Hands-On With the 17" LG Gram and a Look at Apple's Old 17" MacBook Pro

[JTBing]

Im not hating on the 17. I still own and use one. Im hating on the author's poor writing skills, which, if you look back on their history on this site, has been complained about multiple times at this point by multiple people other than myself.

Except that you're wrong in this case. "We" is stylistically correct even if the publication is authored by only one individual. This is made more ironic by the multiple grammatical errors contained in your original correction and this post.
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That's exactly the the point at which Apple completely failed: By considering the MBA as a "cheap low end" instead of keeping its crucial importance which was obvious when Jobs introduced it, they have kept the MBA unchanged for more than a decade. When I got my MBA in 2011, I felt "this is the future". But Apple missed the point. Instead of improving the MBA, making it lighter, and increasing the display size (like LG and others have been doing), they made the smaller rMB, and they crippled the MBP, while leaving the MBA untouched, as a low end. The result of this error: MacBooks are heavier than the competitors at the same display size. Not even Microsoft could trash things more.

We would have today a 16inch MBA weighting less than this LG if Apple didn't miss the point. Yes, a expensive MBA, but MBA was not meant to be cheap: That's the point for the MB, not the MBA.
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The point for travel is not size, but weight. And the current 15'' MBP is too heavy to be comfortable at travel, while too light to be powerful as a Pro laptop. So, the point is that there should be a bigger display MB (not MBP), suitable for travel, but with a proper display size (15'' at the very least, but 16'' would be preferred).

The rMB is the perfect travel size computer. If you need a 15" screen to carry everywhere with you, then you're a special use case. The 15" MBP is nearly as good as you can get in that case. Also, you don't think the 15" MBP is powerful enough for "pro" use? What on earth do you want your laptop to do?

 

[technano]

In fact, I just bought a used 2010 MBP 17 for a good price of $300 SGD. It was a CTO with 2.66ghz and 120SSD.

My daily laptop is 15 MBP 2015. Honestly, I really like and amaze at how the 17 look and definitely like the display of the 17inch!

 

[JosephAW]

When working with two apps side by side, the 15 inch becomes too small. Some apps don’t show the entire ui. Of course you can change resolution but it get very small. I was sorry to see the 17 go, and I’ll be glad to have something similar back.

I agree. I have to use a secondary display with my mid 2012 15" MBP. Running the display in portrait mode.

 

[femike]

Currently using a matte screen 17in Dell Inspiron which is excellent. Will not go back to a 15in or a glossy screen.

Apple needs to make a 17in in 16:10, preferably matte or at least have it as an option.
Also needs to have:
2 USB C
2 USB A on one side, and 1 USB A on the other
Ethernet
HDMI
SD card slot, micro would be okay
headphone jack

 

[Hessel89]

My 17 inch MBP just died last week after 9,5 years of loyal service. Not too bad for a laptop.

 

[alphaod]

Yes I miss having a 17” MacBook Pro.

 

[Funky_Alphonzo]

“The LG Gram offers three USB-A ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro SD card slot, an HDMI port, and a USB-C port, which is a better variety of ports than we're likely to get in a future MacBook Pro”

Except... it isn’t a better variety, macbook Pro’s have thunderbolt 3 ports, providing hdmi, usb, thunderbolt... whatever is needed, when you need it.

I rather have an extra thunderbolt port instead of an hdmi port... unless the hdmi could provide a broadcast reference video signal.

 

[TrentS]

I still have my 2010 17" MacBook Pro. I dropped a 2 TB hard drive in it, and boosted the RAM as high as could go ( 8 GIG? ), and it still rocks for me. I can't do any more upgrades of the OS anymore, or I could stand the chance of rendering some of my applications inoperable, so I just stick with whatever the latest OS is.

I loathe the day when I have to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro. But I'm hoping by that time Apple will have come out with a new 17" screen again. Going back to a smaller screen will be tough.

PS - Anyone know how to change out the CPU chip in a older MacBook Pro, and install one of the latest and greatest in?!

 

[m_emelchenkov]

My 17 inch MBP just died last week after 9,5 years of loyal service. Not too bad for a laptop.

What happened? These machines are repairable.

 

[jdiamond]

17" MBP with matte screen and ports. Wow, we can only dream about it. Do it Apple!
As for the size, if Apple get rid of those large screen bezels the size would not be that much bigger than the current 15".

