17 Inch Macbook Pro

[Altis]

Its not because of lack of resources, it's because of lack of customers. They'd not make enough money on the laptop to justify it.

I'd wager it's neither of those. It's a lack of will.

They could sell enough to make it profitable. And if nothing else, it would show some dedication to the "Pro" market in a time when it's becoming questionable. Market share is good for the platform.

It's the same with the Mini and MacPro. They could easily update them with 2017 components rather than selling 2013/2014 hardware for 2017 prices, but they can't be bothered to.

 

[maflynn]

I'd wager it's neither of those. It's a lack of will.

We really won't know, but I go with the simplest explanation. If Apple was making a good profit on the laptop, they'd not kill it off. They did, and while they don't state the reasons, its clear that the 17" form factor was not in their plans.

 

[Topdogxxx]

Apple used to be the quality brand for creative people, now it is the quality brand for high class/show off people. The new 15" MBP performance is a joke compared to pc laptops, build quality though Apple still doing it right, but I wouldn't buy a piece of metal which cost a lot more than a pc and can't use it in a years. I love my 17" MBP but it is reaching its end, unfortunately I can't see myself buying a Mac unless a miracle happens to apple, get their **** together and build a bad ass MBP.

 

[Shianh]

Apple used to be the quality brand for creative people, now it is the quality brand for high class/show off people. The new 15" MBP performance is a joke compared to pc laptops, build quality though Apple still doing it right, but I wouldn't buy a piece of metal which cost a lot more than a pc and can't use it in a years. I love my 17" MBP but it is reaching its end, unfortunately I can't see myself buying a Mac unless a miracle happens to apple, get their **** together and build a bad ass MBP.

Could not have said it better myself.

 

[remmealaska]

Apple used to be the quality brand for creative people, now it is the quality brand for high class/show off people. The new 15" MBP performance is a joke compared to pc laptops, build quality though Apple still doing it right, but I wouldn't buy a piece of metal which cost a lot more than a pc and can't use it in a years. I love my 17" MBP but it is reaching its end, unfortunately I can't see myself buying a Mac unless a miracle happens to apple, get their **** together and build a bad ass MBP.

Agreed. I'm considering an iMac if they release a new one this year. My maxed out 2010 17" MBP is getting quite long in tooth, although it's still chugging along.

 

[Reality4711]

Hey, thanks for the tip!

What tip?

All I get is the Google start page?
[doublepost=1490793150][/doublepost]

Apple used to be the quality brand for creative people, now it is the quality brand for high class/show off people. The new 15" MBP performance is a joke compared to pc laptops, build quality though Apple still doing it right, but I wouldn't buy a piece of metal which cost a lot more than a pc and can't use it in a years. I love my 17" MBP but it is reaching its end, unfortunately I can't see myself buying a Mac unless a miracle happens to apple, get their **** together and build a bad ass MBP.

Could not have said it better myself.

Agreed. I'm considering an iMac if they release a new one this year. My maxed out 2010 17" MBP is getting quite long in tooth, although it's still chugging along.

What is it with this kind of response?

If it aint huge I cant create??

So no one else can - so there!

How on earth all the PC & Apple creatives do it on their <17" laptops is beyond me

 

[Moonloop]

"Its not because of lack of resources, it's because of lack of customers. They'd not make enough money on the laptop to justify it."

They'd probably sell way more 17"s than Watch Editions they just won't make as much profit . It's about time Apple had the 'courage' to listen to their customers actual requirements rather than emoji bars .

~M~

 

[Samuelsan2001]

"Its not because of lack of resources, it's because of lack of customers. They'd not make enough money on the laptop to justify it."

They'd probably sell way more 17"s than Watch Editions they just won't make as much profit . It's about time Apple had the 'courage' to listen to their customers actual requirements rather than emoji bars .

~M~

They do listen to their customers, their customers in the main are normal non tech people who wouldn't know a megabyte if it jumped up and bit them on the bum, they want cool design and slim and light, with enough performance for most uses, basically exactly what Apple make.

Despite the very vocal nature of the Mac nerds on this site they are massively in the minority for general Mac buyers.

