MacBook Pro 2016 News and Updates: Consumer Reports Updates Review, Now Recommends Apple Laptop
Consumer Reports re-evaluated the MacBook Pro 2016 and subsequently updated their review to now recommend the newest laptop from Apple.
This week, nonprofit, consumer product rating-dedicated organization Consumer Reports published the result of retesting the MacBook Pro 2016 after Apple released a software update to address an issue related to opening internet browsers that affects the battery life's consistency.
Consumer Reports claim that the software update released last Jan. 9 has fixed the problems that they encountered when they first tested the device in December.
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"With the updated software, the three MacBook Pros in our labs all performed well, with one model running 18.75 hours on a charge," Consumer Reports shared. They added that they applied the same testing protocol used in reviewing laptops every year.
From their report last December, Consumer Reports purchased all three new MacBook Pro 2016 releases: the 13-inch variant with the new Touch Bar right above the keyboard, the standard 13-inch model, and the 15-inch model that all come with the Touch Bar. The organization explained that these were purchased at retail to ensure that the products to be tested are the same with what every consumer gets.
"For the battery test, we download a series of 10 web pages sequentially, starting with the battery fully charged, and ending when the laptop shuts down. The web pages are stored on a server in our lab, and transmitted over a WiFi network set up specifically for this purpose," Consumer Reports explained from their December test. They added that all tests were done using Safari — the MacBook Pro's default browser.
This was the same process done with the MacBook Pro variants with the updated software. After the fix from Apple, Consumer Reports shared that the 13-inch with Touch Bar model recorded an average life of 15.75 hours while the non-Touch Bar variant was at 18.75 hours. Lastly, the 15-inch MacBook Pro's recorded average battery life was 17.25 hours.
From the December review, the battery life inconsistently averaged from 3.75 hours to 19.5 hours. Consumer Reports earlier explained that while the MacBook Pro performed well in other areas, those aspects cannot make up for the battery inconsistencies.
With the only known issue now fixed, the MacBook Pro finally gets that coveted nod from Consumer Reports.