People that aren't power users may be fine with a 13" laptop or even an 11" laptop, but for us programmers, I find 17" is the absolute minimum that doesn't require an external display. My 2010 17" MBP was always my favorite, and I used it up until last year. When you use a modern laptop, it's easy to forget just how amazing looking into that 17" screen was - but every time I went from my 15" back to the 17", I was in heaven. When I'd bring it in to the repair shop, everyone was always oogling the screen in amazement. Mine was decked out with protective armor and weighed 8.5 pounds, so I called it the bowling ball! But I'd take a new one in a heart beat. If you're on an airplane these days, even a 15" won't work, so everything fails the coach class test.

In fact, I'd say the growing proliferation of portable external displays is a sign that many people do indeed need larger screened laptops, despite what you see people saying on this thread.

 

[Hessel89]

What happened? These machines are repairable.

honestly it was my own fault. spilled coffee on it. but I doubt it's even worth it to get it repaired.

 

[DanBig]

Sorry for being the hold out I still need USB-A ports!!

I'm not going to carry a ton of dongles into the field, nor am I going to use a fangled hub device either. I've had too many failures and forgotten them. I had a 2016 Touch Bar and within 3 mouths got rid of it!

Real Pro's require: 2 USB-A ports plus the current four USB-C ports. The back two USB-C ports need to be recessed so a MagSafe power plug can be used (L&R) so its flush with the case and has a charging LED on it. I shouldn't be forced to always launch the OS just to see if the battery is being charged or has been topped off (back to the Amber/Green LED please).

Still want SC card support and also important - Ethernet!

A MacBook Pro is for Pro's give us the ports back! And make it better! Go back to the older keyboard, make is so its serviceable RAM & has extended storage options internally beyond the T2 storage

 

[BGPL]

I had a 17" MBP for years, and loved it. It was a portable desktop, but flying coach and whipping that thing out was like.. here whatever I'm doing or watching, you can too. Now I'm all 13" MBP...

 

[kingax1]

“The LG Gram offers three USB-A ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro SD card slot, an HDMI port, and a USB-C port, which is a better variety of ports than we're likely to get in a future MacBook Pro”

Except... it isn’t a better variety, macbook Pro’s have thunderbolt 3 ports, providing hdmi, usb, thunderbolt... whatever is needed, when you need it.

I rather have an extra thunderbolt port instead of an hdmi port... unless the hdmi could provide a broadcast reference video signal.

A MicroSD slot would have been an incredible edition to the Pro though for quick and easy expansion of storage. I think Apple wants to clamp users to expansive in house upgrades.

 

[Vjosullivan]

In fact, I just bought a used 2010 MBP 17 for a good price of $300 SGD. It was a CTO with 2.66ghz and 120SSD.

My daily laptop is 15 MBP 2015. Honestly, I really like and amaze at how the 17 look and definitely like the display of the 17inch!

Love mine, too; but it can't run Mojave* and it can't really cope with my new camera's 45Mb raw files in Photoshop, so I'm finally looking to replace it.

It's been all over the world with me in a backpack with an SLR and sizable lenses. Lighter is welcome but weight just isn't the issue that some make it out to be.

*I’ve heard it can be frigged to run Mojave but without any dedicated graphics processing.

 

[Lesser Evets]

I purchased my first MacBook Pro in August as a replacement/portable solution to a 2012 Mini, and I love it.

It's 13" and that is plenty! I wouldn't want the 15" or larger. That's just my opinion.

POWERFUL! It works well on the road and shines when hooked up to my 21:9 LG monitor at home. Don't want other ports either: 4 USB-C ports are plenty and I never want to go back to USB-OLD. Thunderbolt/USB-C is the true future.

What the MacBook Pro needs is MORE STORAGE and MORE MEMORY--CHEAPER! Apple's prices for upgrading storage are insane, and external M.2 drives are a pain.

 

[Fmello]

I still use my 17" Macbook Pro daily. If Apple made a new laptop that had the physical dimensions of my 17-incher, it could probably have room for an 18" screen with the thin bezels. Since nobody uses the Superdrive anymore, all that space could be freed up for a bigger battery or beefier GPU or more powerful cooling system. I've owned my laptop since 2010. I don't think I've every had it on my lap. It's either been on my desk at home or on a table at a client's house. It's always plugged in. I never thought the weight was a big deal when carrying my laptop to a client's location but then again, portability was always second on my list compared to power.

