MacBook Pro 17" line

[John Morrow]

I don't really want to get 2011 refurbished model because of problems with SATA 3 in optical bay and no USB 3 ports but If I knew for sure that they won't release MBP 17" then I want to buy 2011 refurbished 17 " model because for me it's better that 15" retina.

By the way, you should confirm that your assumptions about SATA in the optical bay are true. I'm finding evidence that the late 2011 17" MacBook Pro has full SATA III 6Gbps speeds in the optical bay. For example, see:

http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2011/12/1_Late_2011_Macbook_Pro.html

You should, of course, confirm this yourself, but it sounds like a Late-2011 17" MacBook Pro, which you can still buy new if you want, may give you exactly what you are looking for if you are willing to swap out the hard drives and get an ExpressCard/34 that has USB 3 ports on it.

 

[mactoday]

By the way, you should confirm that your assumptions about SATA in the optical bay are true. I'm finding evidence that the late 2011 17" MacBook Pro has full SATA III 6Gbps speeds in the optical bay. For example, see:

http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2011/12/1_Late_2011_Macbook_Pro.html

You should, of course, confirm this yourself, but it sounds like a Late-2011 17" MacBook Pro, which you can still buy new if you want, may give you exactly what you are looking for if you are willing to swap out the hard drives and get an ExpressCard/34 that has USB 3 ports on it.

This is interesting article, I wrote to the author but he use Hard Drive in optical bay and the speed of HD is just under 1,5Gbit/sec. I asked him about SSD in optical bay, waiting his answer because OWC support persons told me that this model is not compatible with SATA 3 SSD in optical bay.

----------

If you can live with your SATA 3 optical bay problem (as others have pointed out, you can get a 2-port USB3 ExpressCard/34 to solve that problem), MacMall has a blowout sale on their remaining stock of new 17" MacBook Pros, including the high-end anti-glare late-2011 model for (as of when I'm posting this -- I don't know how long this sale will last) $2,199.99 with a mail-in rebate and with over 1000 listed as being in stock. That's about $650 off their non-sale price.

Listed specs are:

Apple 17" MacBook Pro quad-core Intel Core i7 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM, 750GB 7200-rpm Hard Drive, Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6770M, SuperDrive, Thunderbolt port, Aluminum unibody, Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen Display (MD386LL/A)

http://www.macmall.com/n/MacBook-Pr...SEMGMACBKPRO&gclid=CK6kqr6b67MCFQqk4Aod0QIA1w

I've had reasonably good luck with MacMall and ordered one of these myself but I haven't gotten mine yet and your mileage may vary so please check into things yourself before ordering.

And for whatever it's worth, from what I've read, low sales were part of what killed the 17" MacBook Pro, so it's probably not a good idea to wait for a new 17" model.

Apple store sale refurbished MBP 17" the same model for 2159+tax, MacMall charge tax as well, I'll get from Apple. http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0NG3LL/A

 

[John Morrow]

This is interesting article, I wrote to the author but he use Hard Drive in optical bay and the speed of HD is just under 1,5Gbit/sec. I asked him about SSD in optical bay, waiting his answer because OWC support persons told me that this model is not compatible with SATA 3 SSD in optical bay.

What made me look is that the Mactracker database shows the Early-2011 17" MacBook Pro as:

Hard Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)
Optical Drive Interface 3.0 or 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)

It shows the Late-2011 17" MacBook Pro as:

Hard Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)
Optical Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)

On the other hand, this is what I assume you are talking about:

http://blog.macsales.com/12410-apple’s-latest-2011-macbook-pro-refresh-using-sata-3-0-6gbs-drives

So it seems your concerns are warranted and that you would probably be better off with a 3 Gbps drive there.

Apple store sale refurbished MBP 17" the same model for 2159+tax, MacMall charge tax as well, I'll get from Apple. http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0NG3LL/A

Personally, I consider "new" worth an extra $40.99 (plus the tax on the $40.99), but I understand that you might feel differently. And it probably also doesn't matter to you if you are going to put in SSD drives, but the MacMall one claims it has a 7,200 RPM drive rather than a 5,400 RPM drive, which might justify the extra money for someone like myself looking to keep the HD that it comes with.

I haven't gotten it yet but plan on putting 16GB of memory into it. While Apple claims an 8GB max, there are a lot of people saying it works fine with 16GB. Overall, it looks like a very nice machine and I can't wait to get mine (I currently have a 15" 2006 MacBook Pro, so this will be a big step up for me). I also hope to be able to boot it into Snow Leopard to run some legacy applications, which also seems possible, since the Late-2011 MacBook Pro has the same Sandy Bridge architecture as the Early-2011 MacBook Pros that shipped with Snow Leopard.

