For the first time, Consumer Reports doesn’t recommend the new MacBook Pros

Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted names in gear reviews, and they’ve just concluded their reviews of Apple’s new MacBook Pros (MBPs). In short; they’re good, but CR can’t recommend them because of highly inconsistent battery.

CR tested three MBPs, the 13” models with and without the Touch Bar, and the 15” model, and found that the “MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next.” 

For example, in a series of three consecutive battery tests, the 13” MBP with Touch Bar ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second, and just 3.75 hours in the third. As a result of the inconsistent performance, these are the first MBPs from Apple not to receive recommended ratings from CR.

This isn’t the first time that inconsistent battery life has been reported on Apple’s 2016 MBPs. Some reviewers and users have brought up the new laptops’ low battery life — much lower than the 10 hours Apple claims. Our review found that the new MBPs do have shorter battery life than their predecessors, both the 13” and the 15” models.

The 2016 MBPs sport a new, slimmer chassis with a correspondingly smaller battery, especially when it comes to the MBPs with Touch Bar (the 13” model without Touch Bar has more space for a slightly larger battery). The 13” MBP with Touch Bar has 34% less battery capacity, while the 15” MBP has 24% less battery capacity.

A few days ago, a report by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg claimed that Apple originally intended to create longer battery life for the new MBPs by using higher capacity battery packs shaped to the insides of the body, similar to the ones in the MacBooks. However, the new batteries failed a “key test,” and engineers had to scramble to put together the MBP using older batteries.

Apple is reportedly investigating the battery life issue, in the meantime, the latest update to macOS X Sierra took away the estimate for battery time remaining, a move that has been described as “like being late for work and fixing it by breaking your watch.”

The lower battery life is one of the main gripes that some users have with the new MBPs, the others being the lack of an SD card slot and underpowered performance. If you already own one of the new MBPs and are struggling with battery life, Ars Technica has some potential workarounds you can try.

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