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Well it leaves me with a decision to make...The 17" is gone.:mad:..I'm not surprised, I guess it just doesn't sell in high enough numbers, and imagine what the price of a retina 17" would have cost.....But... My MBP 17" is eight months old, do I sell it now, or hold onto it as a future sale down the line?

I wasn't planning on updating this year, but if I'm not going to get a 17" that 15" retina is worth a hands on look at least.
 
You know, for a community of people who like a small-minority product, Mac users sure are quick to shower scorn on people who like something they don't.

I really liked the 17" laptop. I don't remember exactly how many 17" MBPs I've had, but more than I've ever had smaller ones. It was the only model with a reasonable supply of ports. :)

Macs? A minority product? Pardon me, but at my university, over 70% of the student population owns a Mac. I'm sometimes the only PC in the room (with my raven-black Thinkpad).

And I've never seen anyone carry anything bigger than a 15-inch MacBook Pro on campus if they own a Mac.
 
Apple always leave the 17" till last. If I remember correctly when they jumped from the PowerBook we got the 17" Pro after the 15.4" model had been out a while. The same sort of delay happened when they announced the Unibody models.

The 17" model is far from dead. I would expect it to be in the same vein as the Retina MacBook Pro though.

You can't even buy A 17" on the store. At all.

At least last time, Apple said "the 17 inch is coming soon" while they sold the previous gen.
 
Didn't some analyst say that only 1% of MacBook Pro purchases were for the 17-inch model?

Apple has done its research. Consumers don't like huge laptops.

No consumers don't like 2500 dollar laptops especially when they charge a 500 dollar premium for the larger screen and none the other specs are changed and they don't have number pads. 16 and 17 inch laptops for other manufacturers sell very well.
 
You can't even buy A 17" on the store. At all.

At least last time, Apple said "the 17 inch is coming soon" while they sold the previous gen.
Tim Cook said Apple is doubling down on secrecy.

I assume Apple also doesn't want to deal with a bunch of returns because the existing 17" doesn't have USB3 or whatever and the buyer didn't read the site carefully enough.

I'll believe they won't make any more 17" when November rolls around and they have not announced one.
 
Tim Cook said Apple is doubling down on secrecy.

I assume Apple also doesn't want to deal with a bunch of returns because the existing 17" doesn't have USB3 or whatever and the buyer didn't read the site carefully enough.

I'll believe they won't make any more 17" when November rolls around and they have not announced one.

Just in time for Christmas??
 
Macs? A minority product?

In the computer market as a whole? Yes. (Around 6-7 percent worldwide, maybe 15% in the US.)

And I've never seen anyone carry anything bigger than a 15-inch MacBook Pro on campus if they own a Mac.

And your recollection of what you've seen people carrying around is an absolutely and totally exact representation of the general population, I'm sure.

Basically, point is: The worst thing about these forums is apple fans berating people for wanting anything that isn't exactly what Apple has chosen to ship. Knock it off. People can love Apple's products, but have desires that don't always align with Apple's product differentiation strategy. Being a jerk to them doesn't make Apple more successful, it just reminds people that the worst part of being a Mac user is all the Mac users. :p
 
No consumers don't like 2500 dollar laptops especially when they charge a 500 dollar premium for the larger screen and none the other specs are changed and they don't have number pads. 16 and 17 inch laptops for other manufacturers sell very well.

Yeah, most consumers wouldn't like that price, but what about developers? I want all the screen real estate I can get to keep tools up and easily visible, for testing, etc. Now Apple is saying - in their typically arrogant way - you don't need/want a 17" machine, you need/want what WE SAY YOU WANT. Of course, I know the fanboys will slam me for this, since Apple does no wrong, but Apple should get over Steve's hatred of keys and add a dedicated numeric key pad, dedicated PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, arrow keys, etc. like I'm used to and NEED for quicker typing, navigation, etc. But, again, Steve hated keys and didn't want to upset the design - which we know comes way before functionality at Apple - and so it's "work our way or buy something else." Guess what, I bought something else.

I was actually one of the best switcher candidates around - had an Apple IIe, Mac SE, loved Apple, but had to work in the world where 90%+ of computers were Windows-based. It should have been easy to keep me once I switched (and I did with a 17" MBP), but Win7 was good - better than Snow Leopard IMHO - and Apple was complacent. Now they have killed the machine I might have purchased to give them another go (since I like some of the new features and Win8 is looking like it's going to be a bomb). They're good in a lot of ways, but stupid (and arrogant) in a lot of ways, too.
 
