going all the way to 1080p. People with DVDs once said "480p is detailed enough, why go 1080p?". They were wrong when they bought a Blu-ray player. It's much better.

Same goes to this one, only it's clearer.

Click to expand...

Sorry for not getting your sarcasm, I was browsing the thread between 2 projects to clear my head and didn't read carefully.

I have seen it at a store, maybe I haven't used it long enough. I compared it with a regular mbp next to it and simply didn't notice much difference from a normal viewing distance. Then again from a regular viewing distance of 4-5 meters I also can't tell the difference between 480p and 1080p on a 50" TV.

And yes I have put my glasses on!

chaosbunny said:

Sorry for not getting your sarcasm, I was browsing the thread between 2 projects to clear my head and didn't read carefully.

I have seen it at a store, maybe I haven't used it long enough. I compared it with a regular mbp next to it and simply didn't notice much difference from a normal viewing distance. Then again from a regular viewing distance of 4-5 meters I also can't tell the difference between 480p and 1080p on a 50" TV.

And yes I have put my glasses on!

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You're either a liar or you desperately need new glasses.

Crunch said:

You're either a liar or you desperately need new glasses.

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No to both - and I'm certainly not the only one.

I share your sentiments!

dukesco said:

I use the MacBook Pro 17-inch as my main computer. I travel a lot, and back up my files using CrashPlan. I use my 17-inch for print and web, and bottom-line, if I need to view something at 100% for print, there's no way the 13" or 15" can compare for screen real estate. I can't do what I need to do on small temporary in-transit machines - keeping software up-to-date on 2 machines adds to workload. It seems Apple expects users to now buy two machines, a desktop, AND a small laptop for on-the-go use. Sorry, but I hate to say it, this makes me contemplate buying a PC, yeeeshhh!!! And that's really saying something. Very disappointed in Apple. The whole idea is that Apple is loved by all us creative folk, many of us travel a lot, and the whole idea of graphic design and internet means we can do what we do from wherever we want to be in the world, not chained to a desktop. Come on Apple, don't retire the 17-inch yet. I'm sure you can come up with a better business & marketing plan for the 17-inch, if it's a numbers game, manufacture only the amount that sells on average per year, and lord knows you can create killer ads to sell the rats out of it for us serious designers who use the 17-inch as our main workhorse. Not like Apple to be so defeatist....

Click to expand...

There are a lot of pro 17" members in the Support forum on Apple dot com.

The 17" MacBook Pro, to me represents more than just a machine that one day is the greatest and then another day just ditched/denied! I know that the retina 15" macbook really rubs me the wrong way. I would have really liked to see all that power and sleek beauty transferred over to the 17" instead, or if they wanted to be so innovative, they should go 13" retina first and let people know they will refresh the rest of the line of PROs towards that revolutionary trend. Instead of what they pulled, which was to not officially give any statements about the future of their 17" MacBook Pro. That is my only beef and it is only towards Apple, not the CONSumers who just go for the most expensive, greatest and hottest new product.

Definitely the hottest because when I had the 15" retina macbook for a whole week (before the refund period), I worked on a few large tracks on it beside my '07 17inch macbook pro and the retina ran so hot and I had to squish all my work into the "more space" scale setting, I'm near sighted so that wasn't too much of an issue. Even though it was blazing fast and scorching hot, I didn't feel I was that much more productive than on the steady 17". It was an uncomfortable feeling knowing it was so hot, while my 17" didn't breeze through the tasks, I was able to walk away to enjoy a cup of tea and pet my dogs, basically enjoy life while it steadily rendered my work. It was not hot and I got every thing done in time as well.

I will get the 13" retina macbook pro though because to me that makes sense. They should have discontinued the 15" and just let it be 13" and 17", because if that would truly be competing big time with the 'utrabooks' market!

vpro said:

There are a lot of pro 17" members in the Support forum on Apple dot com.

The 17" MacBook Pro, to me represents more than just a machine that one day is the greatest and then another day just ditched/denied! I know that the retina 15" macbook really rubs me the wrong way. I would have really liked to see all that power and sleek beauty transferred over to the 17" instead, or if they wanted to be so innovative, they should go 13" retina first and let people know they will refresh the rest of the line of PROs towards that revolutionary trend. Instead of what they pulled, which was to not officially give any statements about the future of their 17" MacBook Pro. That is my only beef and it is only towards Apple, not the CONSumers who just go for the most expensive, greatest and hottest new product.

