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The MacBook Pro 17 inch isn't coming back is it?

I'm torn

I have a Macbook Pro 17" now and it's running slow lately. Upgrading my Mac lead to kernel panics, some freezing thing with three loud beeps that freak me out (only bad thing about these awesomely loud inbuilt speakers) and losing files because of them. Gotta change the ram.
Anyway, I want to upgrade and I don't want a smaller screen.
And it's not just the screen, it's the speakers. My Macbook Pro is louder then any other laptop of seen, even my mates Asus obese gaming laptop that boasts it's loud speakers.
And yes a higher resolution is better, but I don't want to be squinting my eyes when I have a number of things open around my screen.
I can't upgrade this thing to be magnificent, I don't want to upgrade for a smaller screen and I can't enjoy the mac benefits on any windows computer out there.
I hope Apple just releases a limited edition or something. :(
 
eDDieMB said:
I can't upgrade this thing to be magnificent, I don't want to upgrade for a smaller screen and I can't enjoy the mac benefits on any windows computer out there.
I hope Apple just releases a limited edition or something. :(
Click to expand...

Do what I did. Find a late 2011 17" on ebay or the refurb store. Max out the RAM and slap in a good SSD and it is a great machine. I hope they build a new one someday too, but this will last me a few more years.
 
To all you haters of the 17".

I know a lot of professionals that do not what to do now the 17" Macbook pro is gone.
 
Hildegerd said:
To all you haters of the 17".

I know a lot of professionals that do not what to do now the 17" Macbook pro is gone.
Click to expand...

I feel like that. I'm a professional and I'm on my second 17" MacBook Pro. (2006, 2009 models) I'm now about to buy a rMBP 15" but honestly I'm not as happy about it as I should be. A 17" rMBP with a 4K display would be epic but I've come to the realisation such a thing isn't going to happen so I'm settling on a 15" rMBP instead.

I've looked at other manufacturers but I really need and want OS X. I prefer it, my work flow demands it and in the grand scheme of things I'd rather lose two inches than lose Apples build quality and software.

Other Pro's I know who also have 17" MBP's are in the same position as me. Some of them have purchased late 2011 models when able, some are holding on to their older models until they are obsolete and some like me are jumping head first in to the Haswell rMBP 15" club.

My 17" is over 4 years old now, time to upgrade as it's feeling very slow with modern tasks now. Gosh as much as I love my iPhone and iPad I can't help but think had these products never existed their focus wouldn't have lapsed on the Mac line and we would have had updated Mac Pro's and new 17" Notebooks by now.
 
Quu said:
I feel like that. I'm a professional and I'm on my second 17" MacBook Pro. (2006, 2009 models) I'm now about to buy a rMBP 15" but honestly I'm not as happy about it as I should be. A 17" rMBP with a 4K display would be epic but I've come to the realisation such a thing isn't going to happen so I'm settling on a 15" rMBP instead.

I've looked at other manufacturers but I really need and want OS X. I prefer it, my work flow demands it and in the grand scheme of things I'd rather lose two inches than lose Apples build quality and software.

Other Pro's I know who also have 17" MBP's are in the same position as me. Some of them have purchased late 2011 models when able, some are holding on to their older models until they are obsolete and some like me are jumping head first in to the Haswell rMBP 15" club.

My 17" is over 4 years old now, time to upgrade as it's feeling very slow with modern tasks now. Gosh as much as I love my iPhone and iPad I can't help but think had these products never existed their focus wouldn't have lapsed on the Mac line and we would have had updated Mac Pro's and new 17" Notebooks by now.
Click to expand...

Get the most recent 17". You won't notice the difference between that and the 15" rMBP. The 17" is a far more versatile machine. Buy it refurbed, throw 16GB RAM into it, swap the optical drive for a 1.5TB HDD, and put a 512GB SSD into the main bay and you're all set.
 
