I finally made the decision to get rid of my two laptops (an HP envy, and a 13" macbook pro) in favor of this 17" macbook pro with a dual boot setup using Boot Camp. Initial impressions: The best choice I've ever made. Here's the whole thing broken down:
THE SIZE
This thing is pretty beastly, but it's not unwieldy. You definitely feel its size the second you pick one up, or move it around, but you'll quickly get over that once you open it up and turn it on. The keyboard is super expansive, the screen is unbelievable (more on that later) and you can still stay mobile with this thing if you really need to. It's not something you can easily move around with 1 hand from room to room, but if you're like me, and do most of your work at a desk, then this is a great choice to make. (Note: I also own an iPad, which is a fantastic pair with this thing, since it does about 90% of what I do on-the-go as far as mobile computing goes.)
THE SCREEN
So I mentioned already that you'll most likely fall in love with this thing like I did when you open it up and turn it on. It has the highest PPI (pixels per inch) of all the apple laptops they sell and it shows. I actually am considering not even hooking this up to my external monitor anymore, because of how brilliantly sharp it is. Colors really pop and text is easy to read. Also, since it's 17", you get a better-than-HD 1920x1200 resolution. My work is in development, so this is really a major selling point for me. I need to be able to manage all my windows in Xcode and Interface builder without tons of overlap and clicking between browsers, my chat windows and my code.
THE KEYBOARD
If you've used a macbook pro keyboard in the past year or so, you'll feel right at home with this thing. I will say this as a negative, however: It's not super comfortable on your arms right past your wrist, because the sharp edges of the laptop dig into your skin after a while.
THE PERFORMANCE
I copied over my entire OS/settings to this new macbook pro and ran some field tests to see how fast this thing is in comparison to my old macbook pro--and it screams. An iPhone/iPad project that takes 5-10 seconds to build on my old machine (core 2 duo) takes a fraction of that time here. The i5 is most definitely a step up from previous core 2 duos. I finally have a laptop I can stick Windows 7 on that is as good as a dedicated Windows machine can do. (Being able to have this 1 comp to run both environments is great!)
BATTERY LIFE
I will have to come back and update on battery life, but I can tell you that it's worlds better than my HP. That was similarly spec'ed and barely worked 2 hours on the go. This one so far is looking like 6 hours with wifi and full brightness. They have it rated at 8-9 hours, but I'm sure that's with brightness turned down and not full use the whole time. Truthfully, anything better than 2 hours with this kind of power is great for me.
TOUCHPAD
Again, if you've used a recent MacBook Pro, this is essentially identical. The biggest change here is that you can now use "inertial" scrolling, so that you can just flick your fingers to scroll long pages, and it will keep scrolling until it slows to a stop. This is very similar to the iPhone scrolling of long pages, or if you've used a Magic Mouse, it does the same thing.
Also, of note, is that of all the new copy cat glass track pads, I haven't used one that works as well as these. Even inside Windows, it performs real well and you feel productive with it. I've used other PC's with the no-button glass touchpad, and it makes me want to throw them across the room after a few minutes..
OTHER THOUGHTS/CONCERNS
While I'll keep this at 5 stars, this isn't necessarily a perfect computer. I have a few gripes with it, but they aren't really deal breakers and all the other pros make up for them so well that I'm okay with it. For starters, this has three USB ports (the 15 and 13 model only have 2) but unfortunately they are literally all lined up next to each other. If you have any kind of a fat usb device, you're out of luck for placing anything next to it.
Also, you'll most likely need to buy the mini-display port to HDMI converter because while Apple loves mini-display port, the rest of the world is just now using HDMI as its standard. You can find one here on amazon for real cheap (<$10). I take this as a con simply because you'll need to (most likely) always carry around an adapter or two to hook up to most projects or tv's or monitors. VIDEO PERFORMANCE I haven't yet tested any games or anything but it'll run HD videos so smoothly and they look *fantastic* on this screen. Seriously--I thought my old macbook pro 13 looked good running HD, but this computer puts it to shame. I can't wait to try out some games on here. (Valve is coming to the mac soon! And of course Blizzard makes all their games for mac os as well, so what more do you really need? :) ) FINAL THOUGHTS If you're looking to spend this amount of money on an apple, and don't mind the bigger size of this thing, then go for it. You won't regret it. I'm so happy to be using this coming from the two laptops I had to previously carry around everywhere. Having everything in 1 device, with this much power, and with this great of a battery life, is a blessing. UPDATE - JUNE 10, 2010 I've had this laptop for some time now, and thought I'd go ahead and update on some of the things I promised I would earlier in the review. As some other reviewers have pointed out, I'm not quite sure how Apple managed to get 8 or 9 hours out of 1 charge, unless they were using it with all its wireless signals off and on very low brightness. But the battery life is still good--I can stay unplugged for 5+ hours if need be. Computer games on here run really well. Valve is indeed on the Mac now, and here to stay. The games work and look great! If you're a casual computer gamer, and like to play things like Half Life or Portal, Civilization, etc etc, then this computer will easily suit your need. Finally, I don't know how I missed this is in my first review, but the sound is really very good. It comes with a subwoofer inside, and can produce incredibly loud sound without distortion.
