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Apple kills 17-inch MacBook Pro

When bigger is no longer better.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
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Joshua Goldman
2 min read

Apple has no more love for the 17-inch laptop. Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

More than nine years after Apple created the first one, Apple's unceremoniously removed its 17-inch laptop from its lineup, announcing just 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros and the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display at WWDC 2012.

And it's likely that no one will ever miss it.

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Apple was the first manufacturer to add a 17-inch laptop to its lineup in 2003 -- the largest screen available from any vendor at the time -- and has had one ever since. But with the new wide-screen, ultrahigh-resolution Retina Display, those extra couple inches might be irrelevant.

After all, mobility is key now, not screen size. It used to be you needed a larger laptop to get performance good enough to replace a desktop, but that's no longer the case. (I mean, look at Apple's tag line above the new models.)

A 15-inch screen is plenty for most purposes when you're traveling, and when you're not, you can connect into an external display. And really, look at how much people can get done on the 9.7-inch iPad screen and 3.5-inch iPhone screen.

What do you think? Is there still a need for a 17-inch MacBook? Do you think it'll make a return when Apple can offer a more affordable 17-inch Retina version?