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Apple's Last 17-Inch MacBook Pro Set to Become Obsolete
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Moreover they seem to have lost the enthusiasm for showcase tech... though maybe that is changing with the iMac Pro and new-new Mac Pro?
It's clearly the opinion of the vast majority of Apple consumers as well. If the numbers weren't so low, they'd still be selling it.
Maybe the size wasn't the problem. Maybe it was the price. There's a reason the MacBook Air, with five-year-old components, is still a better seller than the other MacBooks with more recent parts and better displays which are more expensive.
*Sigh* I never owned one, but I always been impressed by the 17" MBP.
I just sold mine at the beginning of the year, it was a workhorse for 7 solid years !
I've been reading around the web today because my 15" MBP has been crashing...a lot. Sadly I just found out from EtraCheck that my beloved mid 2010 is now vintage. And it also said it could have a major hardware issue. I'd also been seeing info about the GPU so your comment along with the other info pins down my sad journey to buy a new laptop.
I put in more memory, battery, DVD drive, SSD a couple of years ago. Anyhow, I guess I'm just looking for some folks to join me at my beloved's funeral.
Thanks for reading and your commiserations
I'm on my 3rd 17" MacBookPro. AFAIK, the perfect Apple notebook. Would like to be able to get the two previous ones repaired, I believe logic board issues.
Either way, happy to be stuck with the 17" MBP, Snow Leopard and the Adobe CS6 suite for however long it takes for Apple and Adobe to "pull their heads out".
Either way, happy to be stuck with the 17" MBP, Snow Leopard and the Adobe CS6 suite for however long it takes for Apple and Adobe to "pull their heads out".
Please go back to harassing goats trying to cross your bridge.
I had hands on with a PowerBook 17" when they were brand new, oh my god they were awesome. Way out of my price range though, with me being 12 years old or so.
I never did end up getting a 17", currently use a 15" late 2012. No graphics issues which is nice, but it never left me with the impression that the 17" did way back when. It was like the Rolls Royce of laptops, big, heavy, built like a tank, fast, quiet and very powerful.
I never did end up getting a 17", currently use a 15" late 2012. No graphics issues which is nice, but it never left me with the impression that the 17" did way back when. It was like the Rolls Royce of laptops, big, heavy, built like a tank, fast, quiet and very powerful.
"Mid-2009 17-inch MacBook Pro, which is the last 17-inch computer Apple has made" ...except my Mid-2010 one. Which now has 3TB of SSD in so I can't replace it and still keep all my stuff on it without buggering about with external drives unless I spend *at least* £5409. And then need to spend £329 for Applecare since there's no way I'd spend that and only have that short a warranty. And I need a dock so I can plug all my current stuff in and my Firewire audio interface. So that's almost £6k. That's 1.5x what my van cost. And if any main part of it dies the whole thing goes in the bin as all that SSD is on the logic board. So for sensible money an Apple laptop no longer seems an option. I may as well have a desktop or a PC laptop.
And my Late 2011 one (which had its motherboard replaced by Apple in 2017 just before they stopped servicing them).
My late 2011 MacBook Pro w/ 16GB RAM is still running like a champ. Never had to be serviced. Looks & works basically the same as the day it was purchased. Just a tad slower booting up after the last 2 major OS releases. Having the optical drive was useful but only used 1-2x per year. No SSD HD in it but 512GB is still plenty.
Too bad I didn’t wait 1 year later for the newer 2012 USB-A ports for speeder backups.
Recently picked up a “new old stock” 2017 MacBook Air from amazon. Couldn’t beat the $1070 price after sales tax. Closest I can get to my 2011 model (ports, keyboard) nowadays w/o going pre-owned.
Too bad I didn’t wait 1 year later for the newer 2012 USB-A ports for speeder backups.
Recently picked up a “new old stock” 2017 MacBook Air from amazon. Couldn’t beat the $1070 price after sales tax. Closest I can get to my 2011 model (ports, keyboard) nowadays w/o going pre-owned.
Did you guys see the new LG Gram 17?
