Phil Schiller: Apple Working With Consumer Reports to Understand MacBook Pro Battery Test

[Cartossin]

I have bought macbook pro after another for 3 iterations over a span of 15 years. This time I am going to buy the HP spectre. Just too many issues on the MBP for the price.

You know, Apple is getting a lot of crap for reducing the battery to 49 watt hours (or 54 in the nontouchbar) from the 76 watt hour in the previous 13" Macbook Pro. That's troubling, but your solution is to buy a laptop (spectre) with a 37 watt hour battery? I don't see how this is better. Get an XPS 13. It's lighter than the mac and has 60 wh battery.

 

[Ethosik]

LMAO, puts HTML5 in the same category as Flash. Clearly has no idea what HTML5 is.

Seriously? HTML5 video/games/content does not reduce battery life by even 1%? A simple webpage (text only) uses up the same amount of power as a page with HTML5 video?

 

[mac_in_tosh]

1. Are the fans spinning pretty fast while the battery is draining at a prodigious rate?

2. Open "Activity Monitor" (In Applications/Utilities). Look at the "Energy" Tab. See if there are any Processes that are suckin' down the Juice. Tell me what those are (a screenshot would be nice, too).

3. If you are interested in actually seeing what is going on, rather than just whining and stamping your feet, Install and Launch the FREEWARE "Coconut Battery" Application. It will show in detail what the charge/discharge rates of your battery are. Let me know what it says (a screenshot would be nice, too)

What happened to "it just works?" So after spending umpteen dollars on an overpriced laptop, it's up to the user to figure out why it's not working as expected? Isn't Apple doing all these things you are recommending?
[doublepost=1482942777][/doublepost]

Yes. I do not mean they should go around and dig through Apple's code. But if you perform any tested and get THAT BIG of a variation, you need to find out why.

If I did that at work, the first question people would ask is "why did you get x on one test but 5 times x on another test?"

Do we know for a fact that they didn't try to find out why (as far as they could without digging through code)?

 

[Ethosik]

What happened to "it just works?" So after spending umpteen dollars on an overpriced laptop, it's up to the user to figure out why it's not working as expected? Isn't Apple doing all these things you are recommending?
[doublepost=1482942777][/doublepost]

Do we know for a fact that they didn't try to find out why (as far as they could without digging through code)?

"It just works" does not apply to battery life. "It Just Works"...."but I am running some software from Joe Somebody that causes my battery to die in 10 minutes. APPLE FAILS!"

Just to give you guys an idea. I can get 10 hours of battery life on my 2013 rMBP just visiting a webpage (no ads, no HTML5/flash, no nothing, just text and static images).

I get about 2 hours of battery life visiting the Stardew Valley Wiki and my fans go NUTS!

They could have, but they should have mentioned it if they did. "We looked at Activity Monitor and found X, Y, or Z, yadda yadda".

 

[pier]

So when they release a Laptop that merely has the year-over-year improvements of a 5k Display, the ability to drive two external 4k Displays,

Sure you can connect 2 4K displays, but the GPU will start to suffer if you do anything intensive. In practice to drive so many pixels for pro work you still need a desktop machine.

an SSD that is something like THREE TIMES faster than the competition

Not sure what you are comparing it to. The competition is also using the same NVMe M2 PCIe drives.

Here are the speeds of the previous model Dell XPS 13.

Pretty similar, huh?

four multifunction, identical Ports with an industry-leading EIGHTY Gbps total of I/O bandwidth

Yes, with ports that nobody is yet using and a bandwidth that is only useful for a small minority of guys running SSDs in a RAID. For the rest of the world USB3 or TB2 is way more than enough with no need to invest in new gear or a bunch of dongles.

a best-in-breed TrackPad nearly the size of an iPhone 7 Plus

That nobody asked for, nobody needs, and is still having palm rejection issues because it's just too big.

If the trackpad could be used with an Apple Pencil it would make sense and it would be awesome.

a Unique, Multitouch input/display that provides the ability to provide a wide variety of control paradigms without stealing screen-space

You can sell it in any way you wish but it's a confused gimmick. Touch ID is the only positive thing about that touch bar.

Control paradigms? You can do exactly the same thing with on screen controls and a trackpad. You know trackpads are multitouch too, right?

