Notebookcheck Logo

CheckBack | Apple's MacBook Pro 17 was discontinued in 2012 but revisiting our 2011 model review will help soothe the pain

(Image source: Notebookcheck/various - edited)
(Image source: Notebookcheck/various - edited)
The Apple MacBook Pro 17 was one of the first Thunderbolt-enabled laptops on the market. It featured a large 95 Wh battery and a mighty 45 W Intel CPU. As with many Apple products, it was the high price that took a lot of shine out of the deal.
Workstation Thunderbolt MacBook Laptop Intel

CheckBack - scouring the Notebookcheck archives

Waa-ay before Apple started seriously considering a switch to the ARM processor architecture, the company had a brilliant productivity laptop in its portfolio with a screen that measured 17.3 inches across. Its name was MacBook Pro 17 and it had something that no MacBook in production today has: Upgradeable RAM. Oh, and the Apple logo on the lid glowed a lovely white colour when the Pro was in use.

The Apple logo would light up the moment the laptop was turned on. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
The Apple logo would light up the moment the laptop was turned on. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
The Apple MC725D/A came with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installed (Image source: Notebookcheck)
The Apple MC725D/A came with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard installed
It had a lot of ports, including the MagSafe port for convenient charging. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
It had a lot of ports, including the MagSafe port for convenient charging

The model we tested back in 2011 was based on Intel's quad-core Core i7-2720QM CPU mated to AMD's Radeon HD 6750M graphics card. Its model number was MC725D/A and it was massive.

  • Apple MB Pro 17 2011 MC725D/A dimensions: 393 by 267 by 25 mm
The bottom of the 2.9 kg aluminum case was one of its few weak spots. (Image source: Notebookcheck)
The bottom of the 2.9 kg aluminum case was one of its few weak spots. (Image source: Notebookcheck)

The Pro was one of the very first Thunderbolt-enabled laptops on the market; it skimped on USB 3.0 support because the innovative protocol allowed for much higher data transfer rates. History wasn't exactly kind to Thunderbolt; it wasn't until version 3 that Thunderbolt accessories finally started popping up on actual store shelves en masse.

There was also a Matshita optical drive, allowing one to read and write to CD and DVD disks.

The MacBook Pro 17 featured an optical drive with no Blu-Ray/HD DVD support. This was a shame, considering the starting price of around €2,500 (~US$2,733)
The MacBook Pro 17 featured an optical drive with no Blu-Ray/HD DVD support. This was a shame, considering the starting price of around €2,500 (~US$2,733)

Thunderbolt wasn't the only port around, of course; there were also an ExpressCard slot, a FireWire 800 port, a 1 Gbit Ethernet port and three USB 2.0 ports. Both analog audio input and output were integrated, too. The user also had an option of outputting a video signal via DisplayPort.

While the built-in keyboard was more than decent, the right-hand set of keys found on full-size keyboards was not present here
While the built-in keyboard was more than decent, the right-hand set of keys found on full-size keyboards was not present here

As our review editor at the time, Tobias Winkler, noted, the MacBook Pro's backlit keyboard was great, much like its touchpad. Then there was the gorgeous screen with a brightness of around 270 cd/m2 that covered 73% of the P3 colour gamut, which was impressive in those days.

  • Apple MB Pro 17 2011 MC725D/A screen specs: 17.3 inches, IPS, 1920 by 1200 pixels (16:10 aspect ratio)

The system proved capable of running many games at 1200p/Medium, StarCraft 2 included. Of course, one would have to install Windows via BootCamp first. Our testing also uncovered quite a bit of CPU throttling (which is unfortunately common for the majority of Apple laptops); in exchange, the Pro was rather quiet when under loads of most kinds at around 33 dB (A). It never got hot either, at no more than 41 °C on the top and 43 °C on the bottom.

A 95 Wh battery came as standard, and it was good for 7 to 8 hours of watching movies and scrolling websites. The internal speakers were very good, if not quite as good as what the 16-inch MacBook Pro (2023) has.

Overall, this was a terrific product with few drawbacks. Perhaps it was its high price that led to the Pro's subpar sales and, ultimately, discontinuation. Thankfully, this laptop's legacy lives on as we have the Apple Silicon-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro now.

Buy a refurbished MacBook Pro 16" (2021 model, M1 Pro chip, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) on Amazon

Read all 2 comments / answer
static version load dynamic
Loading Comments
Comment on this article
Please share our article, every link counts!
> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2023 04 > Apple's MacBook Pro 17 was discontinued in 2012 but revisiting our 2011 model review will help soothe the pain
Sergey Tarasov, 2023-04- 9 (Update: 2023-04- 9)