I think you guys are reacting prematurely.

Apple always leave the 17" till last. If I remember correctly when they jumped from the PowerBook we got the 17" Pro after the 15.4" model had been out a while. The same sort of delay happened when they announced the Unibody models.

The 17" model is far from dead. I would expect it to be in the same vein as the Retina MacBook Pro though.

i would normally agree with you but the existing one isnt on the store... :(
 
Yeah, most consumers wouldn't like that price, but what about developers? I want all the screen real estate I can get to keep tools up and easily visible, for testing, etc. Now Apple is saying - in their typically arrogant way - you don't need/want a 17" machine, you need/want what WE SAY YOU WANT. Of course, I know the fanboys will slam me for this, since Apple does no wrong, but Apple should get over Steve's hatred of keys and add a dedicated numeric key pad, dedicated PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, arrow keys, etc. like I'm used to and NEED for quicker typing, navigation, etc. But, again, Steve hated keys and didn't want to upset the design - which we know comes way before functionality at Apple - and so it's "work our way or buy something else." Guess what, I bought something else.

I was actually one of the best switcher candidates around - had an Apple IIe, Mac SE, loved Apple, but had to work in the world where 90%+ of computers were Windows-based. It should have been easy to keep me once I switched (and I did with a 17" MBP), but Win7 was good - better than Snow Leopard IMHO - and Apple was complacent. Now they have killed the machine I might have purchased to give them another go (since I like some of the new features and Win8 is looking like it's going to be a bomb). They're good in a lot of ways, but stupid (and arrogant) in a lot of ways, too.

Yes. Totally agree.

If the 17" IS in fact axed, I will probably end up buying a non retina 15" and upgrading the heck out of it... I will wait for a 17" or retina display MK II. 768gb of flash is too small for me, and the retina ,while awesome, Im sure, I can live without.
 
I need the 17" for screen real estate. I am really about ready to wash my hands with apple. Just because the little 13 year old bitches only use the bottom line machines they screw the pro users. I understand why they discontinued it but it still upsets me very much.
 
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No more 17"? Then this is the last laptop I'm buying from apple.
I'll take 1920x1200 on a 17" than a pseudo-1440x900 15" screen everyday.

I need a screen where you can see two fully usable apps windows side by side. You can do it on a 17" screen (barely). You can't on a 15", even with a hundred gazillion pixels. Period.

I hope my '11 17" MBP last me throughout the nightmare Windows 8 seems to be.

Then I'm sure Sony or Asus should have something that meets my needs.

PS: Oh - and you are supposed to be able to upgrade your ram or harddrive in a "pro" computer.
 
I will miss the 17" if they do in fact get rid of it because I like the extra real estate for programming while traveling or chilling on the couch. But I won't abandon ship and cry about it because I do most of my work plugged in to a 27" LED display. So save your extra pennies for a LED thunderbolt display and you'll be OK.

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PS: Oh - and you are supposed to be able to upgrade your ram or harddrive in a "pro" computer.

Is this a written standard somewhere? Care to share your source?
 
The 17" is not dead!! Don't despair! Just because the college grads at Apple took it down from the Apple site, means it will be refreshed at a later date. The 17" already had the equivalent of a retina display alone. The 17" will be back reincarnated as an MBA without an optical recorder/drive along with some other enhancements. Save your tears for the coming economic meltdown....

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No more 17"? Then this is the last laptop I'm buying from apple.
I'll take 1920x1200 on a 17" than a pseudo-1440x900 15" screen everyday.

I need a screen where you can see two fully usable apps windows side by side. You can do it on a 17" screen (barely). You can't on a 15", even with a hundred gazillion pixels. Period.

I hope my '11 17" MBP last me throughout the nightmare Windows 8 seems to be.

Then I'm sure Sony or Asus should have something that meets my needs.

PS: Oh - and you are supposed to be able to upgrade your ram or harddrive in a "pro" computer.


Well said...
 
Yeah, putting a "Pro" moniker on those machines was definitely false advertising, IMO.

Agreed! Many in the Apple community have been saying that since 2005.

I will miss the 17" if they do in fact get rid of it because I like the extra real estate for programming while traveling or chilling on the couch. But I won't abandon ship and cry about it because I do most of my work plugged in to a 27" LED display. So save your extra pennies for a LED thunderbolt display and you'll be OK.

I would agree, but having that real estate with you, or if you work away from a desk 80% of the time is the main reason many buy the 17" Otherwise, the 15" or even the 13" do just fine.

