If you havn't already read it...here it is:

After having this guy for over two weeks I'm prepared to make some general, and a little more specific comments on this behemoth of a Powerbook.

Lets start from the top. Apple has totally redesigned the structure of the Powerbook, replacing the prone to scratching titanium paint with a newer, sleeker more resistant aluminum. It is about the size of a legal pad when viewed from the top, and about as thing as one as well at just under an inch thick. It looks like one of Apple"s iApps with its brushed aluminum look.

The ports once on the back side of its smaller 15" sibling have been moved to either side, giving the computer easier access to peripherals such as mice, keyboards and iPods. Also new is a FireWire 800 port, not seen on any other laptops to date.

Enough of the tech specs....lets talk about using the computer.

The display opens with a simple click of the latch, and the boy does it open. I can lift up the display with one single finger and close it just the same. The screen is bright, as much so as the 15" Saturation, color uniformity is all perfect as I"ve come to expect from Apple products.

The area around the trackpad is vast. I can put a CD in either of the lower corners and there is still over an inch of clearance between the CD and the trackpad. My palms don"t feel at all cramped and the trackpad has also been widened. The click of the single button is similar to that of the 12" counterpart. It has a definite click in a subtle way. I find it very tactile.

Apple has done something with these generation Powerbooks that they have not done in some time. The keyboard is no longer removable, exposing the innards of the machine. Instead, the user only has access to the battery compartment, RAM expansion and Airport extreme, which comes standard with this unit. Thus the keyboard feels much more responsive, the click of the keys is nice and has a good, comfortable spongy feel to it.
Also new, is the addition of a backlight underneath the keyboard. Although not as bright as Apple claims on their website, the white light provides adequate light to illuminate all of the keys on the keyboard. This will come in handy on airplanes, even to us touch-typists.

This unit feels refined. This doesn"t feel like a Rev A machine. Apple knew the flaws of the 15", such as the paint chipping, hot power button, marks on the screen and other small but there issues and fixed every single one of them. This beauty has two screen latches and one giant hinge as opposed to two smaller ones that were prone to breaking.

Speed. This thing flies. It comes standard with 512 Megabytes of DDR PC 2700 RAM, and upon bootup, everything happened faster. From switching between applications to watching a DVD movie, everything is up to snuff. Burning CDs at 16X, DVDs at 1x is a snap. Everything from rendering things in Maya to performing complex filters in Adobe?s Photoshop is superb.

However, this does come at a big price. At 6.8 pounds its not the lightest Apple notebook, but its also not the heaviest in the Windows world. For comparison, the heaviest laptop made by Dell weighs in at a not-so-portable 8.6 pounds, and with that you do not get a massive 17" screen and DVD burner.

Everything from the polished aluminum finish, to the sturdy feel of this monster of a laptop screams refined.

My rating, 9.6/10

Pros: Massive 17" Screen, Backlit keyboard, SuperDrive, Fast
Cons: Too expensive for every Apple fan to own.

Pictures and video coming tomorrow.