Price + dongles. All 2015's are sold out on the refurb store.
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MacBook Pro Users Express Concerns About Limited Battery Life
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Price + dongles. All 2015's are sold out on the refurb store.
I've been a long time Apple user. From my first Apple II+ to subsequent models including the Apple IIe, Apple IIci, MacPlus, Mac LC, Performas, Power Macs, iBook, various iMacs and MacBooks. It's accurate to say that I am somewhat of an experienced user on Apple computers.
I stood by Apple during the dark days of Steve Jobs' departure from Apple and the subsequent string of failed CEOs. I saw Windows rise and saw the selection of software all but disappear for us Apple users. Still I refused to leave Apple for Windows.
Why am I writing my personal tech biography you might ask? It is because I think Apple has started down a path which it probably will not recover from. I sincerely hope I am wrong because I have always loved Apple. Tim Cook is the wrong man to lead Apple. Mr. Cook was the "supply man" under Steve Jobs and by all accounts he was very good at his job. Ever since he took control of Apple, not accounting for the pipeline projects under Jobs, Apple is steadily losing its way.
There is a laundry list of failures, big and small, which everyone who is a long time Apple user knows. A lot of these items are recent additions under Mr. Cook's leadership. The latest MBP just being another addition to the list. I hope I am wrong and Apple proves me wrong but I do not see that happening with Mr. Cook at the helm.
I stood by Apple during the dark days of Steve Jobs' departure from Apple and the subsequent string of failed CEOs. I saw Windows rise and saw the selection of software all but disappear for us Apple users. Still I refused to leave Apple for Windows.
Why am I writing my personal tech biography you might ask? It is because I think Apple has started down a path which it probably will not recover from. I sincerely hope I am wrong because I have always loved Apple. Tim Cook is the wrong man to lead Apple. Mr. Cook was the "supply man" under Steve Jobs and by all accounts he was very good at his job. Ever since he took control of Apple, not accounting for the pipeline projects under Jobs, Apple is steadily losing its way.
There is a laundry list of failures, big and small, which everyone who is a long time Apple user knows. A lot of these items are recent additions under Mr. Cook's leadership. The latest MBP just being another addition to the list. I hope I am wrong and Apple proves me wrong but I do not see that happening with Mr. Cook at the helm.
Look ... I don't want to pick a fight with you ... but even if it was Chrome with tons of add-ons, flash and whatever, it is still horrible compared to the 2015 model. You could actually work with that.
I don't understand why people suggesting other browsers.
There are plenty of other scenarios that would require a nice big battery.
The only battery time spec they lowered between the 2015 and 2016 model was "iTunes Movie Playback" on the 13", which was "Up to 12 Hours" in 2015 and now says "Up to 10 Hours". For everything else, the specs are either the same or raised (in the case of the 15", raised from "Up to 9 Hours" to "Up to 10 Hours" for both wireless web and movie playback). That just seems like too much to estimate given the battery shrinking from 99 Wh to 76. Obviously I would never have expected 10 hours, but if the spec is 10, I would've expected 7-8. So if you're getting 4, that's not acceptable.
Somewhat related, I have the non-touch bar model and it too doesn't last as long as it should. Basic online shopping in Safari and iTunes music playing and it gets hot and dies in about 6 hours. I've even deleted the OS and reinstalled new thinking something was off but it performs the same. Really unhappy with Apple this year.
Since Apple is not doing anything interesting anymore and Macs are in the past of Apple, MacRumors should now evolve to AppleFails.com based on the current company status and target MR user base. The negative news about Apple products outshines anything positive, heck not even positive quotes like before.. "xxx from the yyyy said: The ultimate laptop."
Apple evolved into what we see now. MR should do the same. "Mac Rumors" doesn't make sense anymore for the web site content.
Apple evolved into what we see now. MR should do the same. "Mac Rumors" doesn't make sense anymore for the web site content.