CaptHenryMorgan said:
Get the most recent 17". You won't notice the difference between that and the 15" rMBP. The 17" is a far more versatile machine. Buy it refurbed, throw 16GB RAM into it, swap the optical drive for a 1.5TB HDD, and put a 512GB SSD into the main bay and you're all set.
Click to expand...

I'd rather have the rMBP. I already considered doing what you said and it's not for me.
 
Quu said:
I feel like that. I'm a professional and I'm on my second 17" MacBook Pro. (2006, 2009 models) I'm now about to buy a rMBP 15" but honestly I'm not as happy about it as I should be. A 17" rMBP with a 4K display would be epic but I've come to the realisation such a thing isn't going to happen so I'm settling on a 15" rMBP instead.

I've looked at other manufacturers but I really need and want OS X. I prefer it, my work flow demands it and in the grand scheme of things I'd rather lose two inches than lose Apples build quality and software.

Other Pro's I know who also have 17" MBP's are in the same position as me. Some of them have purchased late 2011 models when able, some are holding on to their older models until they are obsolete and some like me are jumping head first in to the Haswell rMBP 15" club.

My 17" is over 4 years old now, time to upgrade as it's feeling very slow with modern tasks now. Gosh as much as I love my iPhone and iPad I can't help but think had these products never existed their focus wouldn't have lapsed on the Mac line and we would have had updated Mac Pro's and new 17" Notebooks by now.
Click to expand...

CaptHenryMorgan said:
Get the most recent 17". You won't notice the difference between that and the 15" rMBP. The 17" is a far more versatile machine. Buy it refurbed, throw 16GB RAM into it, swap the optical drive for a 1.5TB HDD, and put a 512GB SSD into the main bay and you're all set.
Click to expand...

Quu said:
I'd rather have the rMBP. I already considered doing what you said and it's not for me.
Click to expand...

I understand how you feel, it is yester years hardware.
 
I've never been one to spend copious wads of money on the very latest.

I went from a Thuban 6 core AMD system to Core i7 Sandy Bridge. Very good jump. Is it as fast as Ivy? Of course not.

But I had to have that 17" Anti Glare screen.

I'm happy to say, however, that with a Geekbench score of 11139, my 2.5Ghz Sandy Bridge is faster than a 2.3Ghz Ivy Bridge (~10500), and lags just behind the 2.6/2.7Ghz Ivy Bridge (~11900/~12300).

Does it lag far enough behind that I'd like to have paid an additional $1000? Nope. I believe this system will handle everything I throw at it, until Broadwell arrives.

Of course, I don't have the extreme heat issues that those 2.6/2.7s seem to be having, either, but that's a different topic entirely!
 
RoastingPig said:
no way that thing is humongous and nasty
Click to expand...

3502028214_f4ee79232c.jpg


Maybe you are just small.
 
Quu said:
I feel like that. I'm a professional and I'm on my second 17" MacBook Pro. (2006, 2009 models) I'm now about to buy a rMBP 15" but honestly I'm not as happy about it as I should be. A 17" rMBP with a 4K display would be epic but I've come to the realisation such a thing isn't going to happen so I'm settling on a 15" rMBP instead.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't a 15" MBP (classic or retina) coupled with the an external display solve most of your issues?

I realize once you go mobile you lose the ability to use the external display but at least in your office you can leverage a large display.

I've never been a fan of the 17" as its too big, but I can understand the why a number of people do like them. The problem was that not enough people liked them. If apple was making sufficient profits from the sale of the 17" MBPs they'd never have killed it off. I think most consumers stayed away from it as its too large and/or could use an external drive as I mentioned.
 
maflynn said:
Wouldn't a 15" MBP (classic or retina) coupled with the an external display solve most of your issues?

I realize once you go mobile you lose the ability to use the external display but at least in your office you can leverage a large display.

I've never been a fan of the 17" as its too big, but I can understand the why a number of people do like them. The problem was that not enough people liked them. If apple was making sufficient profits from the sale of the 17" MBPs they'd never have killed it off. I think most consumers stayed away from it as its too large and/or could use an external drive as I mentioned.
Click to expand...