As for stealing screen space the savings are pretty meager if you consider that touch based UI has to be much bigger than mouse based UI.

Let's not forget about buried buttons in sub menus, the UI mess that is letting apps control the touch bar, or having to swipe many times before you reach the emoji you are looking for instead of just clicking on a much smaller panel with your mouse.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Adapters are an inelegant solution to a problem we didn't need to create in the first place. And sadly it's not as easy as put an adapter on and leave it there as I use more than one computer and the adapter will invariably be lost / forgotten at some point.

I come from a Pro-Audio background, before I was a software/hardware Developer. In the Pro-Audio world, adapters are a fact of life. 1/4 inch phone to 1/8 inch (3.5 mm) phone. XLR to TRS. RCA to whatevertheblazesthistime. Stereo to mono "Y" cables. Gender changers. In-Line Attenuators. You-Name-It, and there is a Adaptor for it (or you make one yourself). Sometimes, you even have to "cascade" multiple Adaptors to get from "here" to "there". Just a fact of life. And since your continued happiness depends on being able to lay your hands on the proper adapter(s) from the tacklebox-full (no fooling!) of adapters, you try to make sure you don't "forget" them.

What an entitled bunch of brats we have become, that a simple little adapter costing less than $3 is decried as an "inelegant solution".

Get over yourself. USB-C will win; and soon. And then you'll put those adapters away and never use them again.
[doublepost=1482945629][/doublepost]

What happened to "it just works?" So after spending umpteen dollars on an overpriced laptop, it's up to the user to figure out why it's not working as expected? Isn't Apple doing all these things you are recommending?

I'm sure they have done that, and much, much more. But I was asking someone IN THE FIELD to take a couple of MINUTES to take a quick assessment FOR ALL OUR EDIFICATION (not Apple's), just out of curiosity.<br><br>
Why does everyone have to get so butthurt over every-little-thing?

 

[Ethosik]

Sure you can connect 2 4K displays, but the GPU will start to suffer if you do anything intensive. In practice to drive so many pixels for pro work you still need a desktop machine.



Not sure what you are comparing it to. The competition is also using the same NVMe M2 PCIe drives.

Here are the speeds of the previous model Dell XPS 13.

Pretty similar, huh?

View attachment 680473



Yes, with ports that nobody is yet using and a bandwidth that is only useful for a small minority of guys running SSDs in a RAID. For the rest of the world USB3 or TB2 is way more than enough with no need to invest in new gear or a bunch of dongles.



That nobody asked for, nobody needs, and is still having palm rejection issues because it's just too big.

If the trackpad could be used with an Apple Pencil it would make sense and it would be awesome.



You can sell it in any way you wish but it's a confused gimmick. Touch ID is the only positive thing about that touch bar.

Control paradigms? You can do exactly the same thing with on screen controls and a trackpad. You know trackpads are multitouch too, right?

As for stealing screen space the savings are pretty meager if you consider that touch based UI has to be much bigger than mouse based UI.

Let's not forget about buried buttons in sub menus, the UI mess that is letting apps control the touch bar, or having to swipe many times before you reach the emoji you are looking for instead of just clicking on a much smaller panel with your mouse.

I think touch screens on laptops are a gimmick. Do you? Something is only a gimmick to those that do not find a need to use such a feature. For my workflow, the touch bar is a MAJOR feature for me. It will be extremely useful.

I never touched my Surface Pro 3 screen once when I had one.

 

[dgdosen]

It sounds like you believe CR should never examine their test protocols and procedures, and especially observation/monitoring and supervision, no matter how high (and laughable) a battery life number is returned. Yeah, we got 100 hours, no need to understand how that could possibly happen...

That might be OK for you, CR, and consumers who may not be curious or fussy, but for design engineers who develop products, and who write and conduct acceptance test plans for products manufactured, that would be a joke.

Imagine if CR were reviewing Ford's latest F-150 truck outfitted their optional eight cylinder engine, a truck that might have an EPA mileage rating of 14-22 MPG. CR tests the truck over their closed loop test course using their suite of rigorous real-life test protocols and procedures, and returns 35, 38, and 41 MPG in several test trials - mileage numbers that are impossible to obtain over a closed loop test course.

