This time last year, Apple's Steve Jobs was outdoing everyone's efforts at CES 2008 with one fell swoop. 2008's MacWorld event lit up the Interweb with news of the world's thinnest notebook, a seemingly lacklustre system with enough sex appeal to catch everyone's eye.
Twelve months later and MacWorld is back - reportedly for the very last time, and without the charismatic Steve Jobs taking to the stage. This time around, the Jobs-less event turned to Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, who unveiled the only new piece of hardware on show - a 17in version of Apple's MacBook Pro.
The largest MacBook Pro, pictured above, features an aluminium unibody enclosure and a non-removable battery that promises up to eight hours of juice. The 17in LED-backlit glossy display provides a resolution of 1,920x1,200, creating 78 per cent more pixels than the smaller 15in alternative.
Inside the system's sleek enclosure is a choice of Intel Core 2 Duo processors and NVIDIA GeForce 9-series graphics cards. Apple's most basic configuration - which fetches £1,949 - includes Intel's 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, and a combination of NVIDIA's integrated GeForce 9400M and discrete GeForce 9600M GT graphics.
At 0.98in thick and weighing just 6.6lbs, Apple claims the range-topping MacBook Pro to be the world's thinnest and lightest 17in notebook.
Expected to ship later this month, the MacBook Pro is available to pre-order now from Apple.com/uk.
Official press release: Apple Introduces 17-inch MacBook Pro With Revolutionary New Built-in Battery That Delivers Eight Hours of Use & 1,000 Recharges
