Apple announces new 17″ MacBook Pro

A new Macbook Pro with an ultra thin widescreen display, aluminium unibody and built in battery was unveiled at MacWorld today.

A new Macbook Pro with aluminium unibody and built in battery was unveiled at MacWorld today.

The new 17-inch MacBook® Pro features a durable precision aluminium unibody enclosure, and a revolutionary new built-in battery that delivers up to eight hours of use and up to 1,000 recharges for more than three times the lifespan of conventional notebook batteries.

Coupled with a high res LED-backlit display and the same large glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad introduced with the new MacBook family in October the new 17 inch MacBook Pro includes Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors and NVIDIA graphics.

Made of recyclable materials the 17 inch is one of the industry’s greenest notebooks.

“We’ve developed new battery technology that is better for the user and better for the environment,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s advanced chemistry and innovative technology deliver up to eight hours of use on a full charge cycle and up to 1,000 recharges.”

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes an ultra-thin, widescreen glossy 1920 x 1200 display with 78 percent more pixels than the 15-inch MacBook Pro and a 60 percent greater colour gamut that delivers desktop-quality colour in a notebook. The display has instant-on performance, uses up to 30 percent less energy and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights.

MacBook Pro 17 ” specs
Measuring less than 25 mm thin and weighing 2.99 Kg, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook. The 17-inch MacBook Pro is the most powerful Mac® notebook yet with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors available up to 2.93 GHz, up to 8GB DDR3 main memory and a graphics architecture that allows users to switch between the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive standard with a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive and 128GB and 256GB solid state drives as options. As with the rest of the new MacBook family, the 17-inch MacBook Pro includes a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the new Apple LED Cinema Display featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with a built-in iSight® video camera, mic and speakers.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro joins the aluminium unibody MacBook family in setting new standards for environmentally friendly notebooks with every model achieving EPEAT Gold status.** Each MacBook unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminium and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. The new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements, contains no brominated flame retardants and uses internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The battery in the new 17-inch MacBook Pro provides additional environmental benefit because its extended lifespan means fewer depleted batteries resulting in less waste.

Pricing & Availability
The new 17-inch MacBook Pro will be shipping at the end of January and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers for a suggested retail price of $4,499 (RRP including GST),