This is a review of the Apple Macbook Pro model MB766LL/A.I've been shopping for a notebook for quite some time. There really is a lot of junk out there. Having used a Powerbook G4 and the first version of the Macbook Pro, I began to look into purchasing a Windows based notebook for Visual Studio development.
I tried the HP dv7t, a Dell XPS m1530 and a Sony FW390. The Sony was quite nice but Sony support tends to be a bit lacking. Sony also would not guarantee support for the upcoming Windows 7!
In spite of the negatives that I found with these products, my final decision to stay with the Apple line was due to the superior hardware that I was always aware of anyway. The multi-touch trackpad, the back-lit keyboard, bright 17" 1920x1200 LED panel, superior fit and finish, etc. All this and more just adds up to one superior product. And I have not even addressed the advantages of OSX Leopard and the upcoming Snow Leopard.
I briefly considered a Unibody MBP, but the price discount of roughly $1,000.00 for this unit and the awful glassy screens on the new ones made the choice very easy for me.
Oh, and I like a button on my trackpad too!
I've been using this laptop solidly for 5 years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. It supports all the latest software and runs it well. OS X Mavericks even works on it, and the next OS probably will as well.
Comparing this previous gen MBP to some other brand New PC laptops leaves you with the impression that it's STILL more luxurious, even now. The trackpad, while smaller than brand new MacBooks, is unparalleled in the PC world.
The 17" display was so far ahead of its time, even today you're not likely to find a 22 or 24 inch display that matches the 1920x1200 resolution. This thing was the closest thing to "retina" before "retina" was a thing. And the availability of matte screens is a rare luxury these days and missed.
Once you put an SSD in this thing it's competitive with most entry level new MacBooks on most actual use metrics. This beast came with the larger L2 cache and other higher end underpinnings, so it's stood the test of time extremely well. It's 8600m gt video card was a BEAST when it was released, and remains more powerful than some entry level MacBooks because it's a discrete GPU rather than some chipset. It can also support 6 Gb (Not 4 like Apple says) of ram. 1x4 Gb stick and 1x 2Gb stick.
It's also possible to create a "Fusion Drive" (Which debuted with OSX Mountain Lion) which is a system level SSD HDD drive fusion by switching out the superdrive for a hard drive caddy so you can have SSD speed and HDD large capacity and not worry what goes where.
All in all, this absolute BEAST of a portable workstation is a bygone from an era where Apple made 17" Laptops. They no longer carry any MacBooks in 17 inches, and that's a shame. It really is nice having FULL productivity when mobile.
Long live 17" MBP.Everything I expected and more! just like new, works perfectly! i will be using it for home studio. Thanks again!This a review of the 17" Macbook Pro listed here, not the NEW 13/15" Macbooks with the total aluminum casings and new touchpads.
First off, instead of updating the Macbook Pro 17" like the 13/15", Apple decided to make some upgrades, like having upping the processor to 2.5 ghz Core Duo, 2 gigs of RAM to 4 gigs RAM, and the HD to 320 gigs.
The video card in this machine is the Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT with 512 megs of RAM--whereas the new 13/15" Macbooks have the 9600s.
The touchpad is NOT the new button-less touch-pad, but it still has the hand gestures.
The computer has a ambient light sensor that light up your keyboard in the dark and adjust the screen brightness in different lighting conditions. The monitor has a LED back-light, and the finish is glossy (You can the 17" screen with a matte finish, but you'll have to go to Apple for that). The screen is not the same as the new 13/15" ones.
Why did I get this one? I wanted the highest resolution of 1900x1200 because work with HD video and digital photography.
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