Photo answers review
Photo answers rating 
The 17in Macbook Pro features a similar design and immaculate finish to the 13in and 15in Macbook Pro models in Apple’s line-up. With its big 17in (1920x1200) screen you may think it’s not the most appropriate size to go for, but its lean body and slimline styling made it more versatile than we originally thought.
After discovering it was a made-to-measure fit for the laptop compartment in our Lowepro Trekker 300AW we tended to take it everywhere – even on location – to check our results, rather than waiting until we returned home. The high-resolution, widescreen display is the glossy type that’s found on most notebooks and it displayed our images exceptionally well with superb clarity and sharpness. If you’re going to be using it regularly outdoors, you may want to consider the Hi-Resolution Antiglare Wide Screen Display for an additional £40.
Opening it up and switching it on using the fingertip button above the right-hand speaker, took 44 seconds to fire up. With a fully charged battery Apple claims you’ll get between 8-9 hours use before you need to hook it up to mains, but obviously this time will decrease if you’re using power-hungry features like the backlit keyboard, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth facilities. We got into the habit of charging the laptop’s built-in lithium-polymer 95 watt-hour battery each evening and prolonged the battery charge by adjusting the energy saving settings inside the Preferences.
One of our favourite features is the MagSafe Power Adapter. This magnetically attaches to the side of the laptop, beside the three USB ports and FireWire 800 port, displaying a tiny green LED when charging. The magnetic connection is ingeniously designed, and saved our MacBook Pro crashing to the floor when the power lead became tangled around the legs of a chair. If you’re looking at the 13in and 15in Macbook Pros you’ll be pleased to know MagSafe connection technology is a feature.
The powerful 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of memory is perfectly tuned for hungry programs like Photoshop, Elements and Lightroom. We found no problems in terms of performance speed – even when we were running a number of programs at once and converting RAW files in the background. Operationally, it was totally silent and the 500GB Serial ATA hardrive saved images quickly with minimal fuss. Apple gives you the option of upgrading to a more durable solid-state drive when you configure your Macbook Pro, but expect to pay an extra £520 for a 256GB SSD. Sound quality was also very impressive. The speakers that sit either side of the keyboard look small but produce incredible volume.
The MacBook Pro we tested costs £1899 and, like any Mac that bought from the Apple, store, there’s the option of bolting on additional extras. Splash out £649 and you can connect your MacBook Pro to a 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, or spend an extra £15 and you can pick up an Apple Remote, which enables you to control your music and films wirelessly from afar. Apple’s care protection plan (£279) is another optional extra that you can buy, which covers parts and labour costs, should a repair be needed.
Apple’s MacBook Pro in the 17in size is an expensive piece of kit, but it’s worth remembering that build quality and performance are second to none. If you don’t need the large screen and want a notebook that’s slightly smaller, check out the 13in (£999) and 15in options (£1649). Would we spend the extra £250 for the 17in model over the 15in? Yes, we probably would if space wasn’t an issue and we were going to use it more in a studio or desk environment than on location. When there’s so much money at stake, though, it’s certainly worth trying one out at your local Apple store to double-check it’s the ideal notebook and size for you.
Photoanswers Rating: 5
Technical Specification:
Processor: 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 processor; 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 option available
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics with 256MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 512MB GDDR3 memory and automatic graphics switching
Memory and Storage: 4GB memory/500GB 5400-rpm hard drive
Display: 17-inch high-resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen display (1920 by 1200 pixels)
Battery: Up to 8-9 hours (wireless web browsing) Built-in lithium-polymer 95 watt-hour
Additional features: Precision aluminium unibody, MagSafe power port, Mini DisplayPort, Three USB 2.0 ports, One FireWire 800 port, ExpressCard/34 slot, iSight camera, Multi-Touch trackpad, Full-size, backlit keyboard, 8x SuperDrive