Apple MacBook Pro 17in review

Apple's flagship MacBook Pro instantly looks a classier proposition than most of its competition this month. The clean lines and singular construction of the aluminium "unibody" chassis, together with the Scrabble-tile keyboard and buttonless trackpad, mark out the latest MacBook Pro as a machine for those who appreciate the finer things in life.

Read our review of the 2011 Apple MacBook Pro 13, Apple MacBook Pro 15 and Apple MacBook Pro 17 laptops here

Build quality is impeccable, and the keyboard offers a reasonable amount of comfort, although it isn't quite as satisfying as the keyboard on the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds or the Scrabble-style layout of the Sony VAIO AW21XY/Q.

Apple's re-imagining of the trackpad is more divisive: it has no button - instead, the whole pad is clickable. It's a unique approach, but it takes time to get used to and we don't think it offers significant benefit.

The screen has a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 and provides a huge swathe of desktop space punctuated by bright, accurate colours and sharp detail. Again, though, the Pro falls behind its rivals - the RGB LED screens of the Dell Studio XPS 16 and Sony VAIO AW are a better bet for detailed graphical work.

The inclusion of a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 processor resulted in good 2D benchmark scores of 1.34, and while Nvidia's GeForce 9600M GT graphics aren't top of the pile, with a result of 22fps in our medium-quality Crysis test, there's enough grunt for occasional games.

Battery life is more impressive still. The MacBook Pro, as with the Sony VAIO Z31VN/X, boasts dual graphics, which provided up to 6hrs 59mins in a simulated light-use battery test in OS X. Under Vista the dual graphics don't work, so we'd recommend sticking with Apple's OS, but even with the higher-powered Nvidia graphics enabled, this laptop still achieved light-use figures (4hrs 22mins) better than other larger laptops here.

For all of its style, though, the MacBook Pro doesn't quite have enough substance. The Dell Studio XPS 16, for instance, offers similar power and features with a better screen and costs far less. Alas, Apple's sterling design isn't enough to justify its extra cost.

Author: Mike Jennings