 

[mactoday]

What made me look is that the Mactracker database shows the Early-2011 17" MacBook Pro as:

Hard Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)
Optical Drive Interface 3.0 or 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)

It shows the Late-2011 17" MacBook Pro as:

Hard Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)
Optical Drive Interface 6.0 Gbps Serial ATA (SATA)

On the other hand, this is what I assume you are talking about:

http://blog.macsales.com/12410-apple’s-latest-2011-macbook-pro-refresh-using-sata-3-0-6gbs-drives

So it seems your concerns are warranted and that you would probably be better off with a 3 Gbps drive there.



Personally, I consider "new" worth an extra $40.99 (plus the tax on the $40.99), but I understand that you might feel differently. And it probably also doesn't matter to you if you are going to put in SSD drives, but the MacMall one claims it has a 7,200 RPM drive rather than a 5,400 RPM drive, which might justify the extra money for someone like myself looking to keep the HD that it comes with.

I haven't gotten it yet but plan on putting 16GB of memory into it. While Apple claims an 8GB max, there are a lot of people saying it works fine with 16GB. Overall, it looks like a very nice machine and I can't wait to get mine (I currently have a 15" 2006 MacBook Pro, so this will be a big step up for me). I also hope to be able to boot it into Snow Leopard to run some legacy applications, which also seems possible, since the Late-2011 MacBook Pro has the same Sandy Bridge architecture as the Early-2011 MacBook Pros that shipped with Snow Leopard.

Looks like optibay from MCE should work fine with SATA 3 MBP 17" late 2011 models. I always get refurbished macs because most of the time Apple fix major problems on them, I even had MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2008 model 2.8Ghz 15.4" that supported 8 Gb of RAM without any problems because of custom motherboard installed by Apple from 2009 model as far as I understood later on. So, I'll keep my fingers cross, maybe there is more advanced motherboard. At least I know that 1600Mhz RAM work fine on the full speed in late 2011 17" model. So, the performance of the 2.5Ghz model won't be much different from current generation MBP 15.4".

 

[vpro]

indeed

my 17" MBP is blazing fast, smooth, cool and silent beast, 11.2 second boot up etc etc etc...

 

[sauria]

my 17" MBP is blazing fast, smooth, cool and silent beast, 11.2 second boot up etc etc etc...

Great! Is that booting from a sata3 attached as the main drive?

 

[saturnotaku]

If the late-2011 MBP 17 is anything like my 2011 15-inch, a SATA 6 Gb/s drive will work with no problem in the optical bay. I use a 500 GB Samsung 840 SSD as a storage drive for games in Windows, and the performance is right in line with what you'd expect - 450+ MB/s reads/350+ MB/s writes.

 

[sauria]

If the late-2011 MBP 17 is anything like my 2011 15-inch, a SATA 6 Gb/s drive will work with no problem in the optical bay. I use a 500 GB Samsung 840 SSD as a storage drive for games in Windows, and the performance is right in line with what you'd expect - 450+ MB/s reads/350+ MB/s writes.

Thanks, is your boot drive SATA 3?

 

[saturnotaku]

Thanks, is your boot drive SATA 3?

Yes.

 

[sauria]

Yes.

Thanks

 

[vpro]

soo....?

Here is the actual resolution of Finder icon, in Safari you have to zoom in to see actual pixels. I would prefer to see first image that last one.
Image
Here what you see on the retina
Image

You're far sighted? Makes sense why you would wanna blow up your images then.

^_^

 

[Skullbussa]

I am all in favor of Retina displays provided the laptop has the GPU to power it.

The 15" rMBP model out now simply does not have the horsepower to drive the display.

The effective resolution of the 15 inch model simply cannot compete against the discontinued 17's 1900x1200 resolution. The 17 was a pro-level device whereas the rMBP (which is the finest 15" laptop on sale today, IMHO) is really just a mainstream consumer device.

Apple sacrificed power and functionality for the sake of slimming down a device which did not need slimming down. PC laptops are catching up. The new Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptops are thinner than the MacBook Pro, have a stunning build quality nearly equal to Apple's, and are far far more powerful. For half the price. And no, Samsung did not get caught up in PPI/retina wars and offer a brilliant glossy display in 1920x1080 because Samsung knows that consumers could care less about retina displays.

 

[jozeppy26]

I am all in favor of Retina displays provided the laptop has the GPU to power it.

The 15" rMBP model out now simply does not have the horsepower to drive the display.

The effective resolution of the 15 inch model simply cannot compete against the discontinued 17's 1900x1200 resolution. The 17 was a pro-level device whereas the rMBP (which is the finest 15" laptop on sale today, IMHO) is really just a mainstream consumer device.