Definitely the hottest because when I had the 15" retina macbook for a whole week (before the refund period), I worked on a few large tracks on it beside my '07 17inch macbook pro and the retina ran so hot and I had to squish all my work into the "more space" scale setting, I'm near sighted so that wasn't too much of an issue. Even though it was blazing fast and scorching hot, I didn't feel I was that much more productive than on the steady 17". It was an uncomfortable feeling knowing it was so hot, while my 17" didn't breeze through the tasks, I was able to walk away to enjoy a cup of tea and pet my dogs, basically enjoy life while it steadily rendered my work. It was not hot and I got every thing done in time as well.

I will get the 13" retina macbook pro though because to me that makes sense. They should have discontinued the 15" and just let it be 13" and 17", because if that would truly be competing big time with the 'utrabooks' market!

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....what? Not hot? I had a 17 inch i5 and that sucker got HOT HOT HOT. The same as any other laptop out there, especially while rendering (I assume you mean video). Any laptop Apple, or anyone else makes runs ridiculously hot while rendering, just a fact of life. Also, I'm not sure I follow what in the world your post is getting at...

It would be nice if it was reintroduced with a 2gb gpu...

The company that introduced the world's first notebook with 17" screen a decade ago, has quietly discontinued its MacBook Pro 17. The resolution issues to be rectified.

aurichie said:

What sales numbers are you looking at? I'd love to learn how many of each model of MacBook Apple has sold in the past.

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Here you go.......

Research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has in the past offered precise statistics on Apple’s Mac product roadmap, recently took on a new situation with KGI Securities and has issued a new report representing that Apple may possibly be preparing to descent the 17-inch MacBook Pro from its lineup due to its very less demand in the market and bad sales.

leader of sales is the MacBook Pro 13 ‘, it accounts for more than half (1.6 million units) sold all of the “apple laptop” in the first quarter of 2012. Next comes a 15-inch MacBook Pro, which sells a lot worse 13-inch, but still enjoys sufficient demand in the market – sold about 500,000 units during the same period. But the 17-inch MacBook Pro is far behind and its rate of sales compared with 13 and 15 inch models quite modest – just 50,000 units for the first quarter of 2012.

Crap!


I have a Sony Vaio VGN-A290 purchased in 2004 with a 17" screen. I'm using it now cause I like the 17" screen. It's slow but never has it given me grief and still works great. I wanted to upgrade to the MBP 17" but now its gone. I guess I can get a Refurbished MBP 17" or stick with the PC, which I'll probably do, but I refuse to get a smaller screen. Heck, if I could replace the mboard and cpu on this A290 I would. I've been using this 17" screen for nine years! I understand the reason why Apple killed it. I mean...they are in it for the money.

stevenalexander said:

. I mean...they are in it for the money.

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The same could be said of any corporation.

"When LCD panel makers get better at making 'retina' display screen, and 17-inch panels start rolling off the production lines at the right price point, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Apple starts to offer 'retina' display enabled 17-inch MacBook Pro systems once again."


http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/why-apple-dumped-the-17-inch-macbook-pro/20761

stevenalexander said:

I guess I can get a Refurbished MBP 17"

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You can still get them "new" from some resellers (e.g. http://www.jigsaw24.com here in the UK, I'm sure they're not the only one) and the price has come down quite a lot.

Not the latest chipset etc. but it will still leave your 2004 Vaio eating dust, especially if you slap in a SSD. Main drawback is the lack of USB3 but, OTOH, it is the last Mac with an Expresscard slot so you could plug in a USB3 or esata card.

OTOH, the fact that resellers still have stock kinda shows why Apple may have dropped it.

Oh WHATEVER! The Ivy Bridge 15" Retina MBP's don't run anywhere NEARLY as hot as the 2011 Sandy Bridge 17" MacBook Pro's I've owned. That has less to do with Apple and more to do with Intel's design of the CPU's.

