By Aaron Hintgen  |    aaron@fndtn.com

In January, Apple announced a new 17” MacBook Pro that is now shipping. The unibody aluminum enclosure and glossy screen brings its looks in line with the current MacBook and 15” MacBook Pro.

Beyond the look of the body, the 17” MacBook Pro is the thinnest and lightest 17” notebook computer in wide production. Included is a new, non-replaceable (except by an Apple Authorized Service Provider) battery that lasts 8 hours on a single charge. The built-in battery also can be recharged over 1000 times, which is nearly 3 times more than ordinary notebook batteries.

The 17” MacBook Pro now features a larger multi-touch trackpad, which no longer has a physical button but has a trackpad that is itself clickable.   The MacBook Pro also features two graphics processors, one more powerful and one for better battery life. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M is the better battery life option and the second, more powerful graphics processor is the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT. Using the 9400M is needed to get the full 8 hour battery life. Users can switch between the graphics cards as needed, depending on performance or battery life priority at the moment. Switching between the graphics processors does require a logout.

The 17” MacBook Pro starts at $2799.