 

[theluggage]

How on earth all the PC & Apple creatives do it on their <17" laptops is beyond me

If I'm paying Apple's premium prices for a laptop then I'm darned well entitled to a sense of entitlement! I expect my £35 Raspberry Pi, or the HP home server I got for £125, or even a £300 PC laptop, to come with compromises. If I blow the thick end of £3000 on a laptop I expect something pretty close to perfection.

Oh, yes: people are different, tasks are different and the optimum trade-off between bulk and screen size/power depends on how you use your computer. If I regularly needed to get work done on trains and planes I'd learn to make do with a 13" screen, or sync files between a desktop and laptop. However, if my computer is mainly going to "commute" between a desk at home and a desk at work then the 17" makes more sense.

The other feature of the 17" MBP is that you can replace the optical drive with a second 2.5" HD/SSD and have a laptop with 2-4TB of internal storage without having to re-mortgage your house to get a 2TB SSD.

 

[bennyf]

With Retina display resolution on all recent Apple laptops that exceeds the resolution of the best 17" model ever offered, doesn't that negate the need for an actual 17" model?

If you change the resolution in system prefs/ display to "More Space" you have quite a bit more screen real estate than you ever did on a 17" model. Downside is some might need reading glasses if your vision isn't strong.

 

[remmealaska]

I honestly don't care that they don't make the 17" anymore, but only because of the fact that I no longer need the portability. So my next machine will most likely be an iMac, just not sure if it'll be a 2015 or 2017 model.

 

[Reality4711]

If I'm paying Apple's premium prices for a laptop then I'm darned well entitled to a sense of entitlement! I expect my £35 Raspberry Pi, or the HP home server I got for £125, or even a £300 PC laptop, to come with compromises. If I blow the thick end of £3000 on a laptop I expect something pretty close to perfection.

Oh, yes: people are different, tasks are different and the optimum trade-off between bulk and screen size/power depends on how you use your computer. If I regularly needed to get work done on trains and planes I'd learn to make do with a 13" screen, or sync files between a desktop and laptop. However, if my computer is mainly going to "commute" between a desk at home and a desk at work then the 17" makes more sense.

The other feature of the 17" MBP is that you can replace the optical drive with a second 2.5" HD/SSD and have a laptop with 2-4TB of internal storage without having to re-mortgage your house to get a 2TB SSD.

Irony/humour.

Many apologies for assuming.

Next time I have a frivolous thought of whimsy I promise I will keep it to myself to protect the innocent.

 

[theluggage]

With Retina display resolution on all recent Apple laptops that exceeds the resolution of the best 17" model ever offered, doesn't that negate the need for an actual 17" model?

Wouldn't an up-to-date 17" MBP have a retina display, with its own "More Space" option?

Next time I have a frivolous thought of whimsy I promise I will keep it to myself to protect the innocent.

My mistake... there are plenty of people on this site who, quite seriously, take the "I don't need this feature, therefore nobody else needs it and should stop moaning and accept the products that Apple graciously deigns to take your money for..." line.

 

[Reality4711]

True enough.

 

[OcelotWreak]

I worry every year that the next new version of macOS will not support my 2011 17" MacBook Pro laptop. However, (knock on wooden side of head), mine takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin' with each new release. But sooner or later...

I would pay almost any amount for a new 17" model updated with latest technology and an even finer 17" screen. But alas, for all the reasons stated by others here, I know that ship sailed many years ago. And trying to install macOS on a good quality Windows PC appears (from reading the community email threads on Hacintosh install guides for HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, etc.) to be a mixed bag of kernel panics, boot screen fails, and WiFi chip replacement exercises in near futile efforts to get macOS loaded and running successfully. To the person on this thread who says their HP laptop is productively running macOS, I salute your tenacity and bravery. Personally I can't afford downtime from reliability problems, so in the future I will be forced to stick to whatever Apple deems fit for professional consumption. *sigh*

 

[bennyf]

I worry every year that the next new version of macOS will not support my 2011 17" MacBook Pro laptop. However, (knock on wooden side of head), mine takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin' with each new release. But sooner or later...

