The first video is the new 17″ Macbook Pro commercial. As we uploaded the video, we noticed that YouTube has made it even easier to add comments and annotations on the actual video, so we gave that a shot.

We shot the video over at ArsTechnica but the NYTIMES was running it too. The next video is the iPod touch commercial that Apple unveiled back in December of 2008.

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In late January, Apple had officially changed the status of the Macbook Pro to shipping, while making the delivery dates range anywhere between February 5th and February 12th. A few MacBlogz readers had mentioned that they received status updates from Apple which claimed their machines would be shipping soon. In addition MacRumors found a “Now Shipping” badge on Apple’s website.

The 17″ Macbook Pro on the left, and the 15″ on the right.

It is now being reported that Apple has sent out an email to most of its customers stating that shipments of the 17″ unibody Macbook Pro will be pushed back until around February 19th at the latest. “Wrapping up the new 17-inch MacBook Pro is taking a few days longer than we projected,” Apple explained in the email. “As a result, we will be unable to ship your 17-inch MacBook Pro until February 19, 2009.”

When Apple first announced the new 17″ unibody Macbook Pro, they claimed it would be shipping in late January. At Macworld ‘09, we were able to get hands on with the notebook and we can say. If you’re waiting for this machine, another two weeks won’t hurt that bad. It’s well worth it.

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The brand new battery has been designed and developed by Apple specifically for the new 17″ Macbook Pro. In a nutshell, when designing replaceable batteries, a lot of space is wasted using latches, levers, clasps and closures. Apple drew inspiration from the Macbook Air and integrated a battery that isn’t user replaceable, so these space wasting latches and levers weren’t needed. This way, they could design a battery that seamlessly flowed with the rest of the notebook’s design. Additionally, it allowed Apple to efficiently design the battery with power management and allocating resources throughout the machine.

They tout the battery as having a 40% greater capacity than anything else on the market, as well as explain that the battery can take nearly 1,000 recharges, which equates to a 5 year lifespan.

To give the 17-inch MacBook Pro the biggest battery possible without adding size or weight, Apple engineers eliminated all the parts required of a removable battery and embedded the battery into the notebook. This created enough space for a battery with 40 percent greater capacity — one that can run for up to 8 hours on a single charge.

While the new approach to longer battery life is sure a welcome relief, especially from Apple. Could the direction and conceptual reasoning behind it be a bit too much form over function? Perhaps Apple could have focused on making the battery gain a 20% capacity (instead of 40%) and focus on making the swapping process smooth, seamless and simple. Maybe even include hot swapping so the user never needs to turn off the machine, so long as it is plugged in.

Surely potential owners of the 17″ Macbook Pro are traveling as much as they are sitting at a desk. But those same professionals are bound to pay attention to their battery life meter. If not, OS X has handy alerts that notify the user when the battery is running low. The moments when a 17″ Macbook Pro user is away from a power outlet for more than 5 or 6 hours are few and far between. In general, the concept of packing or traveling with an additional battery, which could in essence garner 10+ hours of battery life instead of 8, might have been the better direction. Especially if it was hot swappable.

The current unibody Macbooks and Macbook Pros have an extremely welcomed battery compartment which offers easy access to vital internals, as well as the hard drive. The picture below depicts this well.

15″ unibody Macbook Pro battery compartment

In direct comparison to this, Apple’s new 17″ Macbook Pro does not offer any access into the machine as described above. Instead, it is wrapped seamlessly within the unibody enclosure. Owners have no access to the battery. However, when the alleged 5 year lifespan comes around, Apple will offer a battery replacement option for $179. The picture below depicts this well.

17″ unibody Macbook Pro, no battery compartment

This puts the 17″ Macbook Pro, which is the highest end of Apple’s portable machines, and the Macbook Air in the same category when it comes to user replaceable batteries. As with replacing Ram on the Macbook Pro, Apple claims it to be an easy process.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro supports up to 8GB of 1066MHz DDR3 memory and comes with a large 320GB hard drive,4 so there’s plenty of room for your photo and video projects and other files. It also offers an optional 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive, which has no moving parts for enhanced durability. And for burning DVDs, it includes an ultrafast 8x SuperDrive. You can upgrade the memory and hard drive yourself, or take it to an Apple Authorized Service Provider.

The new 17″ Macbook Pro will be shipping at the end of January and be available at the Online Apple Store.

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The new 17″ Macbook Pro is extremely sturdy. Just like its little brothers, the machine is smooth and feels precision perfect nearly all the way around. The body is seamless and the screen is big and bold. However, Apple decided to include a non-replaceable battery. They claim the battery will get nearly eight hours of solid runtime, and charge roughly 1,000 times for a five year lifespan.

As you can see, the bottom of the notebook is completely seamless which means you cannot swap the battery out. Many people travel with two laptop batteries and when one dies out, they have a backup. With Apple’s new 17″ Macbook Pro, that is not possible. Interestingly, Apple focused a lot of efforts on making the battery even easier to replace on the 15″ Macbook Pro.