Wow.. It breaks my heart to see what could be from Apple in this space..
https://www.windowscentral.com/lg-gram-17-handson
Wow.. It breaks my heart to see what could be from Apple in this space..
https://www.windowscentral.com/lg-gram-17-handson
I'm typing this from my early 2011 MBP. 16 GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD. Running Sierra. It's the best computer I've ever owned. I actually have a 2017 MBP as well (8 GB of RAM, 128 gig SSD -- which was a mistake). The 2011 is still a better machine today than the 2017. The 2017 has a lot of 1-3 second freezes the 2011 doesn't. The 2011 never had a repair, the 2017 had a problem under warranty where the fan would spin full-speed non-stop whenever the computer was on even in sleep mode. The 2017 is probably the worst computer I've ever owned. It's stunning how much Apple's products have turned to crap in 6 years.
That's the type of machine I've been wanting someone to build. 17", 16:10, IPS 1600p, two drive slots, long battery, 3 lbs, and very compact.
I'm trying to make do with 14.0" 16:9 but it's difficult when coming from 17" 16:10 (and my desktop displays).
Great summary also..
TWO, count 'em, TWO user accessible NVMe slots on that puppy.
Also that screen has a matte finish (man I miss that...)
I'm sorry all, but Apple flat out screws us at this point.
There doesn't really appear to be any reason for soldering everything down other than screwing us all. Others are making things just as slim and light (or more so) while still maintaining accessibility and upgradability.
As time goes on here, I'm starting to really think I need to work on getting over my tie to macOS.
My butt is really starting to hurt from Apple sticking it to me after all these years.
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In her latest video MobileTechReview's Lisa suggests there's been more of a focus on 17" laptops at CES this year as bezels shrink making footprints smaller and manufacturers generally slim down their machines - with that I think Apple now need to really rethink their notebook lineup which is currently overwhelmingly 13 inch thin and light focused. Either they should consider making the MacBook Pros in 14 and 16 inch variants, or they drop the 13" pro and offer the 15" alongside a new 17". With the iPhone they left increasing the screen size until the iPhone 5s looked comically small against it's competitors and then had their largest upgrade cycle ever once they finally gave in to market demand for larger screens with the 6... I really like the idea of 13 and 15 inch MacBook Airs and 14 and 16 inch MacBook pros as opposed to the current offering of 4 different flavours of 13" Pro/ Air plus the even titchier MacBook with the only 15 inch offering being their most expensive and powerful flagship laptop.
When you step back and view the whole picture, it really does seem like a pretty rotten deal in many respects.
When I replaced my 2010 17" MBP (though I still have it), I ended up getting a 6-week old ThinkPad with 1080p IPS display, user-replaceable SSD and RAM, all the ports I actually use, ~16 hour battery life, and an excellent keyboard... for around USD $280 (CAD $375). I know it isn't a MBP, but for considering it's about 1/5 the cost of the most basic Apple laptop, it's extremely refreshing to get so much for so little (granted it was a heck of a second-hand deal). Will probably even sell the 10-year old 17" for about that same amount, though it almost feels like a collector item as it's in fantastic condition and the 2010s don't suffer from the logic board issues. I have no love left for macOS these days, so that part wasn't difficult for me.
However, the 14" display is still tough to use with my workflow habits. 17.3" display in an ultrabook with quadcore CPU, 16 GB RAM, 1600p IPS display, two M.2 drives, and useful ports... all for about 2/3 the price as the base 15" MBP.
I'd love to see a FRESH 17" MBP. The nMBP is stellar performance wise and with the right adaptor is versatile. A 17" at the same size would greatly increase my performance.
I could potentially see a 16" MacBook pro which is the approx same size as the current 15" but the downside is it would probably have rounded corners like the new iPad pros, which would reduce the fully usable area somewhat. Worse would be if they rounded the existing 15" screen as that would eat further into usable space.
Also, the last 17" MBP was $3000. I couldn't even imagine the starting price they'd charge for a 16 or 17" now.
I'd hope they wouldn't be stupid enough to round the corners, but these days, I think you're probably right. Form over function to the extreme.
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My 2011 17 "was my main Mac until 2017 but I still use it because it is very performing and I had it equipped with 16GB and 1TB. Apple had replaced the whole motherboard for free due to the anomaly to the graphics card. I admit it is large and heavy but as a single machine it is awesome on the desk and sufficiently portable. I will use it as a second portable Mac having an iMac Pro as my main desktop solution.