Apparently you'd be OK with CR reporting those numbers and not investigating further to see if their test protocols, procedures, and monitoring/supervision could be faulty. Not their job to examine their test procedures, just report the number no matter if they are highly suspect and ridiculously impossible.

I never said CR shouldn't examine the validity of their tests! They should - and regularly. I'll give them the benefit of doubt that their tests for laptop batteries is pretty sound given the number of laptops they test.

CR didn't get a report for 100 hours for Apple's batteries. They got a report for 18 hours. That's less than 2x of Apple's estimate. Is that ridiculous? To me, that might not seem unreasonable, especially given aggressive software tuning.

Right now - I believe what's most likely...

 

[citysnaps]

I never said CR shouldn't examine the validity of their tests! They should - and regularly. I'll give them the benefit of doubt that their tests for laptop batteries is pretty sound given the number of laptops they test.

CR didn't get a report for 100 hours for Apple's batteries. They got a report for 18 hours. That's less than 2x of Apple's estimate. Is that ridiculous? To me, that might not seem unreasonable, especially given aggressive software tuning.

Right now - I believe what's most likely...

CR returned numbers of 12, 16, 18 1/2, and 19 1/2 hours - the last being 95% greater than Apple's published maximum battery life.

In previous posts on this thread I've asked people if they have ever had a laptop doing anything (other than sleep, or being turned off) and get 19 1/2 hours. I've even asked some people what battery life number would cause them to say, "Hmmmm, that's not reasonable for a laptop doing real work in a rigorous test, i.e. verifiably browsing the web, playing videos, etc). Would 25 hours pique your cuiriosity? How about 35 hours? 100 hours?

One person apparently was OK with 100 hours, another said it could be 1,000 hours and CR had no responsibility to examine their test procedures.

So... I have a couple questions for you. Since you seem to be OK with 19 1/2 hours of rigorous testing CR is alledgedly performing, along with observation and supervision to make sure their test programs are actually executing, what number would give you pause to say, No way, that's not possible." Would 30 hours hit your threshold? 50 hours? How about 75 hours.

Second question: Tell me about your laptop experiences (Apple or otherwise) where you've had such outstanding battery life with your computer doing real work, where getting 19 1/2 hours doesn't give you pause and say, "No way, that almost twice Apple's MAXIMUM claim, and not possible."

 

[dgdosen]

CR returned numbers of 12, 16, 18 1/2, and 19 1/2 hours - the last being 95% greater than Apple's published maximum battery life.

In previous posts on this thread I've asked people if they have ever had a laptop doing anything (other than sleep, or being turned off) and get 19 1/2 hours. I've even asked some people what battery life number would cause them to say, "Hmmmm, that's not reasonable for a laptop doing real work in a rigorous test, i.e. verifiably browsing the web, playing videos, etc). Would 25 hours pique your cuiriosity? How about 35 hours? 100 hours?

One person apparently was OK with 100 hours, another said it could be 1,000 hours and CR had no responsibility to examin their test procedures.

So... I have a couple questions for you. Since you seem to be OK with 19 1/2 hours of rigorous testing CR is alledgedly performing along with observation and supervision, what number would give you pause to say, No way, that's not possible." Would 30 hours hit your threshold? 50 hours? How about 75 hours.

Second question: Tell me about your laptop experiences (Apple or otherwise) where you've had such outstanding battery life with your computer doing real work, where getting 19 1/2 hours doesn't give you pause and say, "No way, that almost twice Apple's MAXIMUM claim, and not possible."

By rigourous testing, I mean the tests should be consistently applied from a scientific perspective. I have no idea how strenuous the test is on the hardware - so yes - that seems ok - but would lead me to ask apple to explain - which is what CR did.

My personal experiences with a laptop don't matter - as a consumer, I'd want consistency between generations...

 

[citysnaps]

By rigourous testing, I mean the tests should be consistently applied from a scientific perspective. I have no idea how strenuous the test is on the hardware - so yes - that seems ok - but would lead me to ask apple to explain - which is what CR did.

My personal experiences with a laptop don't matter - as a consumer, I'd want consistency between generations...

Since you believe 19 1/2 hours is reasonable, and you didn't pick one of my proposed numbers that would give you pause triggering curiosity, would it be ok going with 75 hours?

If not, what number should it be?

