Apple’s 2016 MacBook Pro was the first of its kind not to receive the coveted ‘buy’ recommendation from Consumer Reports. The recommendation to pass on Apple’s newest laptop offering stemmed from inconsistencies that saw users report anywhere from 3.75 to 19.5 hours of battery life. After a software fix, and a re-test over the holidays, Consumer Reports altered its rating to ‘buy.’
To resolve the issue Apple issued a software fix to take care of an “obscure and intermittent bug” caused by turning off browser caching during the testing. The move is one Consumer Reports implements on all laptop tests and is designed to simulate real world browser usage.
According to Consumer Reports:
With the updated software, the three MacBook Pros in our labs all performed well, with one model running 18.75 hours on a charge. We tested each model multiple times using the new software, following the same protocol we apply to hundreds of laptops every year.
In the second test, the MacBook Pro performed admirably, logging battery life scores of 15.75 hours for the 13-inch with the Touch Bar and 18.75 hours without. The 15-inch MacBook Pro recorded 17.25 hours.
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