I would pay almost any amount for a new 17" model updated with latest technology and an even finer 17" screen. But alas, for all the reasons stated by others here, I know that ship sailed many years ago. And trying to install macOS on a good quality Windows PC appears (from reading the community email threads on Hacintosh install guides for HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Dell, etc.) to be a mixed bag of kernel panics, boot screen fails, and WiFi chip replacement exercises in near futile efforts to get macOS loaded and running successfully. To the person on this thread who says their HP laptop is productively running macOS, I salute your tenacity and bravery. Personally I can't afford downtime from reliability problems, so in the future I will be forced to stick to whatever Apple deems fit for professional consumption. *sigh*

There is one website out there that I won't link to because I don't know if it's kosher here, but it is a community of Hackintosh users and my reading of it was very encouraging. There were dozens of non-tech savvy users who were able to follow clear instructions to get MacOS installed various non-Apple machines. No swapping out of hardware and a rather large list of off-the-shelf supported desktop and laptop computers.

I'm with you and will just save myself the worry about whether the next update from Apple will somehow break things, but the fact remains that it appears really quite easy and reliable to setup a Hackintosh these days.

 

[Moonloop]

"
They do listen to their customers, their customers in the main are normal non tech people who wouldn't know a megabyte if it jumped up and bit them on the bum, they want cool design and slim and light, with enough performance for most uses, basically exactly what Apple make.

Despite the very vocal nature of the Mac nerds on this site they are massively in the minority for general Mac buyers. "

Normal , non tech people are probably less likely to spend the >3k euros starter price in Europe for a 15" with Touch Bar and wonderful emojis :O) Cool design and slim and light are only fine when they dont lead to smaller , less powerful battery life , no headphone sockets and cable messy add-on dongle-boards that make the laptops less enjoyable/productive to use . The thing about the Mac nerds on this site is that they already 'want' to buy an Apple laptop and have already committed to the Appleverse to some degree but without Steve Jobs' presence Apple do not inspire confidence that they actually have a long-term plan .

Look at the Mac Pro , from " can't innovate , my ass " to " can't be bothered to innovate/update for the last 4 years at all ".

~M~

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Effectively, the Retina display killed the need for a 17". Compare the 17" non-Retina resolution of 1920 x 1200 to the 15" Retina's 2880 x 1800. By dramatically boosting the desktop size of the 15", Apple reduced the market for the 17" to a substantial degree. 17" is hardly the best carry-around size, so for those with good eyesight, the 15" is both a value and portability winner.

Now, a 17" Retina would be awesome, with a huge desktop to work on. It's the same reason I have a 27" iMac, rather than a 21.5". I just don't think there's sufficient market demand.

 

[awair]

Its not because of lack of resources, it's because of lack of customers. They'd not make enough money on the laptop to justify it.

They may be missing the point: my primary device is a MBP17; but because I have that model, I also use a MBA11, the family have another couple of MBA13s, we have a Mini and iPads...

When the time comes, if the (latest) MBP15 doesn't suit (and I want a bigger screen, not better resolution), then the purchasing review for the whole family will follow my lead. I'm sure I'm not an isolated case, and it won't be a decision made lightly. But, and it's a big one, at the moment the Apple ecoSystem is convenient for us; iCloud, sharing, backup etc However, competitors (and open source) are catching up.

It's not just about losing money on one model, it's whether there is any need to have a 'loss leader', or if Apple recognise the value of the concept of 'strategic purchasers'.

 

[kiwipeso1]

There should be no reason at all stopping Apple from producing a large and highly powerful 17" MacBook Pro, they could even call it "MacBook Ultra" as in the UHD resolution & use a mobile Xeon processor.
There is no need to simply abandon a market because a designer can't think beyond slim and toylike.

 

[cflem]

I truly miss my 17"... amazing machine.

 

[gabidebaas]

dont believe that they will come up with a bigger screen size

 

[righteye]

Probably be a 17"iPad before a MBP if anything that large was ever made again. I'm writing this on a 2010 17' MBP still going strong. This is why we buy Macs, if you don't need the latest and greatest you can use them for years and years. It does need a new battery though.

 

[derohan]

Probably be a 17"iPad before a MBP if anything that large was ever made again. I'm writing this on a 2010 17' MBP still going strong. This is why we buy Macs, if you don't need the latest and greatest you can use them for years and years. It does need a new battery though.

if only the batteries in the retina models were as easy to remove...

 

[righteye]

It was a good design IMO, loads of ports, the ability to swop the drive and also make the optical drive into a second SSD/HD bay. Express card slot (which seems to have been virtually rendered useless with no one updating firmware) things move on but it has served me well.