MacBook Pro Touch reviews from actual users

[badlydrawnboy]

I rebooted but I'm still seeing high CPU usage for kernel_task and WindowServer. How do I troubleshoot this?

 

[davidf18]

I rebooted but I'm still seeing high CPU usage for kernel_task and WindowServer. How do I troubleshoot this?

Evernote may be synching which may in some manner affect other background tasks.

I use and recommend the free MS OneNote instead.

Also, I don't install Dropbox directly but rather use the web upload/download for Dropbox. I have found (and when dealing with high level Apple support) that Dropbox can be a problem.

I also see Droplr process and I don't know what that is about.

Also, for the record, under /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools, ~/Library/LaunchAgents I delete all unnecessary calls to daemons. Updates (for example google, java, MS) tend to again add daemons to these folders so I check them periodically, esp. after an update.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Evernote may be synching which may in some manner affect other background tasks.

I use and recommend the free MS OneNote instead.

Also, I don't install Dropbox directly but rather use the web upload/download for Dropbox. I have found (and when dealing with high level Apple support) that Dropbox can be a problem.

I also see Droplr process and I don't know what that is about.

Also, for the record, under /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools, ~/Library/LaunchAgents I delete all unnecessary calls to daemons. Updates (for example google, java, MS) tend to again add daemons to these folders so I check them periodically, esp. after an update.

I appreciate this, but I am not using this MBP in a different way than I use my 2013 MBA, and although it's 3 years old it still gets 11+ hours of battery per charge. I shouldn't have to adjust my usage like this.

I will charge to full again soon (since I only have 38 minutes left) and see what happens on the next cycle. If it gets less than 8 hours it's going back to Apple.

 

[cibonak]

i am happy with my ipad pro 12.9 and the smart keyboard.

always between 10 and 12 hours (video,web, pages)

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Battery ran out about 20 min ago. I got about 6.5 hours of use, max. I'm really hoping the next cycle is better, but somehow I doubt it will be >2 hours better.

Any reports from 15" users?

 

[JohnnyGo]

Battery ran out about 20 min ago. I got about 6.5 hours of use, max. I'm really hoping the next cycle is better, but somehow I doubt it will be >2 hours better.

Any reports from 15" users?

Photos and/or spotlight are probably hurting your battery. Give it another day or two and report back.

My new MBP got delivered but I am away on a business trip dying to see if I can replace my 2013 MBA road warrior

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Don't use Photos and Spotlight isn't running in Activity Monitor.

 

[OzyOly]

Don't use Photos and Spotlight isn't running in Activity Monitor.

What about iCloud drive?

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Haven't set it up yet. But that's irrelevant, because these are features that I want to be able to use on my laptop. I use them right now with my MacBook there, and I get over 11 hours of battery life. I want to compare apples to apples.

 

[burgman]

Got my 13" TB this afternoon. My impressions:

• Keyboard will take some getting used to. I'm making a lot more mistakes than I usually do, but I can see that changing over time as I get accustomed to it. I can even see glimpses of liking it better than the Magic Keyboard that I use with my iMac.
• Mixed feelings about the trackpad. Love the button press sensation, way less travel than the old one. However, not sure about size. There have been a few times so far when I accidentally changed the cursor location on the screen when filling out a form just by my hand resting on it. Hopefully I can adjust.
• Screen is AMAZING. I'm coming from a 2013 MBA so the difference is dramatic.
• Love the speakers as others have mentioned. Also dramatic difference.
• I like the compact size (footprint smaller than 2013 MBA), and I love the space grey color.
• I haven't used the TB itself much at all yet, but I'm totally sold on TouchID. I'm a heavy 1Password user and being able to access the vault with a finger touch is huge. I've also enjoyed using it for App Store, etc.
• Re: TB, I'm at least open to the possibility that it could be pretty useful.
• Biggest concern is battery life. Immediately after unplugging from power it said 9:51 remaining, which seemed okay. But after less than an hour of doing nothing but light web browsing for 15-20 min, and the computer remaining idle while I ate dinner, it's down to 6:57 remaining. Screen brightness is at 50%. That is pretty much a deal-breaker.