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Sure you can connect 2 4K displays, but the GPU will start to suffer if you do anything intensive. In practice to drive so many pixels for pro work you still need a desktop machine.

I was wrong initially. It's actually FOUR 4k Externals (or TWO 5k Externals), and where is your proof?
[doublepost=1482952833][/doublepost]

Not sure what you are comparing it to. The competition is also using the same NVMe M2 PCIe drives.

Here are the speeds of the previous model Dell XPS 13.

Pretty similar, huh?

Not so much. See:

https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/01/the-late-2016-entry-level-13-macbook-pro-has-a-ridiculously-fast-ssd/

Oh, and Apple uses a Custom Controller of their own design. Sorry, not the same.
[doublepost=1482952889][/doublepost]

Yes, with ports that nobody is yet using and a bandwidth that is only useful for a small minority of guys running SSDs in a RAID. For the rest of the world USB3 or TB2 is way more than enough with no need to invest in new gear or a bunch of dongles.

Wrong. Just. Wrong.
[doublepost=1482952961][/doublepost]

If the trackpad could be used with an Apple Pencil it would make sense and it would be awesome.

I'd like to see that, too, frankly.
[doublepost=1482953282][/doublepost]

You can sell it in any way you wish but it's a confused gimmick. Touch ID is the only positive thing about that touch bar.

Control paradigms? You can do exactly the same thing with on screen controls and a trackpad. You know trackpads are multitouch too, right?

As for stealing screen space the savings are pretty meager if you consider that touch based UI has to be much bigger than mouse based UI.

Let's not forget about buried buttons in sub menus, the UI mess that is letting apps control the touch bar, or having to swipe many times before you reach the emoji you are looking for instead of just clicking on a much smaller panel with your mouse.

You CAN do exactly the same things with other control paradigms. But the tb is frankly better at some of them. Get over it.

And stealing screen space is not meager with on-screen palettes and toolbars. Constantly shuffling them around, or sacrificing precious image-space for stupid toolbars and palettes is so twentieth-century!

Some of the finer points of who-has-control of the tb will be worked out. It's a brand-new feature, and Apple and third-party Devs. are still figuring out where (and where not) to use it.

 

[PLondon]

I come from a Pro-Audio background, before I was a software/hardware Developer. In the Pro-Audio world, adapters are a fact of life. 1/4 inch phone to 1/8 inch (3.5 mm) phone. XLR to TRS. RCA to whatevertheblazesthistime. Stereo to mono "Y" cables. Gender changers. In-Line Attenuators. You-Name-It, and there is a Adaptor for it (or you make one yourself). Sometimes, you even have to "cascade" multiple Adaptors to get from "here" to "there". Just a fact of life. And since your continued happiness depends on being able to lay your hands on the proper adapter(s) from the tacklebox-full (no fooling!) of adapters, you try to make sure you don't "forget" them.

What an entitled bunch of brats we have become, that a simple little adapter costing less than $3 is decried as an "inelegant solution".

Get over yourself. USB-C will win; and soon. And then you'll put those adapters away and never use them again.
[doublepost=1482945629][/doublepost]
I'm sure they have done that, and much, much more. But I was asking someone IN THE FIELD to take a couple of MINUTES to take a quick assessment FOR ALL OUR EDIFICATION (not Apple's), just out of curiosity.<br><br>
Why does everyone have to get so butthurt over every-little-thing?

I feel for you mate, sounds like a royal pain in the backside to have to use adapters for everything. You seem to be missing the point though. There is absolutely no need at the current point in time not to ship a pro laptop with a a variety of ports say two USB-A and two USB-A plus we could happily have kept the HDMI and Ethernet too. I travel all the time with my laptop but I still prioritise flexibility over slimness / weight anytime of the week. In 4 years time when the peripherals have caught up we can start phasing out older ports and go full USB-C. Having a bag full of adapters was not a fact of life until Apple released this, for many people, underspecced laptop. Nor should it be, that used to be the whole point of staying within Apples walls, everything just worked...

There is no excuse ever to loose MagSafe!

