2016 MacBook Pro Denied Recommendation From Consumer Reports Due to Battery Life Inconsistencies

[Plutonius]

Consumer Reports doesn't like it, I guess I will not buy one.

/S

 

[M2M]

That's actually a brilliant thought. Business do odd things that are unintuitive to customers. I bet Apple will just port Xcode to the iPad and call it quits with computers.

Cook: "I think if you're looking at the new MacBook Pro, why would you buy a new MacBook Pro anymore? No really, why would you buy one?" He continued: "Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a MacBook Pro or a MacPro for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones."

/sarcasm

 

[gate5blues]

I would dispute that... I know a lot of people that felt the MBP was too big and heavy and endlessly dreamed of a 13/15" MBA with Retina screen. They mostly had MBAs they just wanted the same thing w/ Retina and wouldn't go to a bigger heavier MBA to do it... a bunch went to MB12s. So, lots of people I know like smaller. Now, would any of them felt good about < 8 hours of battery life to get that, no they wouldn't.

Yeah, but aren't you talking about a whole other market? Those folks wanted a better MacBook Air. I feel like Pro users, the entire point of the pro line, got shafted!

 

[Speedy Dingo]

Wake up call for Tim Cook. So many employees, such an advanced campus being built and such poor product development.

Biggest innovation of the past 3 years: Headphones.

Don't forget Watch straps, emoji redesigns & Rose gold variations.

 

[volcomvenom]

Great, I am so glad about this news it's not even funny. My battery life on my returned macbook pro sucked.

 

[Kabeyun]

This'll be in all the papers tomorrow.

Thing is, I don't trust CS to do a valid battery test. I'm not saying there isn't an issue, or even that this isn't a bit of QI comeuppance for Apple, but I am saying CS are not computer experts or even technical authorities.

 

[anoobis]

My 15" base model MBP (2016) has pretty bad battery life. I get about 3 hours with web browsing (watching a YouTube video in the background for 75% of that time).

About 75-80% screen brightness.

~6.5 GB RAM in app memory. Nothing eating up more than 10% CPU.

Received it 11/18.

My friend with a maxed out 15" also has around the same battery life and he's a super fan boi. For him to readily admit disappointment is a big statement.

Sucks

 

[GoodWheaties]

Do they run these tests until it dies, or are they just looking at the battery monitor for a while? Same thing for people who are complaining about the battery life: do they run it until it stops, or are they just looking at the monitor?

Even with my old 2011 MBP, the battery monitor was never all that accurate and would jump around like crazy depending on what I'd be doing. It would often last at least a half hour to an hour longer than it stated.

It states in the article that the test is run till the computer shuts down. I believe all reputable review sites do that, using a video camera or something to measure time elapsed.

 

[bice]

Any consumer with the problem should contact Apple care and they will remove Safari. Problem solved.

 

[Buckster2]

Apple, please don't make the next MacBook *PRO* thinner and more disposable! For work I MUST have a really top notch MacBook *PRO* to be used every day:

• A HUGE battery PLEASE!
• A large 17" screen PLEASE!
• I large bay to add a second disk!
• Large memory for virtual machine hosting
• Lots of port connectivity!!!! Why the heck not!!!
• Super solid keyboard.
• And Magsafe - PLEASEEEEEEEE bring back Magsafe!!!!!!!!

What is the issue with not putting a large battery in the 2016 MacBooks??? I know - thinness. Why are you so focused on thinness? Almost like a management psychosis, "make the screen smaller", "thinner", "no thinner", "remove the ports", "thinner", "remove the battery!", "still looks FAT!".

Have the line of Air MacBooks for the anorexic leaning management at Apple, but please, have another line, the pro line that loads up on the good stuff! We don't care if it's not super skinny, it could even be on the chubby side! Really!

 

[truthertech]

Not surprising in the least. Can we finally put to bed the notion that this is in any way shape or form intended for, or marketed at, true professionals?

Edit: I'm sure Phil Schiller will issue a boilerplate tweet shortly...

No, Consumer Reports said nothing about it's suitability as a "pro" machine, just that they found too much variable with their testing of the battery. Sorry to disappoint you. Meanwhile many pros love it and the majority of reviews are very positive. There are tons of reviews that tout the capabilities for pros, but here are just a few.

Sorry, but facts don't care about your feelings.