Unfortunately I am going to have to return this machine as I need closer to 10 hours of battery life. I haven't decided if I'll replace it with a 15" version or the 13" non-TB version. I've already grown attached to TouchID and am reluctant to give it up, but don't love the idea of an extra pound of weight, especially since my primary use for this laptop is business travel. Will be a tough choice.

What is it with people vapor locking about battery life after less than 24 hours after setup? That is a noob move, at least a few posters update to say battery's fine after time has passed for indexing and other tasks to complete.

 

[mattopotamus]

Haven't set it up yet. But that's irrelevant, because these are features that I want to be able to use on my laptop. I use them right now with my MacBook there, and I get over 11 hours of battery life. I want to compare apples to apples.

I'll never understand that logic either. Those are all light task. That is like saying, don't use your Mac and test the battery life. I do find it weird that they put 10hours battery for both the TB and non-TB considering it is impossible for them to have the same battery with what we know (battery size, CPU Wattage)

 

[fox10078]

I love it, touch bar is very nice.

Slight quality of life fix would be an ejection button shows up on the touchbar when you highlight a disk or removeable hard drive/storage

 

[Bryan Bowler]

What is it with people vapor locking about battery life after less than 24 hours after setup? That is a noob move, at least a few posters update to say battery's fine after time has passed for indexing and other tasks to complete.

I don't understand it either. They need to wait upwards of a week of regular use and then judge from that point forward. In addition to the indexing you smartly highlighted, sometimes it takes a lithium battery a few days to get up to speed. You don't have to drain it like the old days, you just need to exercise the battery by keeping electrons flowing in and out of it.

I understand your concern folks, but you need to give it one week before you can make any calls.

 

[mattopotamus]

I don't understand it either. They need to wait upwards of a week of regular use and then judge from that point forward. In addition to the indexing you smartly highlighted, sometimes it takes a lithium battery a few days to get up to speed. You don't have to drain it like the old days, you just need to exercise the battery by keeping electrons flowing in and out of it.

I understand your concern folks, but you need to give it one week before you can make any calls.

Agreed. After 1 day you cannot make battery life claims. The concern with their battery life is that reviewers that did their due diligence also were getting similar results.

 

[petsounds]

I rebooted but I'm still seeing high CPU usage for kernel_task and WindowServer. How do I troubleshoot this?

In both of your screenshots, the hidd process is reporting relatively high CPU usage. This daemon manages external input devices (mouse, keyboard, etc). Do you have a device hooked up to your MBP? For reference, on my MBP, hidd isn't even currently running, but I don't have external devices hooked up. On my Mac Pro, hidd CPU usage is 0%.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Agreed. After 1 day you cannot make battery life claims. The concern with their battery life is that reviewers that did their due diligence also were getting similar results.

That may be true but I've been using Macs since the Apple IIE and had a PowerBook when they first came out. Usually the change in battery life from the first cycle to later cycles is not 35%, which is what it would have to be to reach 9 hours. It's a smaller difference.

With my MBA it got 12 hours right out of the box.
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In both of your screenshots, the hidd process is reporting relatively high CPU usage. This daemon manages external input devices (mouse, keyboard, etc). Do you have a device hooked up to your MBP?

edit: on my MBP, hidd isn't even currently running. on my Mac Pro, hidd CPU usage is 0%.

No external devices.

 

[petsounds]

No external devices.

I don't know why it's active like that then, but from that screenshot it looks like it's a fairly steady draw on your CPU. Something to investigate at least.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

I don't know why it's active like that then, but from that screenshot it looks like it's a fairly steady draw on your CPU. Something to investigate at least.

I've also been told that the kernel_task and WindowServer processes are higher than they should be. Problem is, I have no idea why and don't know how to troubleshoot. I have no external devices and nothing unusual about my setup. Completely clean install, didn't transfer data or settings over, just running normal software.

