Apple has quietly updated their pages for the new 17" unibody MacBook Pro to reflect a change from accepting pre-orders to offering shipment in 7-10 business days for new orders. In addition, several international Apple online stores have added a "Now Shipping" badge to the 17" MacBook Pro ad on their front pages.

MacBook Pro ad banner from Apple's Canadian online store
The new 17" MacBook Pro was announced at Macworld San Francisco with availability planned for "late January". The updated machine adopts many of the design changes introduced in the 15" MacBook Pro and 13" MacBook in October 2008, but notably features a non-user-replaceable battery designed to provide 8-hour battery life and to retain up to 80% of its original capacity for up to 1000 charge cycles.
Users are encouraged to visit our MacBook Pro forum for the latest updates from users awaiting delivery of the new machines.