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Apple Quietly Discontinues MacBook Pro 17"
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Agreed.
I mostly use my laptops in "desktop replacement" mode as part of a dual-screen setup. The laptop lives on a Griffin Elevator stand, alongside a second monitor, and I work on a full-sized keyboard and mouse. Most of my work colleagues have copied this setup - its very nice and combines the advantages of a desktop + 2nd screen with the option of being able to unplug and go when you need to re-locate or use the laptop on the road.
The 17" MBP works nicely in this mode, paired with a 24" 1920x1200 monitor (i.e. same res as the 17"!) - but the type on the 17" is already small at that viewing distance and you really, really wouldn't want to go down to 15.4" and keep that number of pixels.
Apple knows what it's customers need, not it's customers.
Besides, three different sizes to choose from will confuse them
and send them into a dangerous fugue state of perplexity and anxiety.
Less choice is simply best for simple folks.
I think they'll bring it back. It'd cost them nothing to keep the line going, and its a way to sell software. They just probably need to ramp up production of the high density screens and don't see the point in releasing a 17 incher with lower resolution than their iPad.
I know there's tons of shouting about Apple neglecting their high end stuff, but there's some technological points to be made here:
1. Production capabilities of high end screens is still not great and limited
2. Apple doesn't seem convinced of the benefits of Sandy Bridge over Westmere for pro computing
3. Apple needs to in general figure out its high end strategy. Say niche all you want, and say that Apple doesn't care about these guys, but one of the main reasons Apple was seen as cool was because it was seen as high quality for video. Without this, the cultural idea for Apple superiority (I'm not convinced Apple products are superior) becomes more suspect to most people.
My instinct is Apple is heavily involved with the design of Haswell. Comments from Intel indicate this.
Also Apple might be developing new graphics technologies to compete with NVIDIA due to mobile space. They might not be ready to release their own high end stuff yet.
My MBA 13" is pretty close in PPI to the 17 inch MBP (127 ppi vs 133). So yes, I've actually seen what it can look like and frankly, I still find the fonts huge at normal typing distance. Closer to 150 PPI would actually be perfect, which is what the MBP Retina offers at 1920x1200 scaled mode.
The MBA 11" is the highest PPI laptop screen Apple currently sells, at a whopping 135 PPI, hardly hear anyone whining about it.
Maybe you people just need to get out a bit more. The MBP 17" is hardly the highest resolution screen out there. It's frankly pretty middle of the road. Apple laptops have always had low to average PPI.
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Ugh, 95 PPI fischer price duplo block pixel mode.
Get your eyesight fixed people.
I really wish I could find the image of someone dressed as a zombie handing over cash
.Ugh, 95 PPI fischer price duplo block pixel mode.
Get your eyesight fixed people.
That's actually the norm for any 24" desktop display. Go ahead and find me a higher resolution one. They don't exist outside of those produced for medical imaging. It's not like you sit 6" away.
I know, and frankly I hate them all for it. I could barely stand the 24" ACD, thank god all 4 of them were bad and I eventually just got my money back (Apple has real problems getting monitors right). That's why I went with a 23" 2048x1156 with slightly higher PPI (102 PPI). It's barely tolerable as it is. Frankly, I push it back far on the desk, way farther than I can a laptop. I wish I could justify a 27" 2560x1440. 110 PPI pushed back on my desk would be much better.
The 15" MBP's 1440x900 is god awful at normal laptop distances. I can barely tolerate this MBA...
And my eyesight is darn poor at distances too.
Why, because I know this stuff ?
Didn't take me more than 3 minutes to figure out, it's not really complicated. It's also kind of useful in my line of work. Pays the bills and all.
I know, and frankly I hate them all for it. I could barely stand the 24" ACD, thank god all 4 of them were bad and I eventually just got my money back (Apple has real problems getting monitors right). That's why I went with a 23" 2048x1156 with slightly higher PPI (102 PPI). It's barely tolerable as it is. Frankly, I push it back far on the desk, way farther than I can a laptop. I wish I could justify a 27" 2560x1440. 110 PPI pushed back on my desk would be much better.
The 15" MBP's 1440x900 is god awful at normal laptop distances. I can barely tolerate this MBA...
And my eyesight is darn poor at distances too.
It's possible that I'm used to it. Being able to reduce brightness to a comfortable luminance and see smooth color tones and gradation is a much bigger deal to me. Noisy circuitry also bothers me. I always hated displays that would swim/pulsate. My eyesight isn't 100% perfect. I used to wear contacts, but they gave me a headache at the computer. I've got normal glasses for nearsightedness and mild astigmatism, then I have a much weaker prescription for the computer.
I am myopic with astigmatism in the left eye. I wear my full strength contacts/glasses all the time, 7 hours a day in front of a monitor, no issues.
I just got a pair of darn nice 1920x1080 HPs at work... Pushed them way back, they're not so bad (not 24" obviously).
What size are the HPs? I guess it affects others differently. Contacts gave me a headache in front of the computer, even when it was only for a short while. Being extremely vain I still put them in whenever I went anywhere that didn't involve work, but I hated them so I switched back to normal glasses.
I think they're actually 21", but my desk is so wide at work and I pushed them out so far, they could be 23". I know they aren't 24s, that's for sure.
I don't have the model number handy to check.
I am so fxxking sad. Been waiting for this for almost a year. My 4 years old 17" is dying, now i don't know what to do...
I use my 17" at work, i lock it in to my safe at end of day. I have meetings in my office all the time and a desktop monitor is not what i want because it will block my view.
This really sucks, worst of all is, since they did not say anything, do i wait and hope or what?!?! Or there is simply no hope i should just start looking in other laptops?