When comparing the 15″ and the 17″ side by side, the size difference becomes dramatically noticeable. The thinness and weight of the machine is still really attractive, and the screen real estate is exactly what a lot of people have been waiting for, only with the new body style.

Overall, this machine is a beast. It’s capable of up to 8GB of Ram, and mobile power was clearly at the forefront for Apple when designing this notebook. The addition of a $50 anti-glare option for potential owners takes away what may have been a dealbreaker for many (glossy screen), but the embedded battery might make you think twice as hard before making the purchase.

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In keeping with their solid track record, 9to5mac accurately predicted a few changes that the new notebook would see. For one, a non-user replaceable battery has been developed by Apple and integrated into the new Macbook Pro, which will allegedly allow for nearly 8 hours of solid battery life, and allow 1,000 charges making for a nearly 5 year lifespan.

Apple’s Press Release: Apple® today unveiled the new 17-inch MacBook® Pro featuring a durable and beautiful precision aluminum 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. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a high resolution LED-backlit display and the same large glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad introduced with the new MacBook family in October. In addition, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes state of the art NVIDIA graphics and the latest generation Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors. As part of the industry’s greenest notebook family, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro is made of highly recyclable materials, meets stringent energy efficiency standards and is made without many of the harmful toxins found in other computers.

“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.”

Apple uses advanced chemistry, intelligent monitoring of the system and battery, and Adaptive Charging technology to create a revolutionary new notebook battery that delivers up to eight hours of wireless productivity on a single charge and up to 1,000 recharges without adding thickness, weight or cost to the MacBook Pro’s incredible design.* The longer battery lifespan equals fewer depleted batteries and less waste, which is better for the environment.

Apple has also introduced a $50 non-glare option for potential 17″ Macbook Pro owners. Those that may have been turned off by the highly reflective, glossy screen, will now have an option to reduce the reflectiveness. The only difference is the black bezel around the display which has to be removed when opting for the non-glossy option, thus resulting in a more Macbook-Air-ish aesthetic around the display.

Specs are as follows:
• 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200, glossy display;
• 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
• 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• three USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire® 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
• built-in, 95WHr lithium polymer battery; and
• 85 Watt MagSafe® Power Adapter.

“Build-to-order options for the 17-inch MacBook Pro include a 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB 1066 MHz DDR 3 memory, 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive, anti-glare display for $50 (US), Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.”

The new 17″ Macbook Pro will be shipping at the end of January and be available at the Online Apple Store.

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The introduction of the 15 inch unibody MacBook Pro at last October’s notebook event, left many wondering when its big brother would make an appearance. While there is no doubt that the 17 inch MBP is due for an update, it is possible that Apple delayed its introduction in accordance with Intel’s roadmap.

The processor in question, branded as the Core 2 Extreme Q9000, boasts four 2GHz cores with 6MB of Level 2 cache and rings in at $348 in 1000 unit lots. Under such a budget it would not seem impossible for Apple to beef up the 17 inch MacBook Pro without increasing its cost. Acer has already announced a Q9000 powered “extreme gaming” notebook that is set to sport an 18.4 inch screen and come equipped with Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics. While there is no word on availability, the notebook will carry a sticker price of $1,700.

If Apple opts to not use the new mobile quad-core processor for an MBP update, they still have 4 recently released dual-core options to choose from including, a 2.53GHz, two 2.66GHz and a 2.93GHz model. It would be possible for Apple to use these for an iMac refresh as well.

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The machine they tested was a custom configured 15″ Macbook Pro with a 2.8GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 320GB 7,200-rpm hard drive, with a price-tag of $2,849. In Speedmark 5 (which is a set of benchmark tests used to measure performance), the custom Macbook Pro posted a 12% higher/better score than the standard configuration Macbook Pro with a 2.53HGz processor, and 320GB 5,400-rpm hard drive. The addition of a Solid State Drive would be expected to boost overall snappiness and responsiveness as well.

The custom 2.8GHz system was 13 percent faster than the 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro in our Photoshop test suite and 15 percent faster than that model in our Cinema 4D test. The 7,200-rpm hard drive also helped the custom MacBook Pro create a Zip archive of a 2GB folder 16 percent faster than the 2.53 MBP; it was 20 percent faster when unzipping the file.

We also compared this latest CTO MacBook Pro with another specially-configure laptop, a 15-inch model with a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo chip from June 2007. The 2.6GHz MacBook Pro featured 2GB of slower DDR2 RAM and a 160GB hard drive. The new CTO model posted a 26 percent improvement in Speedmark scores, with faster results across the board highlighted by a 36-percent faster Photoshop score and a 22-percent faster Compressor score.

