Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Like its 15 - inch counterparts , the 17 - inch MacBook Pro pay back a processor bump ( up to 2.33GHz from 2.16GHz ) as well as a new processor entirely . The Intel Core Duo makes way for the Intel Core 2 Duo , a next - generation microprocessor chip promising better performance with the same battery animation . The amount of shared L2 hoard has doubled , as has the installed storage — the 17 - inch MacBook Pro ship with 2 GB of RAM . ( you’re able to install up to 3 GB . ) heavily drive capacity has increased to 160 GB from 120 gigabyte .
When it come time to update its 17 - inch laptops , Apple always faces a challenge : how to improve a machine that already has just about everything ?
In the sheath of the later 17 - inch MacBook Pro , the company stuck to the basics : It added the late and fastest Intel mobile mainframe useable ( a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo , replacing the 2.16GHz Core Duo ) , replicate the standard memory board ( now 2 GB ) , and boosted operose driveway capacity ( from 120 GB to 160 GiB ) .
It also up maximum RAM from 2 GB to 3 GB . The car still has only two memory slot , though , so maxing out your memory involves supersede one of the normal 1 GB faculty with one that admit 2GB — an upgrade that will cost you a whopping $ 575 if you have the organization configured to grade from Apple , and even more if you bribe from a third - party provider .
In every other respect , include its $ 2,799 groundwork price , the new 17 - inch model is just like its predecessor — same immense ( 1,680 - by-1,050 - pixel ) , bright widescreen video display , same graphics card ( ATI Radeon X1600 with 256 Bachelor of Medicine of dedicated computer memory ) , and same array of features build - in : iSight television camera , AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR wireless connectivity , ExpressCard/34 expansion expansion slot ( but no personal computer Card mental ability ) , Gigabit Ethernet diddlyshit , DVI - out embrasure up to of driving Apple ’s 30 - inch Cinema HD display , illuminated keyboard , MagSafe power connecter , and so on .
on the whole , the makeover is less significant than the 15 - column inch MacBook Pros find when they moved up to the Core 2 Duo : the smaller penis of the household also got a FireWire 800 port , faster graphics circuitry , and improved SuperDrives . Apple has a effective exculpation for not making similar change to the 17 - in role model , though : all the cultivation in the latest 15 - inch MacBook Pro mannikin were already included in the original 17 - inch model .
On the whole , the Core 2 duet chip shot , with its 4 megabit of stage 2 stash memory partake between two processing engines , deliver a welcome , though not overwhelming , improvement in performance . Macworld Labs ’ examination , however , get a surprising result : in some operation the novel 17 - inch MacBook Pro is slower than the 15 - inch exemplar configure with the same CPU and retentiveness . Much of the problem involves a puzzling anomaly with ColorSync profiles in the Labs ’ iPhoto test images — the previously publish benchmark put up a thorough account . But the 17 - inch manakin also lagged well behind its smaller sibling in the UnZip Archive test ( and more or less behind in the Photoshop CS2 and Unreal Tournament run ) .
While the issue is distressful , it does n’t affect most chore ; in worldwide , the new 17 - inch MacBook Pro is plenty speedy . In particular , graphics pros who have been hesitating about upgrading to an Intel - based role model should note that the late MacBook Pros handily outperform the quickest - ever G4 - based PowerBook when running Adobe Photoshop CS2 , even though the app has to run through Apple ’s Rosetta code - displacement engineering .
Core 2 Duo Benchmarks
Best issue inred . source system initalics . Asterisk ( * ) denotes organization examine with optional 7,200 - rpm hard drive .
Speedmark 4.5 scores are relative to those of a 1.25GHz Mac mini , which is assigned a score of 100 . Adobe Photoshop , Cinema 4D XL , iMovie , iTunes , and Zip Archive musical score are in minutes : seconds . All systems were running Mac OS X 10.4.8 with 2 GB of RAM ( except where indicated ) , with CPU performance localise to Highest in the Energy Saver taste pane when applicable . The Photoshop Suite test is a readiness of 14 scripted task using a 50 Mbit file . Photoshop ’s computer storage was set to 70 percent and story was set to Minimum . We immortalize how long it took to render a scene in Cinema4D. We used Compressor to encode a 6minute:26second DV file cabinet using the DVD : Fastest Encode 120 second – 4:3 setting . In iMovie , we practice the Aged video core to a 1 - minute of arc moving picture . We spell 100 jpeg images from the intemperate private road into iPhoto ’s library . We converted 45 minutes of AAC audio file to MP3 using iTunes ’ High Quality circumstance . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’ Antalus Botmatch mediocre - frames - per - second score ; we tested at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels at the Maximum setting with both sound and graphics enabled . We created a Zip archive in the Finder from a 1 GB folder and then Unzipped the same file . To liken Speedmark 4.5 scores for various Mac systems , visit our Apple Hardware Guide.—Macworld laboratory examination by James Galbraith , Jerry Jung and Brian Chen
Macworld’s buying advice
We can think of a few raw features we ’d like to see in Apple ’s flagship laptop computer — an eSATA larboard for international drive , for lesson , and mayhap a built - in lecturer for flash computer memory cards . Even without those improvements , however , the 17 - in MacBook Pro is a marvelous automobile . If you’re able to afford the price and do n’t mind the size and weight needs colligate with such a large presentation , you wo n’t be disappoint .
[ Henry Norr is a veteran Mac technology writer based in Berkeley , Calif. ]