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tho...essionals-look-at_b_12894856.html?1478795028&

https://9to5mac.com/2015/06/24/review-15-inch-macbook-pro-video/

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/macbook-pro

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/05/15/2016-macbook-pro-review/

 

[anoobis]

No, Consumer Reports said nothing about it's suitability as a "pro" machine, just that they found too much variable with their testing of the battery. Sorry to disappoint you. Meanwhile many pros love it and the majority of reviews are very positive. There are tons of reviews that tout the capabilities for pros, but here are just a few.

Sorry, but facts don't care about your feelings.


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tho...essionals-look-at_b_12894856.html?1478795028&

https://9to5mac.com/2015/06/24/review-15-inch-macbook-pro-video/

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/macbook-pro

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/05/15/2016-macbook-pro-review/

Reviews aren't facts....

 

[hiddenmarkov]

As much as I love the design team first philosophy. One that Steve Jobs yelled home about (they made some cool stuff when pushed to meet a design). Once it starts to compromise the use of the machine then logic should prevail.

I still have a 2011 MacBook Pro. If I had to upgrade today I'd be looking at refurbished last gen :/

I am happy with my 2015. Don't have the bells and whistles of the 2016 but....the bells and whistles not impressive to me regardless.

The battery issue is just darkly humorous to me. I was in the lets make the MBP more ballsy crowd. We were told....No, sorry but too much power. And here we are, a less ballsy MBP with power issues. well issues if not using apple software exactly how they use it (which seems to be not much really). Since given the vast array of Apple in house developed software you never have a need to install 3rd party apps, oh wait...

Speaking of which...did apple test battery life with touchbar being used...or was that an extraneous use thing too? Not even being a smartass...I genuinely wonder for power testing if they fired up a youtuber's channel let it autocycle vids till it died.

New guy: Should we test if people, you know, actually use the bar every few minutes?
Apple bitter vet engineer: Nah...nobody is going to use touch bar while watching youtube for 10 hours.
New guy: Umm...think we can have a better test since who the hell watches youtube for 10 hours regardless then?
Apple bitter vet: walk with me new guy, we need to talk about how we do things here...and how you having crazy ideas not really meshing with that.

 

[exexs]

2016 lineup:

- MacBook Air: thin and light, low power
- MacBook: thin and light, low power
- MacBook Pro: thin and light, a little power

Great

How can anyone at Apple think it's the right thing to do? Just how... Hire anyone of the forum members here and get better inputs on how products should look like Apple...

 

[jeh72]

Apple, please don't make the next MacBook *PRO* thinner and more disposable! For work I MUST have a really top notch MacBook *PRO* to be used every day:

• A HUGE battery PLEASE!
• A large 17" screen PLEASE!
• I large bay to add a second disk!
• Large memory for virtual machine hosting
• Lots of port connectivity!!!! Why the heck not!!!
• Super solid keyboard.

What is the issue with not putting a large battery in the 2016 MacBooks??? I know - thinness. Why are you so focused on thinness? Almost like a management psychosis, "make the screen smaller", "thinner", "no thinner", "remove the ports", "thinner", "remove the battery!", "still looks FAT!".

Have the line of Air MacBooks for the anorexic leaning management at Apple, but please, have another line, the pro line that loads up on the good stuff! We don't care if it's not super skinny, it could even be on the chubby side! Really!

It sounds like you want a mobile workstation, like Dell Precision, Thinkpad P50/70, or HP zBook...They satisfy all of your criteria

 

[kugino]

do people actually go to CR for computer info? who knew?

 

[MH01]

Can we stop calling this a "MBP Battery" issue?

Obviously some piece of sw is draining the battery.
Could be macOS, a driver or any 3rd app that simply behaves bad.

So far I'm not seeing this behaviour on my 15" MB Pro so the hw is obviously not the problem.

Edit: the report actually made quit clear that Safari is the killer. With Chrome "we ran two trials on each of the laptops, and found battery life to be consistently high on all six runs.".

Or maybe a smaller battery.....

I can go from 4 hours to 9 hours by changing settings , new MacBook Pro only gets good battery if you run it with efficiency saving settings. Just playing with screen brightness has a major impact.