I was experiencing the same issue, having recovered from a time machine backup.
As the finder and spotlight activities were the biggest energy consumers, I researched that the indexing might take a while and cost energy.
So I clean installed the Macbok Pro and voilá, the issue went away. Eversince I could work in Lightroom for 5h and code in xcode for around 6h. For simple browsing and working on ulysses, the battery lasted for around 9,5h.
Maybe this helped at least a few of you, best regards from Germany.
As the finder and spotlight activities were the biggest energy consumers, I researched that the indexing might take a while and cost energy.
So I clean installed the Macbok Pro and voilá, the issue went away. Eversince I could work in Lightroom for 5h and code in xcode for around 6h. For simple browsing and working on ulysses, the battery lasted for around 9,5h.
Maybe this helped at least a few of you, best regards from Germany.
ITs not quality for your hard earn money anymore, Apple QA is going down the toilet so sad.....Seriously, what's going on at Apple? I've been a devoted user for more than 15 years, but now I'm really pissed off by the direction this company has taken.
LOL, So am I but there is a noticeable difference in battery life on all three machines Chrome vs Safari... I love Chrome but it definitely eats up more battery.
Look at the Arstechnica review or Notebook Check - The battery life reviews jive with my experience on the mbpr 2015 vs non-touch 2016 vs touch 2016...
... and a cursory Google search:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3087...-test-edge-vs-chrome-vs-opera-vs-firefox.html (On the PC)
https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/06/google-chrome-mac-battery-performance/ - (33% more power use on the Mac)
... and the list goes on...
Jesus man, are you on LCD or something? Can you PLEASE have a realistic view on how Apple is changing into a different company with different products without calling everybody a troll? MR is not only to blow sunshine up Apple 's ass all day long. Even Apple makes good and bad decisions, somehow you only seem the see one side of this.
PS: why send a tank you card? For the fact that if I want to buy a MBP I have to either settle for a Touch bar with a fast CPU or a MBP without a touch bar but then with a slower CPU? Yes, thank you very much Phil for screwing me over.
Holy FSM Yes! "I'm powering an external monitor and only get 3 hours". The only reason I went to the comments for this story was to see if this was a mistake. Nope!
Apple isn't going anywhere soon but what is stunning is, all tech companies demise in the past have lost their way and lost their "cool factor" in a very short period of time.....
Apple seems to be heading in this direction by pissing off it's long term and loyal users.
Apple seems to be heading in this direction by pissing off it's long term and loyal users.
LOL, So am I but there is a noticeable difference in battery life on all three machines Chrome vs Safari... I love Chrome but it definitely eats up more battery.
Look at the Arstechnica review or Notebook Check - The battery life reviews jive with my experience on the mbpr 2015 vs non-touch 2016 vs touch 2016...
... and a cursory Google search:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3087...-test-edge-vs-chrome-vs-opera-vs-firefox.html (On the PC)
https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/06/google-chrome-mac-battery-performance/ - (33% more power use on the Mac)
... and the list goes on...
Perhaps. But are you really suggesting if users of the new MacBook Pros switched to Safari, the battery problems would be solved?
Yeah and like they had their cheeky "Look how much those machines are Macbook Airs. Noone needs those Airs anymore. Because the new machines are sooooo thin. Ha!" moment, at the next iPad Pro keynote they will just be like "You see. XX% faster than last generation. Who needs a Macbook now? Those are thin and somewhat(?) fast or something! And mega stylish with touch ****. So Pro. And no ugly ports! Just lightening. COURAGE."
I ended up buying the standard 2016 MacBook Pro 13" with Function Keys (8GB, 256GB SSD) the first day it was available at my local Apple Store. (Just so happens that was the Saturday after the announcement - Oct. 29th) Anyway, I had previously created a bootable memory key with the latest macOS Sierra 10.12.1. The first thing I did when I sat down with the new MBP was to reinstall the OS from scratch which honestly took about 25 minutes. I did this because Apple always pre-installs their Office suite, GarageBand, etc. which I have no use for and I feel better with a clean install.
