The new 17-inch Pro features a thinner and lighter design than before. Apple billed it as the world's thinnest and lightest 17-inch laptop when it debuted the new machine last month; it weighs 6.6 pounds and measures less than one inch high with the lid closed. Its price remains the same as before, starting at US$2,799.
Apple delayed shipment of the new 17-inch Macbook Pro after initially indicating the new model would be released by the end of January. "... we now expect to begin shipments in mid-February," an Apple spokesman told Macworld when confirming the delay.
The new 17-inch features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor clocked at 2.66GHz, 4GB of RAM standard, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics on the motherboard with GeForce 9600MT dedicated graphics as well, a 320GB hard disk drive and DVD-burning SuperDrive.
The updated 17-inch model sports a 1920-by-1200-pixel LED-backlit display and Mini DisplayPort, for connecting an external monitor such as Apple's LED Cinema Display (). It retains a FireWire 800 port, and has three USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard/34 slot, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.
Unlike past models, the redesigned 17-inch MacBook Pro does not have a removable battery--it's built in. Apple says the redesigned battery is 40 percent bigger than the previous generation model, and can last for up to eight hours per charge. What's more, Apple also claims the battery can be recharged up to 1000 times, compared to 200 or 300 times for a typical notebook battery
