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

[diddl14]

The irony is that not a single person on this planet complained the 2015 was too thick. I haven't met anybody online or offline who said they wished it was thinner. Yet they trimmed it down along with the battery.

Read the report. They got 19h (!) on the 13" model on a single test. Thinness is not the problem, nor is the battery.
Some crappy driver is causing havoc...

 

[WarDialer]

Next software update will remove the battery change remaining indicator completely - problem solved! /s

 

[R.T.]

No battery issues here, my 13 lasts around 8-10 hours on average.

 

[69Mustang]

Really seems at this point that Consumer Reports has resorted to the equivalent of click baiting to get attention, by finding some "horrible" problem with any new Apple product (that probably isn't nearly as dire a problem as they make it out to be). It's courageous though.

But didn't CR rate the Air and the MBP the most reliable laptops on multiple occasions? Minus the iP4, haven't they rated iPhones highly? Don't iPads predictably get high ratings? Am I wrong here?

 

[fermat-au]

Except these cases popped up with safety regulators and other official organizations. When it's hearsay and a potentially flawed testing methodology (19 hours!? And it's hidden so there's no real verification), it's quite a bit different. And this is a usability issue rather than a public safety issue. I haven't been banned from bringing my amazing MacBook Pro on my flight.

Sad attempt to bring down one of the best selling laptops of the year. Genuinely hope people get their back ordered ones soon.

My point isn't to defend the Note 7 or the 2016 MBP. My point is that a sample size of one, you or my friend, tells us almost nothing about whether or not a product has a problem. Most Note 7s didn't catch fire, but to recall them was the right decision. Even if only 5-10% of MBPs have the Battery Life inconsistency issue, it is still a valid criticism of the product, that consumers should be aware of.

 

[kwikdeth]

Good. I don't have an issue with my 15" tMBP, but as the media presses Apple, they will have to either optimize the heck out of their software of stop the wafer thin obsession. Good for the future either way, although nothing will make some here happy, ever.

honestly i would be pretty happy if they ditched the thin obsession. that IMO is the real reason the product line has suffered.

 

[dxmac99]

whats their recommendation on apple emojis?

 

[marty11]

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.

 

[cdmoore74]

I hope that this improves the internals for next year's model.

Don't you mean whenever Apple decides to release another update? That could be 2 to 4 years.

 

[RadioGaGa1984]

I've done well through the years of completely ignoring CR so I think I will continue.

 

[Yojimbo007]

tactless dodging of CR's question !
Not good Apple !

 

[Rob_2811]

Has anybody told Consumer reports that this MacBook is 13% thinner than the previous model??!

 

[Soccertess]

GUYS! Apple fixed the battery issue with an update.. "They are removing the time remaining.."

Tim solves everything, again. Now please go back to buying dongles and Iphones. Don't worry about the macs, they are Tim's top priority... wink wink nudge nudge

 

[Raptura]

Ever look at Apple's MacBook Pro info page and look at the footnotes as well? It'll tell you under what conditions the battery life estimates were conducted at.

I'm getting about 8 hours on my new tbMBP under Safari usage only, less of course when incorporating PS, AI and more. I'd say that's pretty damn good compared to my 2012 Retina MBP which now has about 3 hours. I don't know when I'd ever need to use my MacBook Pro for 4+ hours without a power plug near me anyway.

 

[Markusxl]

My point isn't to defend the Note 7 or the 2016 MBP. My point is that a sample size of one, you or my friend, tells us almost nothing about whether or not a product has a problem. Most Note 7s didn't catch fire, but to recall them was the right decision. Even if only 5-10% of MBPs have the Battery Life inconsistency issue, it is still a valid criticism of the product, that consumers should be aware of.

weird choice of comparison. you used a severe quality issue that affected safety and was well documented with an issue of extreme variability that can occur in any battery.

thankfully, this doesn't seem to be affecting sales.

 

[macsrcool1234]

Courage eats up battery life.

 

[bladerunner2000]

I hope that this improves the internals for next year's model.

Don't forget about that disgusting price tag.

 

[TheHorrorNerd]

lol... consumer reports...

 

[nvmls]

If you bought this crap you should buy another just cause you can.

 

[flyinmac]

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.

I'd consider their biggest innovation to be the Apple picture Book. It's the first thing Apple had made in years that is expected to function flawlessly as intended.

 

[z0mbieSteveJobs]

You're charging it wrong

 

[dfelix]

C'mon. That's just stupid. The report writes they got 19h (!!!) on a test with the the 13". Obviously not a hw problem and certainly not due to thinner design.

The 2016 models bring a ton of sw updates including new hw drivers. Takes one bad line of code to cause the cpu or gpu to go wild. Since CR seem to be able to reproduce this, it shouldn't take ages for Apple to get this fixed.

Had they made it of normal, (2015ish) thickness they would have gotten like 43 hours, hence making your argument invalid.

AND held on to a firm minimum of like a proper 7 hours of normal computing stuff.

This obsession with thinness has to stop. Now. Enough.

 

[62tele]

Yes, because people who consider a Mac always check consumer reports.
They didn't recommend the iPhone 4 either and it didn't dissuade sales.
Regardless the Microsoft shills on this forum are cracking open a Corona and high fiving.

Just got a 2016 MBP and I'm very pleased thus far. Battery life is not an issue for me.

 

[69Mustang]

weird choice of comparison. you used a severe quality issue that affected safety and was well documented with an issue of extreme variability that can occur in any battery.

thankfully, this doesn't seem to be affecting sales.

I think @fermat-au was pointing out the absurdity of individual anecdotes used as empirical evidence of... well, of anything. You and the poster he addressed seemed to miss the point about anecdotes and focused on the Note example. Forest and tree.

 

[developer13245]

Removing the "Time Remaining" indication FEATURE from Sierra to cover up this issue is just more evidence that Apple has lost its way.

Also, Apple declining comment to CR is an outright snub - Also very bad behavior.

The Apple brand is now tarnished.