Apple sacrificed power and functionality for the sake of slimming down a device which did not need slimming down. PC laptops are catching up. The new Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptops are thinner than the MacBook Pro, have a stunning build quality nearly equal to Apple's, and are far far more powerful. For half the price. And no, Samsung did not get caught up in PPI/retina wars and offer a brilliant glossy display in 1920x1080 because Samsung knows that consumers could care less about retina displays.

Well I've never had an issue with my retina display and the nvidia graphics, but I don't play video games. Also, I disagree with your dismissal of the slim factor. The rMBP's are nearly MacBook Air portable now. Maybe I have tiny forearms, but I never would have held my 2009 cMBP with one hand from the front corner to show someone something like I do on my rMBP 15". And Samsung can do what they want, but anyone who has used a rMBP finds a 40ppi laptop screen unbearable to look at, read from, etc.

 

[BJNY]

What's the likelihood Apple will offer a larger tablet like this Dell 18" or Panasonic 20" if 17" MBP is truly discontinued?

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50353/dell-xps-18-desktop-pc-tablet-pictures-and-hands-on

 

[Queen6]

Well I've never had an issue with my retina display and the nvidia graphics, but I don't play video games. Also, I disagree with your dismissal of the slim factor. The rMBP's are nearly MacBook Air portable now. Maybe I have tiny forearms, but I never would have held my 2009 cMBP with one hand from the front corner to show someone something like I do on my rMBP 15". And Samsung can do what they want, but anyone who has used a rMBP finds a 40ppi laptop screen unbearable to look at, read from, etc.

Same here, my own 2.3 Retina still impresses with it`s performance and display and it has never missed a beat. All the same their is obviously many who have a very differing experience; OS stuttering, SMC bug resulting in massive GPU down clock, wireless issues, it`s almost like people are describing a totally different machine, as my own Retina has been fantastic straight out of the box, it even manages to play The Witcher 2 on pretty much high settings which is no mean feat given the load on the GPU.

 

[vpro]

hmmm

Apple trends: Phones are getting bigger and bigger, tablets are smaller and smaller, notebooks + desktops thinner and thinner.


I predict eventual extinction to the Air line, they were in competition with the 'ultra books / net books' (those are no where to be found now), so it will only be the MBPs, when this happens and they are still improving on the retina technology, why wouldn't they re-introduce their 17" monster?

I'd say it is in their best business interest to serve the prosumers again once they have the kids + scenesters all distracted with Apple fad gadgets etc, Apple can then focus their real work back on track for the pros out there who look good already doing what they do, they don't need to have something with them to appear like they look good, know what I mean jelly beans?

17 inch MacBook Pro, see how good that rolls off the tongue? Delish...

 

[saturnotaku]

I'd say it is in their best business interest to serve the prosumers again once they have the kids + scenesters all distracted with Apple fad gadgets etc, Apple can then focus their real work back on track for the pros out there who look good already doing what they do, they don't need to have something with them to appear like they look good, know what I mean jelly beans?

17 inch MacBook Pro, see how good that rolls off the tongue? Delish...

So, maintain cash flow and profitability by shrinking your customer pool.

Someone tell Tim Cook to sign this guy up.

 

[Queen6]

Apple trends: Phones are getting bigger and bigger, tablets are smaller and smaller, notebooks + desktops thinner and thinner.


I predict eventual extinction to the Air line, they were in competition with the 'ultra books / net books' (those are no where to be found now), so it will only be the MBPs, when this happens and they are still improving on the retina technology, why wouldn't they re-introduce their 17" monster?

I'd say it is in their best business interest to serve the prosumers again once they have the kids + scenesters all distracted with Apple fad gadgets etc, Apple can then focus their real work back on track for the pros out there who look good already doing what they do, they don't need to have something with them to appear like they look good, know what I mean jelly beans?

17 inch MacBook Pro, see how good that rolls off the tongue? Delish...

Unlikely Apple roll where the $$$ are, toy`s and gadgets very true, equally it`s their core business now and they serve the stockholder. As for the serious user we are well off the radar, our numbers are simply too few. Apple`s focus is clearly on IOS and the hardware running it, Mac`s are gaining traction in the market, however nothing like IOS devices.

As for the 17" same as previous, it was a fringe product and will not move enough numbers to be deemed profitable, like it or not Apple is not in the business to please the minority those days are long gone...

 

[Mr MM]

Apple trends: Phones are getting bigger and bigger, tablets are smaller and smaller, notebooks + desktops thinner and thinner.


I predict eventual extinction to the Air line, they were in competition with the 'ultra books / net books' (those are no where to be found now), so it will only be the MBPs, when this happens and they are still improving on the retina technology, why wouldn't they re-introduce their 17" monster?

I'd say it is in their best business interest to serve the prosumers again once they have the kids + scenesters all distracted with Apple fad gadgets etc, Apple can then focus their real work back on track for the pros out there who look good already doing what they do, they don't need to have something with them to appear like they look good, know what I mean jelly beans?