I've ran side by side comparisons between 2015 and 2016 doing CPU intensive tasks, and the smaller battery is the issue here, no magic software fix is going to put a larger battery in there.
[doublepost=1482473252][/doublepost]

do people actually go to CR for computer info? who knew?

Exactly, when you can come to MR to get such sound advice

 

[PizzaBoxStyle]

You clearly don't get what you pay for. So the choice is between having a touchbar and a poor battery life the other choice to go with a 2015 macbook pro

The funny thing is how a lot of people on here were clamoring for a new MacBook Pro, and now that Apple released one, a lot of people are clamoring for the old/"stale" MacBook Pro.

It's completely understandable though. And I think this reaction just sort of cements further the idea that this notebook wasn't particularly designed for the audiences of the 2012-2015 MBPs, that it's not really "Pro."

 

[MH01]

Any consumer with the problem should contact Apple care and they will remove Safari. Problem solved.

Ha ha ha. Wait for the firmware update that down clocks rhe CPU and GPU....that will fix it

 

[69650]

After what, a month or so of using this new machine, I can say a few things:

1. It's the most unstable Mac I've used since the switch from PowerPC to Intel (and that Core 2 MacBook EVENTUALLY became stable as they got the software issues dealt with).

2. The battery life is not terrible but not great.

3. The Touch Bar has a LOT of issues still.

This design was rushed (the recent reporting indicates as such). I imagine some of the issues will go away in time as software issues are dealt with. It lacks the polish consistent with my MacBooks, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs.

With all that said, I really, really like this machine. It's basically like a MacBook Pro Air (and for me, that's EXACTLY what I wanted). Most of the issues will be solved in time and even with its warts it's the right combination of speed, size, and awesome screen. Touch ID is more useful than the Touch Bar thus far. The mediocre battery life isn't a deal breaker for me, but there is no way I would recommend this machine to someone who honestly needs a lot of battery life.

I have a feeling I'm going to end up selling this machine and replacing it with the next revision though. I don't think it's going to end up being the four year machine I had hoped.

On the upside, I don't know how much thinner they can realistically make these machines. I mean, I realize it's possible but you can't get thinner than the USB-C ports themselves. I have a feeling the thin obsession is coming to an end because it... kinda has to.

How do you find using the new compact flat keyboard? It didn't seem all that comfortable to use when I tested the new MBP in store today.

 

[rickyipcw]

I wonder why nobody tests Firefox. Safari is not cross-platform, and Chrome is resource hungry.

 

[PizzaBoxStyle]

Smart move by Tim: Create a subpar MacBook Pro(?) which gets low ratings thus people won't buy. Later declare the notebook (and pro) market is dead and kill the line.

Same thing with the Mac Pro line...

 

[kobalap]

I know his was due to the issues with the new battery design, but I hope it does something to wake Apple up. They need to stop putting the design team first, they seem extremely arrogant.

And I love the way they quoted Apples response

I can't think of anything Apple has released in the past 3 years that hasn't been utter dog poo.

Phones with protruding cameras (not to mention bend gate).
A largely useless watch.
A Mac Pro that is largely useless to pros.
Another phone without a headset jack
Now, Macbook pros without SD card slots, that obsolete all the previous generation dongles and without one of the best features no other portable has - the magsafe.

It seems like someone really needs to ask this guys WTF they are thinking.

 

[ikir]

A product rushed to market. No surprise. They really dropped the ball on this. They may as well not released anything "new".

Easy to write this. No issue here, battery is good, it varies upon use but only test last about 9 hours

 

[MH01]

My 15" base model MBP (2016) has pretty bad battery life. I get about 3 hours with web browsing (watching a YouTube video in the background for 75% of that time).

About 75-80% screen brightness.

~6.5 GB RAM in app memory. Nothing eating up more than 10% CPU.

Received it 11/18.

My friend with a maxed out 15" also has around the same battery life and he's a super fan boi. For him to readily admit disappointment is a big statement.

Sucks

I had the same experience , drop your brightness to 30% and your battery life shoots up. These machines are made to run efficient settings, though most of us owners used them like prior machines.

So yes you can get good battery life on these machines , but you will have to turn stuff down and stay away from processor intesnsive work
[doublepost=1482476214][/doublepost]

Easy to write this. No issue here, battery is good, it varies upon use but only test last about 9 hours

Please turn up you brightness on your screen to 70-80 for one test of the battery.