It has nothing to do with being entitled, I don't expect Apple to design a computer just for me or to give it to me for free. I just wish they didn't dumb their pro range laptops down, add ridiculous touchbar nonsense and remove key features like MagSafe. How anybody can defend the use of adapters is beyond me, they are an emergency solution when something hasn't been designed to work together. You need to remember that I'm not lamenting the lack of these ports on the MacBook Air that's for consumers. This is supposedly the pro laptop we are talking about here, it should and easily could have all the ports, battery life and speed we need. For some biz a reason apple instead decided to make a glorified MacBook that is useless for me and many others that need a high end laptop and regularly work on site.

Each to there own, but I can tell you that the talk in the press rooms / news desks I've been at recently is that all the photographers are gutted with the new MacBook Pro.

Here is hoping Apple sort themselves out by the time I need to upgrade. I need a workhorse not a toy.

 

[springsup]

That might be the case, but in the end it does not matter.
Real people have real issues with this Mac under load.

The difference between idle power consumption and use under load is so vast these days, that I totally understand that a battery estimate is not accurate.

But it is a completely different story to push chemical boundaries by manufacturing thinner and thinner lithium polymere cells. Batteries with high capacity and quality are used every single day.

Apple just fell over their own design philosophy.
This is why the MacBook Air was a great machine, it was sold as minimalistic.

Nobody would complain about a Pro machine that was modern, space gray and just a little thicker.
It could have USB-A and HDMI plus Ethernet.

But no, Apple did not want to build a reliable product.
No there is some negative feedback.

Apple will certainly spin it the way they want, but they have at least lost me.
And this is not because of any CR deadline to report on the issue.

The MBP is not about power, and hasn't been for along time. It's about style; it's the only machine to be seen with at your local Starbucks.

That's why Steve introduced the unibody MacBook, to try and filter the fashionistas out of the Pro product line. Those people don't understand computer specifications, but have lots of disposable money, so they ignored it and kept thinking they needed the "best" laptop regardless of their needs or the target market.

These days it's more of a MacBook Plus than a MacBook Pro.

 

[MarsViolet]

People said the same thing when internal combustion engine was replacing the steam engine. Things change there is nothing you can do or should do about it.

Your analogy doesn't work since macOS and iOS are based on the same technology, with macOS being superior to iOS functionality-wise, while steam engines were based on outdated technology, and functionally inferior to internal combustion engines. And anyway, car engines aren't logically comparable to computer operating systems. On a personal level, to suggest that I am resistant to change is ridiculous. I'm an early adopter to a fault, but I want things to advance, not regress, and iOS is a regression in most ways.

 

[kdarling]

Yep, that is what people think here. It is not CR's responsibility to validate their results. Did you guys go to school? If I do an experiment and I get results like this, I needed to explain WHY. Doing what CR did indicates very poor tests or just did it for the clicks.

Just for the clicks ????? Seriously ????

Ad supported sites like iMore write headlines for clicks, and many don't even have any engineering background.

On the other hand, CR is a decades old, well experienced, non-profit test group, which does not allow advertising.

Or is it possible my test was messed up, causing my CPU to be at 100% which caused the test to be CPU bound?

Okay. While both are possible scenarios, which one seems far more likely:

- That CR administers a simple web page retrieval test, one which they've used hundreds of times a year on many laptops, and suddenly it becomes an invalid test because a particular laptop model gives wonky results that are unlike any they've ever gotten before.

... or ...

- Something is actually wonky about that particular laptop.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

In 4 years time when the peripherals have caught up we can start phasing out older ports and go full USB-C.

But you see, that's what makes the old ports hang around forever.

I'm sorry; but USB-C/TB3 really is "One Port To Rule Them All". And no, I have never said that about any other Port. We have one Port that instantly replaces USB-A 1.0 thru 3.1 (USB-C), Ethernet, MiniDP (and therefore HDMI/DVI/VGA as well), FW800, and ThunderBolt 3. And can even do a lot of that Simultaneously.

Times FOUR. And all that for the price of a a couple of adapters (NOT a "bag-full"); most of them readily available from a plethora of manufacturers (not just Apple), for $3 - $20 (and by the time we get to $20, it is generally a multi-port "dock").