Or i should go out to buy the new 15", man this is not what i want, what a mess.....
I use my 17" at work, i lock it in to my safe at end of day. I have meetings in my office all the time and a desktop monitor is not what i want because it will block my view.
This really sucks, worst of all is, since they did not say anything, do i wait and hope or what?!?! Or there is simply no hope i should just start looking in other laptops?
Or i should go out to buy the new 15", man this is not what i want, what a mess.....
ZR2240W, 21.5" at 1920x1080. 102 PPI, same as my 23" home monitor, better than 95 PPI 24" 1920x1200 duplo block pixels.
Could be better, 110 PPI 27" monsters would be just dandy.
Me thinks something isn't right upstairs if you actually think a 13" screen is just right.
Staring at a 13" monitor when you don't have to is torture. Even my 1988 Amiga 500 had a 14" monitor (and it was taller per inch at 4:3), had a much lower resolution and still looked too darn small. The 17" MBP is just about right for a portable workstation. The 15" is fine for basic trips, but really needs docked for long term use at home (I use a 27" monitor when docked). I've been using it for portable music editing and it's usable, but not comfortable. I'm seriously thinking of buying a 17" MBP while I still can despite the lack of USB3 (which I need more on my server than a portable). It may very well be the last truly Pro Mac Apple ever made.
Stupid
I feel so stupid. I managed to find a 17", latest version, and bought it instantly. Then I tried to install Final Cut Studio on it. It refused! I tried to find an upgrade in the Apple store. Upgrades are gone!
What now? Am I stuck with an expensive toy, and the pro software is gone? Googling tells me that there's been a lot of debate about this, but I have missed everything.
And how come none of the pros in this thread has mentioned it? Why would we need pro hardware, if the pro software is gone? What has gotten into Apple? Why cancel perfectly good software, and make the software you already own impossible to install?
Adobe CS5 seems to work, but I want my DVD Studio Pro (and the rest of FCP Studio also). Anyone has anything helpful to say?
I feel so stupid. I managed to find a 17", latest version, and bought it instantly. Then I tried to install Final Cut Studio on it. It refused! I tried to find an upgrade in the Apple store. Upgrades are gone!
What now? Am I stuck with an expensive toy, and the pro software is gone? Googling tells me that there's been a lot of debate about this, but I have missed everything.
And how come none of the pros in this thread has mentioned it? Why would we need pro hardware, if the pro software is gone? What has gotten into Apple? Why cancel perfectly good software, and make the software you already own impossible to install?
Adobe CS5 seems to work, but I want my DVD Studio Pro (and the rest of FCP Studio also). Anyone has anything helpful to say?
I guess I'm going to use my 3 year old unibody until it totally fails. Hopefully by then Apple comes up with a real new pro machine, be it a RMBP 17" or a MacPro.
You need to go to an Apple Store. This is the place to find out about what Apple really thinks. The talk now is that the 17" MacBook Pro is a useless machine that they had to get rid of it to protect us.
If a new 17" was to be made later they would have done at least one of the following things. They would have come out with a new model with an optical drive, FW800, USB3, Ethernet, 1 thunderbolt port. At the very least they would have kept selling the old model of the 17" MacBook Pro. They did that with the Mac Pro. They didn't really update it, they just kept making it as they have for the past 2 years.
17" MacBook Discontinued
I guess in moving towards a more Mobil economy it would be the best move. Although going for a 13" just seems too small for me personally.
I guess in moving towards a more Mobil economy it would be the best move. Although going for a 13" just seems too small for me personally.
Assuming you actually own Final Cut Studio, did you contact Apple and present them with your problem of it not installing? A software license is not typically limited to a lifetime on a single computer (i.e. It should be transferable). My Logic Studio software (which was on DVD) installs FIRST and then asks for the license key to activate, not install. If the computer is registered to the same license owner, I don't see why it wouldn't activate on a new computer. Given how Apple constantly wants its users to upgrade to new hardware, I would have figured this would be a given, but then I have not tried to install my own Pro software on a newer Mac yet.
Of course I own it. But now I know what has happened in silence - Apple has dropped support for Final Cut Studio 2 (which is the version I have), but if I can find FCS 3 I will be good to go.
Too bad though, that Apple has discontinued FCS 3 and only sell the toy versions of their old software now, and without DVDSP, as they have chosen not to believe in any optical media. I, personally, would never store my personal files in any cloud. And what if the internet connection is down, when I need them? And I don't want to watch just the films that can be video-on-demand downloaded this week.
As a musician I have been looking for a laptop that can connect soundcards as well as harddisks and sadly this new retina Macbook is not it. It's fine that they're giving us a great new screen (still bloody glossy though!!!) but putting 2 thunderbolt connections on it is pointless as you can only buy a handful of expensive thunderbolt harddisks at present and nothing else. Why 2 when they could have provided an extra usb3? It also lacks a cd drive with optional usb external being the only option (at considerable cost!). I know most might not miss having a cd drive but I'm not yet ready to give iTunes my credit card details and Apple still to this day sells you crappy low quality files. I'm sticking with importing CD's to .aiff files! Finally if cost was a major reason the 17" model was unsuccessful, the retina Macbook Pro aint cheap either!
Hi Musician.
Here you go for all your sound card and HDD needs:http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresschassis.html
Can always get a USB 3.0 hub, like how people get USB 2.0 hubs.
Extra thunderbolt port is so you can connect all your thunderbolt accessories plus external screen.
If you like all the PORTs and optical drive, you can still buy the usual 15" mbp.
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Btw, if your songs are on iTunes I'll consider buying them after I preview them. Won't go to a physical CD store, which might not have your song on preview.