I just want it to work without a lot of hassle. It's brand new.

I'm going to the Apple Store later to see if I can live with the extra weight of the 15". I think it's pretty clear from the reviews so far that it has longer battery life than the 13".

 

[Keniutek]

Buy a "pro" machine and then shut down all tasks and run activity monitor to make it work. Eff that...

 

[supajam]

Surly this "reduced battery due to indexing" hypothesis would have also meant the non touch 13" would be similiarly affected? There doesn't appear to be such ranging battery life for that model however....

 

[davidf18]

I've also been told that the kernel_task and WindowServer processes are higher than they should be

Well, in my view these kinds of things can be hard to track down since they are processes that are called by applications and other background applications. For example, it could come from some synchronization process from Evernote.

It helps to minimize interactions from 3rd party vendors because of integration testing issues. Microsoft (e.g., OneNote) is safer because of the resources they can dedicate to integration testing and since OneNote is free and also available on Windows it probably has a far greater number of users.

At any rate, it is highly unlikely that Apple would quote longer battery life than what is available at the time of purchase.

I am using a 2015 rMPB 15" with several Safari tabs open, MS Word 2016, Outlook 2016 and kernel_task < 2% and every other task is <1%.

 

[davidf18]

Buy a "pro" machine and then shut down all tasks and run activity monitor to make it work. Eff that...

At least some of us want light-weight machines. This means that the batteries must be smaller (FAA regulates max 100 Wh for air travel) but these batteries are even smaller. Thus, it does mean looking at battery consumption if one wants to run on batteries. For instance, until recently Safari was much more energy efficient than Chrome.

 

[badlydrawnboy]

Surly this "reduced battery due to indexing" hypothesis would have also meant the non touch 13" would be similiarly affected? There doesn't appear to be such ranging battery life for that model however....

Excellent point.

Buy a "pro" machine and then shut down all tasks and run activity monitor to make it work. Eff that...

Said much better than I could.

I just finished recharging. Unplugged from power and here is what Battery Health 2 app is telling me:

And here is Apple's very similar estimate:

I think the cold, hard truth is that the 13" MBP gets about 6-6.5 hours of battery life. This matches Verge's results with two separate units.

What a bummer. I like TouchID, but not enough to sacrifice 4-5 hours of battery life.

Now I just need to decide whether to replace with 15" TB or 13" non-TB.
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At least some of us want light-weight machines. This means that the batteries must be smaller (FAA regulates max 100 Wh for air travel) but these batteries are even smaller. Thus, it does mean looking at battery consumption if one wants to run on batteries. For instance, until recently Safari was much more energy efficient than Chrome.

His point is that we shouldn't have to avoid using normal software, f** around with Activity Monitor, etc. just to get the Apple-quoted 10-hour battery life. I'm at 6 hours which isn't even close. If it were just me, that would be one thing, but the Verge review tested two separate units and had the same result.

 

[RobinInOR]

After looking at your apple display of battery remaining, I checked mine - after just fully charging it. It shows 100%, and remaining time shown, for whatever reason, is 16:29 remaining! I think it's delusional for now.
I've got iTunes running, and it's listed under the 'Apps Using Significant Energy'. So we'll see how that reporting goes after a few hours of iTunes. I've never really trusted the 'time left' statistics.

Oh, and I've got the display at 50% brightness.

 

[soulreaver99]

Your video reminds me a lot of this new machine: mostly bling, dumb design choices, vacuous or completely absent content. The disputed issues remain, and you barely addressed half of them: only ports for USB-C, a standard barely out of the gate, when there is plenty of room along the side of the machine for USB-B, Firewire, Ethernet, MagSafe; 2TB only as a special option; a paltry 16GB RAM; a too-large trackpad that is causing plenty of users grief; a useless new piece of UI that isn't even hi-res, that being the TouchBar. The product, like your video, is very pretty, but substantially lacking in the areas that count.

At least he took the effort to put the video together. Don't be a douche if you have nothing to contribute.