Here's one for $8.88 with 2 USB 3.0 Ports, A bunch of Card Reader Slots, and a USB-C Port:

https://www.amazon.com/Type-Arroker-Ports-Macbook-Notebook/dp/B01HAADH16/

Here's another mini-dock that sports 3 USB 3.0 Ports and a Gigabit Ethernet port for $20:

https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-3-Ports-Gigabit-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B0179U0LNO/

Here's another for $23 that has a USB 3.0 Port and a 4k-capable HDMI Port, and a USB-C Port:

https://www.amazon.com/Multiport-MOKiN-Delivery-Chromebook-Devices/dp/B01IUXA9YK/

Here's another one for $24 that has 4 USB 3.0 Ports, a VGA Port, and a USB-C Port:

https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Charging-MacBook-ChromeBook-Devices/dp/B01ESWAVKE/

...and if you're willing to go a little higher, here's a $40 dock that has 4k HDMI, 1080p VGA, and USB-C:

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Balee-Charger-Macbook-Chromebook/dp/B01LHE90OE/

And $43 gets you pretty much everything in one little mini-dock: USB 3.0, 4k HDMI, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, and USB-C:

https://www.amazon.com/Cablor-Ethernet-Charging-Adapter-Resolution/dp/B01KYVKFDQ/

...Add a buck to that, and you can have a VGA Port, too (either HDMI or VGA can be used at a time):

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Multiport-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B01C316EIK/

And I don't know about you; but I WELCOME not having a bunch of connectors dragging my laptop around, making me feel like I dare not bump it on the desk at home, lest I yank-out a cable. In fact, I would add a nice USB-C Extender cable to any of those, so I could keep the laptop "free" of a bunch of cables directly plugged into it. Here's one for $6 that would be just about right for the desktop:

https://www.amazon.com/Extension-TUSITA-Devices-Connector-Extender/dp/B01IEHQL7G/


Now consider this: If you use a Laptop, you are already traveling with an AC Adapter. Period.

If you have pretty-much ANY Laptop built in the past couple of years it WILL have MiniDP video out; therefore, you WILL be using an Adapter with an external Display (this is why you can buy those adapters a Walmart now).

So, now we have TWO adapters that EVERYONE is carrying.

And, as seen above, if you do a little shopping-around, you can cover pretty much everything you need in one or two other "mini-docks", not a zillion separate adapters!

And the "mini-dock" selection is only going to get better, as more and more laptops switch to USB-C/TB3 like THESE already have. Note that MOST of those on the list are NOT Apple. They just jumped in with both feet, creating a laptop with more I/O capability than anyone else on the planet. Look for others to follow almost immediately:

http://www.ultrabookreview.com/10579-laptops-thunderbolt-3/

Now, let's talk MagSafe: I wholeheartedly agree that MagSafe was wonderful, and I hope Apple figures out a way to bring it back. But for now, at least we have this Griffin replacement. It's a bit pricey (but much less than a laptop repair!), and it has a few issues; but here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Griffin-BreakSafe-Magnetic-Breakaway-Chromebook/dp/B01CQTK6GU/

Oh, and you mentioned valuing "Flexibility". You should realize by now that with the plethora of available adapters and mini-docks, you can turn every single port on the 2016 MBP into exactly what suits YOUR needs at the time! Apple DID make a Laptop JUST FOR YOU!!!!


So, sorry, you lose.

 

[Abazigal]

Adapters are an inelegant solution to a problem we didn't need to create in the first place. And sadly it's not as easy as put an adapter on and leave it there as I use more than one computer and the adapter will invariably be lost / forgotten at some point. I totally understand that there are workarounds for pretty much everything but we shouldn't have to work around anything, that's why we buy Mac's or at least that used to be the reason.

[/QUOTE]

Or you could look at it another way and reason that since you are going to have to use adaptors anyways, how can you use them in a manner which would result in a net improvement over what you were previously used to.

For example, in the past, if I needed to dock my laptop, I would need to plug in the power cable, hdmi, USB hub etc. Now, with the right adaptor, I only need to connect and disconnect one cable to get the same benefit.

I feel it is important that we learn to see new opportunities rather than just problems all the time.

 

[Tha_Real_Tim_Cook]

Just be honest Phill, you guys comprised the battery life for thinness.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

I think touch screens on laptops are a gimmick. Do you? Something is only a gimmick to those that do not find a need to use such a feature. For my workflow, the touch bar is a MAJOR feature for me. It will be extremely useful.

I never touched my Surface Pro 3 screen once when I had one.

Why the hell would you buy the SP3 if you knew you weren't going to touch it? You knew what you were getting into when buying the product. Touchscreens are far, far, far from a gimmick. They're a standardized reality now. Deal with it.