For all on this thread in support of bringing back the 17" macbook pro, and if we hope to be heard as consumers, please submit your thoughts to http://www.apple.com/feedback



The perception of mac as a high-end professional product has been one of the driving forces that attracted prosumers and consumers to the brand. Even those who do not purchase the most "pro" models had the feeling that they were purchasing a result of product development that targeted professional users.



If apple drops true consideration for professionals in their product design and development, why should average consumers believe they should be paying top-shelf prices for apple products at all?



If professionals start to feel that PC's can better serve their needs, popular perception will swing toward PC's being better buys.



If apple realizes that there is a real possibility of losing support among their professional users in favor of PC's that can provide true mobile computing power, flexible upgrade options after purchase, and more physical screen real estate, and if they realize that popularly percieved professional support for PC options may drive average consumers away from apple and toward PC's, perhaps they will realize that professional users are a key element of their brand success.



This assumes of course that apple has any real long term interest in anything other than making their entire product line a series of differently sized disposable iPads with a mac Mini on the side.
 
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maflynn said:
Wouldn't a 15" MBP (classic or retina) coupled with the an external display solve most of your issues?

I realize once you go mobile you lose the ability to use the external display but at least in your office you can leverage a large display.

I've never been a fan of the 17" as its too big, but I can understand the why a number of people do like them. The problem was that not enough people liked them. If apple was making sufficient profits from the sale of the 17" MBPs they'd never have killed it off. I think most consumers stayed away from it as its too large and/or could use an external drive as I mentioned.
Click to expand...

I already plug my 17" in to a 30" 2560x1600 display in my office. But it's nice having as much screen estate as possible when away from that.

And the 17" isn't too big at all. It's 2 inches larger than the 15" and it's about 1.1 pounds more in weight. If they went Retina with it the 17" Retina would weigh less than the 15" Non-Retina MacBook Pro. That is how close we are talking.

But honestly the 17" looks nicer, the bezel around the display is almost half as thick as the 15" and they never got quite as hot or loud as the older MBP's due to the larger surface area for cooling. In-fact I remember in the early days the 17" had two cooling fans while the 15" only had one. They later managed to fit a 2nd cooling fan in to the 15" MBP but I don't remember at which point they did that, possibly after the move to Unibody.

Anyway I'm gonna just buy a maxed out 15" rMBP and call it a day.

----------
Hildegerd said:
I understand how you feel, it is yester years hardware.
Click to expand...

Exactly. There are quite a few reasons why I've made this decision.

  1. I already have an 802.11ac router and I want 802.11ac networking for faster internal network file transfers and Time Machine backups.
  2. I want the latest generation / fastest processor from Intel. I don't want Sandy Bridge from a 2011 MacBook Pro I want Haswell.
  3. I want 16GB of RAM and a 768GB SSD right off the bat, I don't want to spend time modifying my notebook.
  4. I want that Retina display and those dual Thunderbolt ports.
  5. I want the fastest graphics Apple is delivering. 750m with 1GB of GDDR5 would be great.

If I "upgraded" my 2009 17" MacBook Pro to a 2011 17" MacBook Pro I'd be missing out on a lot of stuff. And this is before I mention the Airplay Mirroring feature, Powernap and no doubt new goodies they will include in OS X 10.9 which won't be available to older Macs.
 
Quu said:
  1. I already have an 802.11ac router and I want 802.11ac networking for faster internal network file transfers and Time Machine backups.
  2. I want the latest generation / fastest processor from Intel. I don't want Sandy Bridge from a 2011 MacBook Pro I want Haswell.
  3. I want 16GB of RAM and a 768GB SSD right off the bat, I don't want to spend time modifying my notebook.
  4. I want that Retina display and those dual Thunderbolt ports.
  5. I want the fastest graphics Apple is delivering. 750m with 1GB of GDDR5 would be great.
Click to expand...