17 inch MacBook Pro, see how good that rolls off the tongue? Delish...

apple should make a real workstation, not what was the mbp 17, but a real one, pro gpus, abundant ram (32gb+) and so forth

 

[Queen6]

apple should make a real workstation, not what was the mbp 17, but a real one, pro gpus, abundant ram (32gb+) and so forth

I wish, the old 17", never really differentiated enough from the 15" just an upscaled version. Apple has without any doubt the ability to bring a truly portable Workstation to market, equally iPhone 6 is the next money maker, so i personally have low expectations on the professional front. Apple will likely update and retain the Mac Pro for kudos if nothing else...

Realistically if the portable consumer product meets the professionals need fine, if not Apple is no longer the place to look, it`s obvious to all.

 

[Mr MM]

I wish, the old 17", never really differentiated enough from the 15" just an upscaled version. Apple has without any doubt the ability to bring a truly portable Workstation to market, equally iPhone 6 is the next money maker, so i personally have low expectations on the professional front. Apple will likely update and retain the Mac Pro for kudos if nothing else...

Realistically if the portable consumer product meets the professionals need fine, if not Apple is no longer the place to look, it`s obvious to all.

the main difference between the 15 and 17 was the screen and the added size/weight/price, simple as that. it was a good screen though

 

[yusukeaoki]

Looks like optibay from MCE should work fine with SATA 3 MBP 17" late 2011 models. I always get refurbished macs because most of the time Apple fix major problems on them, I even had MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2008 model 2.8Ghz 15.4" that supported 8 Gb of RAM without any problems because of custom motherboard installed by Apple from 2009 model as far as I understood later on. So, I'll keep my fingers cross, maybe there is more advanced motherboard. At least I know that 1600Mhz RAM work fine on the full speed in late 2011 17" model. So, the performance of the 2.5Ghz model won't be much different from current generation MBP 15.4".

Ive got the early 2011 MBP and its amazingly fast.
Just throw in a SSD and optibay and you are good to go.
Optibay is SATAII and it works flawless.
If space is an issue, get a 1TB HDD like me.
If you want fast data transfer, get 512GB SSD.
The 2011 models can handle up to 32GB DDR3 but no such RAM exist yet.

 

[pedrofan]

I want SATA 3 RAID 0 with 2x512Gb SSD, but 2011 model doesn't support SATA 3 in the optical bay.

You are not right with this.

There were two generations of 2011 macbook pros.

The ones with AMD 6750m GPUs and the ones with 6770m GPUs.
Only the early models with the 6750m GPU had only one Sata3 port for the HDD and a sata 2 port for the optical drive.
It was because they were selling the early and faulty sandy bridge processors that had a problem with sata3 channels

(they only enabled one sata 3 port, because the others were faulty, and instead of returning all of the chips to intel and delaying the delivery of the firsts orders, they decided to sell them with only one sata 3 port enabled. And they were right, because they only needed one. They don't sell macbook pros for raid).

So: The half of 6750m models and all of the 6770 models have two sata 3 ports, so you can make a 1tb/s+ raid array with two SSDs on two sata 3 ports with an optibay adapter.

 

[vpro]

Thanks for the recommendation bro!

So, maintain cash flow and profitability by shrinking your customer pool.

Someone tell Tim Cook to sign this guy up.

Well I'm a gal... Anyways. Yes, Apple makes more than enough from impressing the trend followers with their iPhones and ipad minis, etc etc, with all the excess money left over - they should develop the heck out of a retina 17" mbp with even more powerful innards than ever. Apple can and has given a lot to their niche prosumer market, these machines are gourmet and not anyone should be able to afford one. I vote with my money and I expect the utmost BEST of the BEST from Apple at all times. I demand it with my cash in hand at the stores when I pick up my built to order machines. I love the envious attention I receive. (Just kidding)...

^_^

 

[MrGimper]

You are not right with this.

There were two generations of 2011 macbook pros.

The ones with AMD 6750m GPUs and the ones with 6770m GPUs.
Only the early models with the 6750m GPU had only one Sata3 port for the HDD and a sata 2 port for the optical drive.
It was because they were selling the early and faulty sandy bridge processors that had a problem with sata3 channels

(they only enabled one sata 3 port, because the others were faulty, and instead of returning all of the chips to intel and delaying the delivery of the firsts orders, they decided to sell them with only one sata 3 port enabled. And they were right, because they only needed one. They don't sell macbook pros for raid).

So: The half of 6750m models and all of the 6770 models have two sata 3 ports, so you can make a 1tb/s+ raid array with two SSDs on two sata 3 ports with an optibay adapter.

This interests me.....

I have an Early 2011 MBP 15" i7 2.2 with the 1GB 6750m. How can I tell if it has SATA III on the optical bay interface?