BikerDocR6 said:
after much hair-pulling dilemma skipping back & forth b/w the 15" and the 17", i finally decided that the 17" would indeed be ok to carry around as well as serve as a desktop replacement. but before i march over, any issues i should know about with this machine?
I bought the 17" MBP very shortly after release. Mine has started to change shape slightly. There's a droop on one side, and the screen has began to assume a very minor U profile. I pooh-poohed a similar post not so long ago, but now it's happened to me I'm a little concerned. Not a major issue, but not something I expected.
The weight is noticeable. I was debating the pros and cons of the 15" or the 17" myself, but since I expected to be stationary with the MBP for the vast majority of time I opted for the 17" as a desktop replacement. On the occasions that I have carried it, it has been pretty weighty. I would hate to carry that every day. The difference between the MBP17 and the Macbook which I also use (and carry far more often) is apparently only something like 700g but you do really notice that extra weight. The difference between the MBP17 and the MBP15 is like 500g, so I would imagine you would notice that too.
The heat is also an issue, especially in summer. The strip on top of the keyboard gets to burn-capable temperatures of in excess of 50C+, and the bottom is in the sustained-exposure low-temperature burn range that people who wear stick-on 'hot packs' can experience. (I doubt however that people will remain with their MBP's glued to their laps for 6+ hours). As an example, I run Handbrake on the MBP sitting on a wooden desk. After it finished I took the laptop off the desk. About a minute later I measured the desk's temp after it had time to cool down and it was still 40C. For the most part I had the MBP sat on an iCurve with a fan going behind it, so it was always frosty - but when I turned the fan off, case temps would rocket. I may hate my comparatively clunky, almost identically-configured Dell 9400 in comparison to the MBP as machine but I can tell you that in no situation I've felt that I cannot 'lap' it for heat reasons.
For some reason, I've had two power bricks die on the trot. And in this case, unless you have an Apple store handy you can expect to be out of action for the better part of 4 days while Apple sends you a new one. To replace it this way they'll take your credit card details and once in my case, charge it despite the fact that they have the faulty unit.
Apart from that, it's been a beautiful machine. There are definite reservations over the build quality, but this is definitely one of the - if not the - most productive laptops I've ever owned. It is svelte and although heavy is nominally portable, the screen is large and everything works so smoothly.