 

[steveaburns]

I think something is up with the battery being drained, not sure if it is hardware or software.

I have the 15 MBP touch-bar, 2.9GHz, Radeon 460. With light usage (email, iMessage, watching movies on itunes, browsing the web), I see easily over 10 hours. Open up Activity Monitory on Energy tab, and with integrated graphics, usually see time remaining of 11 1/2 hours when I first go on battery, 8hrs + remaining after 2+ hours of usage... things are good.

Then, just once - after being on power for some time, and plugged into the Thunderbolt Display (which forces discrete graphics), I unplugged and started the usual light work (email, web browsing). I noticed the % battery remaining drop pretty quickly, so I tried to check what was happening. In activity monitor, it was using integrated graphics (good), it had switched, back... there was almost nothing going on CPU usage wise... yet only just over 3hours was reported as remaining. odd. The only thing I found that was different to normal was that there was more heat coming from the laptop -- above the keyboard - say above the 4, and underneath the laptop - say somewhere below the E or R perhaps... was pretty warm... I'm sort of guessing that the discrete graphics were taking power still, even though they weren't in play. Anyway, I rebooted, and started getting the normal, high battery life reports, and the laptop cooled down.

Perhaps this inconsistency is behind the inconsistent CR results.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

What company was recently chided for adapting their engine software to cater to emission testing ? Apple better not follow that lead.

On the bright side, CR's critique has finally got someone at Apple to listen.
MR and all the youtubers reviews fall on deaf ears @ infinite loop.

There's a reason for that. CR has been around for about 80 years and has been testing products throughout the decades, so they know what they're doing. They've been doing this much longer before Apple's time. CR's job is to report what the results were and it's up to the manufacturer to remedy the problem.

That responsibility lies on the engineering and design departments. It sounds like someone over there overlooked the issue or knew about it, rushing the 2016 MB Pro out to meet the scheduled deadline. It makes me sick to my stomach when Apple fans get super defensive about just this ONE report on Apple's products.

I trust Consumer Reports over most websites due to its objectiveness. CNET is a bit. . .biased at times. CR is a powerhouse, one in which Apple can't afford to ostracize.

 

[nbritton]

When Safari leaks memory like a sieve what do you expect?

 

[Ethosik]

Why the hell would you buy the SP3 if you knew you weren't going to touch it? You knew what you were getting into when buying the product. Touchscreens are far, far, far from a gimmick. They're a standardized reality now. Deal with it.

I thought I would use it. But I never did. I find the touch bar far far far from a gimmick. Like I said, a gimmick is only a gimmick if the person finds no need for such a feature.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I think something is up with the battery being drained, not sure if it is hardware or software.

I have the 15 MBP touch-bar, 2.9GHz, Radeon 460. With light usage (email, iMessage, watching movies on itunes, browsing the web), I see easily over 10 hours. Open up Activity Monitory on Energy tab, and with integrated graphics, usually see time remaining of 11 1/2 hours when I first go on battery, 8hrs + remaining after 2+ hours of usage... things are good.

Then, just once - after being on power for some time, and plugged into the Thunderbolt Display (which forces discrete graphics), I unplugged and started the usual light work (email, web browsing). I noticed the % battery remaining drop pretty quickly, so I tried to check what was happening. In activity monitor, it was using integrated graphics (good), it had switched, back... there was almost nothing going on CPU usage wise... yet only just over 3hours was reported as remaining. odd. The only thing I found that was different to normal was that there was more heat coming from the laptop -- above the keyboard - say above the 4, and underneath the laptop - say somewhere below the E or R perhaps... was pretty warm... I'm sort of guessing that the discrete graphics were taking power still, even though they weren't in play. Anyway, I rebooted, and started getting the normal, high battery life reports, and the laptop cooled down.

Perhaps this inconsistency is behind the inconsistent CR results.

Finally!!!

Now THAT's interesting!

Can you look at the iFixit tear down (see Step 6) and see if you can figure out what might be in that location?

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Touch+Bar+Teardown/73395

And you say the Energy tab seemed to "know" that something was sucking down power, yet did not point to a software culprit?

I think you need to contact Phil Schiller (via Twitter?) with this info. Seriously.