I owned a 15.4" MacBook Pro for the past two years. My boyfriend owns a 17" (we've been dating for two years and I live with him - I've experienced that laptop too.)
This laptop alone has made us both hate Macintoshs.
They are nice computers. They run fast, the operating system is generally pretty good. But, here are the issues that he and I ALONE have had (I won't include friend's experiences):
15.4" : Within two months of owning the computer the backlight dies while I am traveling in Paris.
17": One morning Jason wakes up. He's playing WoW - smells something burning. That would be his flesh. He still has scars two years later - it's not too attractive.
15.4" : Small dents occur between class and home even though the laptop is in an extremely well padded case and a padded backpack. Mostly from just setting it down.
Both 15.4" and 17" : Mag-Safe power adapters burn. They are unusable. Has happened to each of us twice. Apple knows about this problem - has for two years, has never done a recall. (read more here: http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=Magsafe)
17" : June of 2007, year after owning the computer, battery literally explodes. An external fan has been attached every single day because the computer gets hot. We turn it into the Apple store and tell them to replace the case. They give us a new battery and tell us everything is fine.
Two months later, the screen starts having lines through it. A guy reconnects a cable and tells us that should do it. A day later the screen dies. We get a nice Genius who agrees to take it home with him to see if he can figure it out better. He calls us and tells us it's so messed up inside (burned stuff from heat and what not) that he will give us a new one.
17": We put Leopard on this computer - I didn't put it on mine. Problems occur. First, a blue screen. We reinstall, it works. But time machine won't back up. It just fails. Fails fails. We wipe the hard drive and reformat it just in case. Fails. Bring it into Apple - they don't know what to do. They tell us they can back it up - corrupts all the files. They wipe it before we got to check the back up. This doesn't fix the problem. Now the computer is going so slow it's not even funny. We have to take 5 trips in a week to the Apple store. First guy tells us it's because we named the HD a symbol. That wasn't the issue at all. Finally someone fixes it. We can't even remember how but it was something REALLY stupid.
15.4" : CD drives stops working. It's less than 2 years old. It doesn't read, it just spits back out. It won't burn and it won't install things. Makes it diffucult - corrupts many CDs. Take into Apple, they replace it instore. Yet, two screws are missing now - the screws that hold the top of my case to the bottom. They say it's no big deal and blame a small dent I have on it. They tell me that dents can cause these metal tabs that hold the case together to bend and break off. I tell them they were still connected safely when I turned it in. They tell me I have dents. I ask where the tabs are now. They tell me I have dents. After the third time of asking where the tabs are, we say "did they just disappear." The guy leaves, the guy who fixes it came up, he tore off the tabs when taking apart the computer, they issue a customer service number and replace the case just like that. This was after and hour and a half of waiting and fighting with them.
I sold that baby right after the new case came on.
17": Slightly burns flesh again. Still reaching temperatures of 200 degrees fareinheit when running games - particularly in XP.
My laptop now doesn't burn flesh. I don't have to deal with anything. It runs better than my boyfriend's 17".
I wouldn't recommend it. I've had far too many problems, and seen more, to ever tell anyone that it's a good machine. Especially for it's cost. It is far too expensive for a machine that is inferior to many that are lesser priced than it. What you get for what you pay isn't enough. It's not sturdy. It doesn't run super fast. Apple is starting to get viruses - and they are still saying about how they don't. I know a kid who got a Trojan.
Look at the Sony Vaio FW. It's what I got. It's not too far from a Mac (I've been a Mac user all my life so I wasn't switching to a dull black box PC). White exterior, cool round hinge, doesn't burn, runs well, oh, and it's like $1,500 dollars cheaper - with a bigger HD and faster processor. It has saved my life! I love it so much.... and it kind of has the styling of a Mac - I'll admit - but it is much different.