Gadget of the week

Apple Macbook Pro 17inch

Standing out from the rest


The philosophy of design at Apple Inc over the past decade can be described in two pithy phrases: "Less is more" and "If something looks good, it is good."

The big brains at Infinite Loop in Cupertino,

California, are forever refining this process, and the latest to come off the drawing board and production line is the revamped family of professional laptops.

At the end of last year, before his health-related sabbatical, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new range – "All engineered to standards that don't even exist yet", to put his hyperbolic spin on it. A few eyebrows were raised, but even the company's harshest critics were silenced by the unprecedented build quality.

What Apple did with the entire range was turn the manufacture of a notebook on its head. Thus, rather than build the body from many pieces, Apple now takes one block of aluminium and removes the bits it doesn't need to create what it has dubbed the unibody.

The end result is a computer that is beautifully made, with seamless edges and a level of craftsmanship never before seen in something so, well, mass-produced. A true feat of engineering.

The unibody, the company says, allows for greater strength with fewer pounds and a much-reduced opportunity for failure.

Technology added to the new MacBook range – even the lower-end consumer models – included the multi-touch, glass trackpad – allowing recognition of up to four fingers. The whole trackpad surface is also a button ("less is more").

But this isn't a beast to be lugged around lightly. In fact, the 17inch model is effectively a replacement desktop computer, more than capable of driving the most demanding applications. The Pro test-driven by Emirates Business had 4GB of memory and a 320 hard drive, enough for the professional and the enthusiast Mac owner.

Other changes are mostly underneath the hood. The 2.66Ghz processor runs at roughly the same speed as the last generation's chips, but overall improvements and upgrades offer operational efficiencies and temperature reductions.

Other tweaks include the combination of a integrated graphics processor with the desktop-class performance of a second, discrete graphics processor. Moreover, Apple has removed all the nasty plastics and chemicals to become a class-leading green machine. And the company now assures us the MacBook meets globally recognised environmental standards for power use.

Equally, the 17in Pro's new, super-slim and brilliant LED-backlit display is another environmental breakthrough. And to be even more efficient, the hard drive slows automatically when inactive, the display dims when in a darkened room, and even the processor throttles back to save power.

But while such considerations are important in this day and age, they are generally not reason enough for anyone other than the most die-hard of Apple enthusiast to ditch their current MacBook.

Overall, the redesign and re-engineered Pro makes Apple stand out from the rest. But a revolution it ain't, and far from a solid reason to upgrade.


Price: Dh12,300

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