So here are my observations over the past 5 weeks with the new machine. Using the machine lightly, i.e. web browsing (Safari), email, an occasional Lightroom edit, drafting a quick Word document, etc. I honestly see about 12-14 hours of battery life with the screen brightness at 50%. I did notice that using Chrome significantly shortens the time between charges by a few hours. But I knew this from using Chrome on my previous (early 2011) MacBook Pro 13" with 8GB and a 500GB SSD that I installed. Also, I have not had any graphics glitches of any kind whatsoever...so far.
And as far as connectivity is concerned, I bought an Apple USB-C to USB-A dongle with the machine and also purchased an external, high speed SSD drive with USB-C to USB-C connections for backing up my data - figured I'd embrace this new technology from the start. All I can say is the transfer rate is VERY fast! As a comparison, a SuperDuper! disk image of my old machine (USB 2.0) took over 1-1/2 hours to complete. The new machine (USB 3.1 Gen 2) takes just 9 minutes with about the same 80 GB of total data.
The oxide Retina screen is just gorgeous of course, especially coming from a non-Retina MBP. The machine is well constructed and very thin...almost too thin but not quite. The sound is noticeably stronger. Everything just hums along nicely with it. So in the end, I am more than satisfied with my purchase and consider myself very lucky that I have not had one single issue as has been mentioned by many others and I actually enjoy battery life that is quite a bit longer than the Apple estimates. It may have something to do with the fact that I have the non-Touch Bar version or that I immediately clean-installed the OS upon getting it home, who knows? Something to consider.
So here are my observations over the past 5 weeks with the new machine. Using the machine lightly, i.e. web browsing (Safari), email, an occasional Lightroom edit, drafting a quick Word document, etc. I honestly see about 12-14 hours of battery life with the screen brightness at 50%. I did notice that using Chrome significantly shortens the time between charges by a few hours. But I knew this from using Chrome on my previous (early 2011) MacBook Pro 13" with 8GB and a 500GB SSD that I installed. Also, I have not had any graphics glitches of any kind whatsoever...so far.
And as far as connectivity is concerned, I bought an Apple USB-C to USB-A dongle with the machine and also purchased an external, high speed SSD drive with USB-C to USB-C connections for backing up my data - figured I'd embrace this new technology from the start. All I can say is the transfer rate is VERY fast! As a comparison, a SuperDuper! disk image of my old machine (USB 2.0) took over 1-1/2 hours to complete. The new machine (USB 3.1 Gen 2) takes just 9 minutes with about the same 80 GB of total data.
The oxide Retina screen is just gorgeous of course, especially coming from a non-Retina MBP. The machine is well constructed and very thin...almost too thin but not quite. The sound is noticeably stronger. Everything just hums along nicely with it. So in the end, I am more than satisfied with my purchase and consider myself very lucky that I have not had one single issue as has been mentioned by many others and I actually enjoy battery life that is quite a bit longer than the Apple estimates. It may have something to do with the fact that I have the non-Touch Bar version or that I immediately clean-installed the OS upon getting it home, who knows? Something to consider.
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Anybody asking their MBP to power an external monitor has NO business complaining about rapid battery drain. What do these people think powers their huge screens? Happy thoughts and pixie dust? iPad "magic"?!
I didn't realize the battery drain was that significant. I honestly never thought about it before since I'm ALWAYS powered at a monitor. I've started draining my battery to 50% or so once a week and noticed.
I recently bought a maxed out 15" one of these. I bought $200 in dongles. The battery lasted 3 hours.
I reset the SMC, had every single app closed and did a test. 3 hours of battery life.
And that did it. After 20 years of Apple early adoption, 6 different laptops and suffering through OS8 and OS9, I'm done. I gave it to a co-worker and ordered a MS Surface. I'm a little leery about using Windows again after all this time, but I'm just done with Apple. They've gone off the rails. If I had stock, I'd sell it.