In a few months, Intel's 4th generation Core i3/i5/i7 processors (codenamed Haswell) will come out. That's when we'll see the most serious power efficiency with NO performance loss and probably even some performance gain, ever.

Then, those gorgeous laptops can be built even thinner and lighter, which I'm all for. I'd love to see the 17" MBP return at some point, but it's not as big a deal, because the 15" Retina MBP's graphics and screen scale beautifully to 1920x1200, which no 15" MBP did prior to that. In fact, it's the first notebook I've seen that looked fantastic in non-native resolution.

theluggage said:

You can still get them "new" from some resellers (e.g. http://www.jigsaw24.com here in the UK, I'm sure they're not the only one) and the price has come down quite a lot.

Not the latest chipset etc. but it will still leave your 2004 Vaio eating dust, especially if you slap in a SSD. Main drawback is the lack of USB3 but, OTOH, it is the last Mac with an Expresscard slot so you could plug in a USB3 or esata card.

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You can get a USB 3.0 express card that will work with it for about $12 shipped. I put one in my 2008 MBP and it not only do my external 3TB drive transfers now run at around 80-100MB/sec (limit of the drive in this case, although you won't get the maximum possible USB 3.0 speed, but it still wipes out the 2.0 ports) instead of 30MB/sec, but it gives me two more USB ports on the machine without a hub (although my external webcam didn't work with, my mouse and other devices appear to work fine). This is the one I got: http://www.amazon.com/GMYLE®-Expres...64154741&sr=8-5&keywords=usb+3.0+express+card

I got the drivers from the Multibeast compilation here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/236-os-x-...-adds-support-some-3rd-party-controllers.html

It was pretty simple and you can't beat the price if you already have a Mac with an express card slot and a reasonable solution IMO if someone otherwise really wants a 17" Macbook Pro.

MacBook Pro 17" is still available on the UK refurbished store for £1599. Nine months after this thread started. It seems demand wasn't too high.

How is it that these comments that are not against Apple's move have all attracted negative 'likes' counts? I thought we were only able to be positive in our voting these days on MR.

MacRumors said:

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Image


Apple appears to have quietly discontinued the 17" MacBook Pro today amid the flurry of updates and announcements at WWDC today. Apple's newly updated MacBook Pro product page mentions the new Retina Display-equipped 15" Pro, as well as the new 13" and 15" Pro's, but is silent on the 17".

The 17" PowerBook G4 was first released in January of 2003 and has received a number of updates over the years, including transitions to the Intel-equipped 17" MacBook Pro and receiving an update to the current unibody construction as well. Research analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in April that the 17" MacBook Pro would soon be discontinued due to weak sales.

Article Link: Apple Quietly Discontinues MacBook Pro 17"

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CylonGlitch said:

This seems to make sense to me. The positive point of the 17" was the higher resolution display. Now the 15.4 Retina MBP blows it out of the water; thus the right move. I never wanted a 17" because it was just too big; but I WANT this new 15 inch.

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OldSchoolMacGuy said:

They made up less than 1% of the laptop sales for Apple. They won't be missed.

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Chase R said:

Not surprising. And I don't think too many people will miss it now with the new 15" Retina MBP.

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CylonGlitch said:

For on the go, the 17" was just too big. On the desktop, plug in an external display and kick butt. I think that's the key here. This has more resolution than most external displays and thus on the go isn't lack luster at all.

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CylonGlitch said:

That space is based on the resolution of the display, not on the size of the screen. The new 15" will give MORE screen real estate than the old 17".

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Blackberryroid said:

First of all, you didn't get my sarcasm. That was supposed to be sarcasm, you know. I was against the discontinuation of the 17 Inch.

Click to expand...

chaosbunny wasn't the only one who missed the subtlety of your witticism. Why not use the sarcasm smiley to clarify your intent. Or are we expected to read your mind? (now that's sarcasm!)

Truffy said:

How is it that these comments that are not against Apple's move have all attracted negative 'likes' counts? I thought we were only able to be positive in our voting these days on MR.

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This is an older thread, from before our beloved negative vote was taken away.

That said, I use a 13 inch MacBook Pro, which is perfect for home use, but a 17 inch "portable" desktop at work. The extra screen size often comes in handy, and never bothers me because it's never on my lap.