Unfortunately, they don’t inform us of how hot (thermally) the new Macbook Pro gets when used. With previous models, frying an egg on the battery was common practice. Perhaps you’ll wait and see how this machine performs under hunger demands. Macworld has however, put the new Macbook Air through its paces, which showed slight improvements as well.

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Additionally, we have specifically learned that Apple has access to a large amount of matte displays. “Think of the matte display like a 2006 edition car,” an Apple rep explained to MacBlogz. “Just because a new one comes out, doesn’t mean they immediately stop servicing the old one.” — “After all, we were selling them up until recently, of course we have access to them, it’s part of our contingency plan,” the rep continued.

When I asked why they stopped selling them in the new unibody Macbook Pro, she answered like a robot. “It’s simply not supported at this time.” — Classic.

Users are understandably upset about the lack of matte display option. The intensely dramatic debate will continue to rage on and on, as long as people believe Apple will bring the option back (à la FireWire 800 and the original Macbook pro). Two petitions with about 7,000+ signatures combined equates to a sizable chunk of unsold notebooks. There a few more bring back the matte screen” petitions floating around with hundreds of signatures as well.

My instincts tell me that Apple will never bring back the matte display option in its notebooks. For those of you (us) that don’t want to let go, for whatever reason, that is totally fine too. As long as your notebook is covered under warranty, Apple will continue to replace your matte displays for brand new matte displays.

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The benchmarks test the performance of the same 15″ unibody Macbook Pro, both with a hard disk drive, and with a solid state drive. Barefeats ordered the 2.8GHz 15″ Macbook Pro with the 7,200rpm hard disk drive (Hitachi Travelstar 7K320), and then installed the OCZ 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for the tests.

The green bar represents the HDD, and the red bar represents the snappier SSD.

We ordered our 2.8GHz lab “rat” with the 7200rpm 320GB drive option (which happens to be a Hitachi Travelstar 7K320. We obtained the OCZ Core Series 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) to test against it.

We put the factory drive in FireWire 800 enclosure to boot from and tested an identical empty 7K320 against the empty SSD. We wanted to measure the maximum speed when empty as well as simulate a full drive with the help of DiskTester 2.

As we can see, the SSD is faster than the HDD when it comes to “both large sustained and small random Reads.” The tests delivered mixed results on small random Writes. Additionally, large sustained Writes were faster with the SSD. Overall, the tests determine that the significantly pricier SSD improves booting time, waking, launching and overall snappiness, but when saving small and large amounts of data, there is no real improvement over the HDD.

Below are some of the more dramatic results from the Read/Write tests.

Back in July we first heard that Apple was planning to include built-to-order solid state drive options throughout their entire notebook line. By doing so, they continue to bring high technology to the masses, who can afford it. While these particular comparisons may be some of the most interesting, the tests generally deliver expected results. SSD is both faster in startup times, and snappier to actual user input, but it won’t decrease your overall computing time when dealing with large files. The added stability and data loss prevention an SSD brings is very appealing to many, and the added speed is essential for others. Apple now offers a built-to-order Solid State Drive in all of its new notebooks, except the lower end Macbook.

Read – Barefeats Benchmarks
[MacDailyNews]

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In the current Macbook Pros, NVIDIA has confirmed that the dual GPUs are able to switch from discrete to the integrated GPU “on-the-”fly” without requiring the user to log out. As Giz points out, this is not unique to Apple, and Windows already supports this. Should Apple choose to update the Macbook Pro’s drivers, this functionality could be enabled. Arn from MacRumors points out, “The benefit to this, of course, is when you move from word processing to playing a game, the GPU could switch from one to the other automatically without requiring a log-out.”

This would enable support for a Hybrid SLI setup, which enables both GPUs to be used at the same time. This already exists in Windows’ PC’s, so Apple could enable it in the new notebooks with little to no announcements. While an argument remains about the benefits of a Hybrid SLI setup, “on-the-fly” switching between GPUs is considered a must by many users. “…being able to switch between the integrated 9400M and discrete 9600M GT on the fly without logging out would obviously be enormously easier than the current setup, and allow for some more creative automatic energy preferences—discrete when plugged in, integrated on battery,” Matt Buchanan explains for Gizmodo.

NVIDIA markets Hybrid SLI with the following two features:
Hybrid Power - which allows your to switch from one GPU to the other for better performance vs battery life. Apple’s MacBook Pros do support this feature but presently require you to log out.
GeForce Boost - this is the feature that allows both GPUs to run simultaneously to provide even better performance (and presumably, even less battery life).

Additionally, NVIDIA has confirmed that their new chipsets can officially handle up to 8GB of RAM. While we have yet to see a Macbook/Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM installed, any creative professional, or gamer looking to vastly increase performance should be excited about such news.

While all of the functionality explained is entirely possible, we may never see it come to life. Without Apple’s support, and specifically a new software update targeted at the Mabook Pro’s drivers, we may not see “on-the-fly” switching any time soon. At least not from Cupertino.

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