I reset the SMC, had every single app closed and did a test. 3 hours of battery life.
And that did it. After 20 years of Apple early adoption, 6 different laptops and suffering through OS8 and OS9, I'm done. I gave it to a co-worker and ordered a MS Surface. I'm a little leery about using Windows again after all this time, but I'm just done with Apple. They've gone off the rails. If I had stock, I'd sell it.
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This video just about sums up my thoughts--and yes I have tried using it. The only thing I can't attest to from personal experience is the battery.
Thanks for the link. If I were a mustachioed hipster with a positive personality this is EXACTLY the video I would have made. This guy is spot on. Everything he said was my impression as well.
I am in the same boat. I grew up in Bay Area and had family friends who worked at Apple and have been part of their ride when Jobbs left and then when he came back. I have personally purchased over 30 Apple Computers for myself over the years, towers, laptops, iMacs, I have had lots freelance businesses and lots of personal computers, I still have a few 3,1's and 5,1 towers in my house I can't bare to get rid off, nothing else Apple makes now is better!! When Apple made the G4, Grey and White, it was the first computer I actually felt could compete with the PC world. For speed and peripherals. It finally was using standard PC architecture and I was able to edit video with Final Cut using firewire. It was an amazing setup. Fast forward almost 20 years I feel like Apple is trying to convince us of their innovation, and not really innovating. This all started with Apple KILLING the post production market with the TRASHCAN tower. I remember TIM COOKE staying, "who said we can't innovate" when the curtain fell and they showed their darth vader trash can Mac Pro. My first thought was COOKE your an idiot. First off you just killed the Pro market on OS X, secondly you just designed your self into a hole. Everything on the MacPro Tower is proprietary, nothing is standard, every time they make a new release of that computer they will have to Redesign the whole thing, and thats R&D and money out the door. The D700 GPU wasn't the fastest thing in the world when it came out, and its sauntered on there.. Now the Thunderbolt2 is now passed up by the Thunderbolt3 USBC world. Where is the MacPro tower now??? ITS DEAD.. ITS in "INNOVATION PURGATORY"
They did the same thing with the Laptops, INNOVATE by any means necessary.. If you want a SUPER SUPER SUPER LIGHT AND THIN LAPTOP, buy a MACBOOK, don't take the PRO LINE and make it a MACBOOK. Don't INNOVATE the "PRO" away..
Anyway, I think their main concern at the moment is keeping their stock trading as high as possible and that means, INNOVATION for the SAKE of INNOVATION. Convince the NOVICE public and NOVICE shareholders(who own PC Laptops) that APPLE is dominating the creative and innovative computer and technology markets, without listening to those creatives that made Apple, Apple. Investors don't really know the difference.. so everyone seems to be fine. A market 80% of investors, admittedly, don't understand.
Right now Apple can burn cash, they could loose more money than they made during Jobb's reign as long as the current iOS customers upgrade even modestly. And its funny because TIM COOKE is the king of the bean counters, and he is totally fine not making money how money was made in the past. Tim Cooke is kinda gouging the current Mac Users, to make money, the ones who have stayed loyal all these years. GRANTED PC Companies have done this since Day 1. Don't even get into backend and database companies.. they will take your house away for an update cost.
BUT IM still IN.. I love OS X and Apple for all its faults. Im still pissed at how messed up iphoto to Photo is, and how messed up iTUNES is now.. WHAT A MESS... but OS X is clean and fast, and as horrible as Apple is these days, they still make way better products than anyone else.
I was about to buy a new MacBook pro for myself, my company actually passed on them.. LOL. but I am waiting to see where all this lands..
I am not sure who can lead this company anymore.. I guess my 5,1 will still last until LINUX gets better or someone from Apple goes ROGUE writes a new OS.
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