Going from a Core2Duo to a Core i7 is a *huge* jump, sorry. I went from a 2006 at work to a 2011 personally, so you can imagine how much bigger of a jump that was.

That said, you're talking a system that isn't out yet. You want Haswell, I want Broadwell, but neither of those are out right now.

If you want a 17" Macbook Pro, the Sandy Bridge is still plenty of power, compared to what is out RIGHT NOW.

THAT said, I'd still wait - the Haswell refresh isn't far off ;)
 
Doward said:
Going from a Core2Duo to a Core i7 is a *huge* jump, sorry. I went from a 2006 at work to a 2011 personally, so you can imagine how much bigger of a jump that was.

That said, you're talking a system that isn't out yet. You want Haswell, I want Broadwell, but neither of those are out right now.

If you want a 17" Macbook Pro, the Sandy Bridge is still plenty of power, compared to what is out RIGHT NOW.

THAT said, I'd still wait - the Haswell refresh isn't far off ;)
Click to expand...

The Haswell thing is just one reason I want a rMBP. I listed lots of reasons. 802.11ac, Retina Display, Dual Thunderbolt, better graphics etc

Haswell is coming in 16 days from now, I can wait. I've waited this long. I was thinking about buying a Retina MacBook Pro last year after the refresh but I decided to wait another year for them to work out all the issues.
 
I'm very much for the idea of a 17" MBP. All my laptops have been 17", except the one I use today which is a 15" rMBP. If there was an option for a 17" model I would certainly go for it, provided the battery can keep up. Not expecting to get as much time as smaller laptops, but 4 hours battery time on a 17" will be great.
 
Quu said:
The Haswell thing is just one reason I want a rMBP. I listed lots of reasons. 802.11ac, Retina Display, Dual Thunderbolt, better graphics etc

Haswell is coming in 16 days from now, I can wait. I've waited this long. I was thinking about buying a Retina MacBook Pro last year after the refresh but I decided to wait another year for them to work out all the issues.
Click to expand...

Smart move ;)

Rossatron said:
I'm very much for the idea of a 17" MBP. All my laptops have been 17", except the one I use today which is a 15" rMBP. If there was an option for a 17" model I would certainly go for it, provided the battery can keep up. Not expecting to get as much time as smaller laptops, but 4 hours battery time on a 17" will be great.
Click to expand...

I get 6-8 hours (depending on what I'm doing) out of my 2011 17" MBP.

Not going to lie - that was the final deciding factor on me getting a Macbook Pro vs any other system.
 
Lil Chillbil said:
It is the consumer that is ruining apple for pro users, the more ipads and macbooks they sell makes the mac pro and macbook pro 17inch look like its not selling at all.
Click to expand...

It's a constant disappointment that Apple only make decisions based on one criteria - whether it will make tons of money. Not just a little money, but TONS of money.

It goes without saying that for a company to have created the biggest pile of cash in history, this can't happen unless the company has a specific focus on only selling what makes money, and giving stuff all to the philosophy of, not being a money machine, but a responsible supplier of equipment to people who need to use these in their daily lives.

I guess it's no different to McDonalds making their food as tasty as possible while pretending to give lip service to healthy food.

My biggest beef is Apple's removal of anti-glare screens from everything except the 15" MacBook Pro. i.e. no anti-glare screens on any desktop Apple gear.

Look, Apple is no different to all the money-hungry companies out there particularly on Wall Street. The reason why we have warm fuzzy feelings about Apple is because we love their products so much, but we're under no disillusionment that Apple care about its customers, unless a particular product brings in truckloads of money.

If a particular segment of the market, e.g. professionals, need a feature that most consumers don't need, Apple really can't care a stuff about such customers.
 
My 2009 17 inch Macbook Pro is still doing a perfect job (with Snow Leopard). I do not intend to spend a lot of money, just do downgrade to 15 inch.
This would be no fun. :(
I am looking forward for the new 18 inch Retina Macbook Pro (small bezel) with 4K Resolution. :D
 
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