Is this a written standard somewhere? Care to share your source?

I agree 100%. It was nice convenience, but I wouldn't call it a necessity for the hard drive. I don't see much more need to remove the HDD on the new MBP Retina now that it's an SSD and less prone to breaking like the HDD counterpart.

The RAM however is real problem.
 
Not surprised from what I've been reading, but Very Disappointed.

I'm do for a new Mac sooner than later, and now have to decide if I should grab a refurbished 17", keep my older model and just wait and hope, or get a 15" which I don't really want ?

Apple, you didn't do me any favors with this 'up-grade'.
 
A 17" retina MBP would push pricing to $4000-$5000 stratospheric levels.

Apple doesn't really care to sell to a handful of 17" retina users. Maybe until retina laptops become common and current retina MBPs drop to ~$2000 due to competition in a couple of years, coupled with lower production costs they might introduce a $3-4k MBP 17" air-like retina model.

Great marketing and revenue optimization strategies.
 
I will miss the 17" if they do in fact get rid of it because I like the extra real estate for programming while traveling or chilling on the couch. But I won't abandon ship and cry about it because I do most of my work plugged in to a 27" LED display. So save your extra pennies for a LED thunderbolt display and you'll be OK.

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Is this a written standard somewhere? Care to share your source?

Being ironic doesn't automatically make you right.

I do much work plugged to a 27" display, also. So I don't really need to start saving my pennies (euro cents, to be more precise). But it's really uncomfortable to carry it with me, you know.

That's why I miss screen real estate so much when I'm not in my office. And my previous MBP was 15", so I know 15" doesn't really cut it for my needs.

RAM and HDD upgrades are a way to extend a laptop useful life. I know what apple wants - when it gets to slow, just buy a new one from us.

I got a '11 17" MBP with 4Gb RAM and 750 Gb hdd. I upgraded to 8Gb for 50€, then I got a 256 Gb SSD for 240€, and optibay for 90€ where I put a 750Gb scorpio black I had around.

16 Gb RAM are getting cheaper and cheaper every day.

So for the next 2-3 years, maybe a 2.2 Ghz quad core laptop with 16 Gb RAM and 1 Tb of storage (256 Gb SATA III SSD / 750 Gb 7200 rpm HDD) - and maybe USB3 through a PCMIA card (now that the OS supports it) - will certainly be adequate, while a non upgradable 4Gb RAM / 5400 rpm hdd machine maybe wouldn't.

All non-upgradable laptops are rendered obsolete very, very fast. You pay a premium to get it with decent specs, and one year later, you could be buying the double of ram and SDD/hdd for half the price.
 
I'm on the fence about selling my 17" and buying a 15" retina - just because it's got the USB3, HDMI out, etc. that I can see myself using a LOT. Then again, I love the size of my screen, and it's hard to see myself getting rid of it, especially since I'm not sure whether the 'proportions' of the screen elements (menu bar, etc.) will be the same size as the 17" Hi-DPI display. We'll see.

If I could get $2200 for it then I'd be okay with it, but otherwise I'm not shelling out any more money to get a new laptop. The Sandy Bridge machines still have a lot of power.

Gotta agree with the poster above me - upgradeability is key. Getting more RAM for this machine is something I'm going to do very soon, as well as seeing what I can do about getting USB3 capability via ExpressCard or thunderbolt adapter. Speed differences between this machine and a new laptop would be negligible for me at this time because I've already got an SSD and that was the bottleneck for me before.

Screw it, I'm keeping the 17".
 
I have a Mid '09 17 MBP and I was looking forward to upgrading. My real gripe is that this one won't take 16gb of ram. I do alot of development and it crawls with a couple VMs open.

My plan was to upgrade this year, but I am going to hold out another year to see if the 17 returns. I doubt it will. At least maybe the 15 will drop in price and SSD storage should be much cheaper.

I don't really need a retina display, 1920X1200 was perfect. I can live without optical, USB 3.0 would be nice. Either way, 1 more year won't kill me. I'd jump to Windows, but I really prefer OSX for development.
 
They could atleast have mentioned it

This was a vexing issue for me. If I were to have purchased a laptop from Apple it WOULD have been a 17". The fact that they just eliminated it without so much as a courtesy mention feels like they don't really care much about the people they make profit off of.

I understand it didn't fit within their profit margin, but it would not have hurt them to have disclosed a statement well in advance of just jerking it out of the store purchase options.

I would have appreciated the transparency. It was actually rather rude imo.
 
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