It would be awesome if Apple would make it a true desktop replacement.

 

[2ilent8cho]

honestly it was my own fault. spilled coffee on it. but I doubt it's even worth it to get it repaired.

Take the logic board out of the Macbook put it in the dishwasher to remove all the coffee then leave to dry for a few days then connect everything back up. We have saved over 5 Macbooks at work from pop/soda or coffee damage this way. (and fire damaged PCs from smoke 20 years ago too).

 

[ignatius345]

If you need a 15" screen to carry everywhere with you, then you're a special use case. The 15" MBP is nearly as good as you can get in that case. Also, you don't think the 15" MBP is powerful enough for "pro" use? What on earth do you want your laptop to do?

I don’t need a large-screen laptop either, but I’m also not gonna tell someone else they don’t need one. I’ve got a 27” iMac on my desk and use a laptop as a little satellite to that — but not everyone works the same way. Some people travel a lot and need a portable pro workstation to do (say) video editing or whatever. So they buy a big Mac laptop and I keep using a small one. What’s the big deal?

There are lots of products in the marketplace that I have absolutely no use for and don’t have to buy. That’s the miracle of capitalism.

 

[Kabeyun]

Hey, I have an idea. The Newton MessagePad and the iPhone XS have similar screen diagonals (5.8” and 5.9”). Let’s compare those, too!

 

[Haust]

My 2011 17 MBP died from the video card issue. Now, I have a 17 Alienware R5, which I actually carry around from time to time. Otherwise, I have a 13 inch MBP. The next one I buy will be bigger than 13, but less then 17. 16 would be perfect for me.

 

[nt5672]

I can see why a lot of people don't need 17 inch laptop, but certain mobile professions do. Every one of the people I work with have them. Today, they are all Windows except my old Mac that is just barely keeping up. When you don't have an office and don't work from home, but need a powerful computer (that does more than email, tweet, reddit, and play youtube videos) to work at a clients site 40+ hrs/week a 12 or 15 inch laptop just does not make it.

 

[asiga]

The rMB is the perfect travel size computer.

That's not true. My ultralight bag can carry either a rMB, a MBA, or a 15''MBP. Train and airplane tables on seats are big enough for a 15''. The problem is not the size, but the weight: When I carry my 2018 15''MBP I notice its weight a lot. When I carry the MBA, it's closer to feeling that the bag is empty.

If you need a 15" screen to carry everywhere with you, then you're a special use case.

So, are you arguing that the LG Gram is targeted at special use cases? If that was the case, it would have not been in the market for years, it would have failed in the same quarter of its release.

The 15" MBP is nearly as good as you can get in that case. Also, you don't think the 15" MBP is powerful enough for "pro" use? What on earth do you want your laptop to do?

What I'm saying is that trying to make the MBP more MBA-like is a mistake, because you need to cripple features (they weren't able to offer 32GB RAM just until recently --yes my 2018 MBP has 32GB RAM, and yes, I use more than 20GB daily). Also they need to throttle the CPU just because of making the MBP slim. And, despite of this, it's still heavy to carry for travel on a daily basis.

So, what Apple should have done instead is to improve the MBA (bigger screen, lighter weight), and focus the MBP on performance. LG is doing with the Gram what Apple should be doing with the MBA.

 

[baypharm]

I will definitely pick up one of the new LG 17” laptops. Nothing beats large scale screen real estate for video editing and graphics work. Might be time to retire my Surface Laptop.
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“The LG Gram offers three USB-A ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro SD card slot, an HDMI port, and a USB-C port, which is a better variety of ports than we're likely to get in a future MacBook Pro”

Except... it isn’t a better variety, macbook Pro’s have thunderbolt 3 ports, providing hdmi, usb, thunderbolt... whatever is needed, when you need it.

I rather have an extra thunderbolt port instead of an hdmi port... unless the hdmi could provide a broadcast reference video signal.

Except...Apple no longer produces a 17” laptop.

 

[Old-faithful]

Yup, still using a 2011 17” MBP for basic stuff and would love a replacement. With the Apple of 2019 the issue for me aren’t particularly the specs it’s the almost inevitable fact that Apple will make it cripplingly expensive to the point I take a pass.