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Is there a difference in battery life when comparing 13" MacBook Pro w/TouchBar and the one without?

T

testudoaubreii

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2014
109
13
Hello. I have a 2016 13" MacBook Pro (i5/8GB/256GB) with the TouchBar. I noticed that I am getting maybe 6 hours off battery life when using the device. I am watching videos, using Photoshop and Dreamweaver, with multiple browser tabs open. I thought I would get much more out of the battery than this. In fact, it was a major factor when deciding what device to purchase.

Anyhow, I am within my return window and I was wondering if any of you have the experience or know if there is a significant difference in battery life when comparing the model with and without the touchbar?

And, just to add one more thing...is there going to be a significant difference in battery life between the 2016 Skylake and the 2017 Kaby Lake that was just announced?

Thank you in advance for all help and responses!
 
I've heard the non TB gets better battery life. Maybe try talking with a tech to see if there's anything else you can do. Or maybe even try the new Kaby lake version when it's out.
 
Yes, there is a huge difference in battery life. the nTB model apart from a larger battery and a SLIGHTLY less powerful CPU (the difference is around 3%) also doesn't have the touch bar running 24/7 in the background, which is a huge power hog.

Personally I think the nTB model is the true pro machine, it has awesome battery life (I can easily get 10-11 hours of light use), pretty much the same power and way fewer bugs and glitches thanks to the lack of the touch bar.
 
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Pangalactic said:
Yes, there is a huge difference in battery life. the nTB model apart from a larger battery and a SLIGHTLY less powerful CPU (the difference is around 3%) also doesn't have the touch bar running 24/7 in the background, which is a huge power hog.

Personally I think the nTB model is the true pro machine, it has awesome battery life (I can easily get 10-11 hours of light use), pretty much the same power and way fewer bugs and glitches thanks to the lack of the touch bar.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your reply! That is good to hear. I cannot get a new MacBook from the actual store. I have to use Amazon. So, I can either return it and wait for the Kaby Lakes to show up in Amazon or return it and get one without the Touch Bar.

My main thing right now is battery life. So, if there is not much of a difference in performance between the 2016 nTB and the 2017 nTB, I may just go ahead and get it.

Do you think I should wait or go with the 2016? I mean, is there a significant difference between the two for what I need it for?
 
testudoaubreii said:
Thank you very much for your reply! That is good to hear. I cannot get a new MacBook from the actual store. I have to use Amazon. So, I can either return it and wait for the Kaby Lakes to show up in Amazon or return it and get one without the Touch Bar.

My main thing right now is battery life. So, if there is not much of a difference in performance between the 2016 nTB and the 2017 nTB, I may just go ahead and get it.

Do you think I should wait or go with the 2016? I mean, is there a significant difference between the two for what I need it for?
Click to expand...

Go for 2017
 
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testudoaubreii said:
Do you think I should wait or go with the 2016? I mean, is there a significant difference between the two for what I need it for?
Click to expand...

Doesn't really matter. My guess is the new model might be 5-7% faster in demanding tasks, but otherwise they will probably we equal.

One reason I can advise to go for the 2017 though is build quality - the 2016 does have some hardware issues (like keys getting stuck), and even though apple doesn't admit it, it may very well be that in the 2nd generation they have all been ironed out.
 
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Pangalactic said:
Doesn't really matter. My guess is the new model might be 5-7% faster in demanding tasks, but otherwise they will probably we equal.

One reason I can advise to go for the 2017 though is build quality - the 2016 does have some hardware issues (like keys getting stuck), and even though apple doesn't admit it, it may very well be that in the 2nd generation they have all been ironed out.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I have something to think about.
 
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