Growing concerns over battery life of Apple's Macbook Pro

http://news.sky.com/story/growing-concerns-over-battery-life-of-apples-macbook-pro-10695853

 

Yea lol! I stated before that it's kinda crazy how Apple has built such a strong trust with their fellowship that it's as if Apple can do no wrong. But trust is a very sensitive subject, if you break it you might not have the opportunity to regain it.

With all of that being said I didn't understand or see the value in being the first time user of those new Macbooks. I'd rather purchase the 2nd and 3rd wave with better hardware and bugs/kinks worked out. Even in the current Retina Edition the 2nd and 3rd variations were way better then their first. Look at my sig I own two of them lol and I can tell you that there are number of things that are better about the later versions and its not just hardware specs, the Hinges are better :0 also in the later versions.

 

well to be fair a battery estimate meter is never accurate

 

Its a no brainer that Apple removed " Estimated Time remaining". Next time they would remove the battery icon and will tell users to rely on instincts when battery runs out of juice.

 

I was all lined up to buy a new MBP....but after seeing the device, said nah. They took out to much, left out too much and this battery issue is icing on the cake. I got my dell, am installing 32gb ram, 1tb Samsung SSD, I have touchscreen (million times better than a silly little touch bar), Have an SD slot, USB A ports, turns into a tablet device when I want / need it. For hundreds and hundreds less. Apple struck out with this one. Last gen processors and gpu, maxing out at 16gb for pro devices is a no no at this point in time, etc.

 

Well you may have wanted to wait on that Dell because the new XPS 9560 with the Nvidia 1060's are slated to come out in January. I'll just say this, they are coming out soon enough that Dell created the website for them it got leaked and reddit and the community jumped all over it and Dell has since removed the website.

Anyways getting back on topic this battery issue is a big deal actually: https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-working-with-consumer-reports-on-macbook-pro-battery-issue/

"This is the first time a MacBook hasn't received a "recommended" designation from Consumer Reports."

Update: Sorry I didn't mean Nvidia 1060 above I meant 1050, big difference my bad, typo that I saw this morning but wanted to note that I meant Nvidia 1050*

 

New MacBook Pros Fail to Earn Consumer Reports Recommendation
Yes, it's the battery life. Lab tests reveal problems in three different MacBook Pro models.
http://www.consumerreports.org/laptops/macbook-pros-fail-to-earn-consumer-reports-recommendation/

"Apple launched a new series of MacBook Pro laptops this fall, and Consumer Reports’ labs have just finished evaluating them. The laptops did very well in measures of display quality and performance, but in terms of battery life, we found that the models varied dramatically from one trial to another.

As a result, these laptops are the first MacBooks not to receive recommended ratings from Consumer Reports.

Complaints about MacBook Pro batteries have been popping up online since the laptops first went on sale in November. Apple says that these computers should operate for up to 10 hours between charges, but some consumers in Apple’s support forums reported that they were only able to use their laptops for three to four hours before the battery ran down.

Apple declined to comment on our test results until they better understand the issue, but emailed this statement: “Any customer who has a question about their Mac or its operation should contact AppleCare.”

What We Found..."

 

The wide variance of battery life (~5hrs to a insane ~19hrs) really seems to point to a software bug somewhere versus hardware. Now Apple needs to fix their problem ASAP. A few users said a NVRAM reset and a clean install of Sierra fixed the problem for them. I do this for all my and client Macs when I crack the seal anyhow so we will see.

 

Yesterday was the first day I had time to work on setting up the 2016 MBP, did a fresh install during the day and later in the evening sat on the couch with the new toy installing softwares, setting up bootcamp and imaging bootcamp with Winclone, restoring a Winclone image to a USB drive and installing more software. after about 2.5 hours of this the battery was at 67%.

I'm sure there's peeps out there experiencing poor battery life and it's very likely software related.

 

It's sounds like your not getting great battery life. sounds like you would be about 6-7 hrs on a full charge. If that were me, I would be very upset since they are claiming 16 hrs or so.

since you have had it awhile...whats your average charge life?

 

Most of what I was doing that evening was more intensive than just browsing the web or watching videos. Installing software and setup windows in bootcamp on an external USB drive use more power so there was nothing to be upset about imo.

I've been averaging 8-9 hours of battery life in a mix of Xcode, safari and visual studio under parallel.

Not sure anyone is claiming 16 hours besides consumer reports, apple states up to 10 hours for web and/or video playback.

 

As long as the battery life of a mac is still strong im fine w/ that, the new mac is really bad i'm thinkin of getting an old macbook pro but.....still not sure.

 

One thing I noticed today that I'm kinda disappointed about is that if the system's battery dies out you can't turn it on again until you have some or a little charge. So for instance I'm on battery and I'm downloading a movie or doing my work in bed and it's late and I past out and fall asleep.

An accident, whatever it happens. So in the morning I want to use my macbook to check my morning emails or anything I can't... it's like my Iphone now where I have to have a little or some charge before it can turn on. This is frustrating.... The previous iteration did not do this because I've done multiple times and didn't have a problem until today.

Luckily it doesn't take too long to charge at least it didn't seem like it as I just hopped on my Stationary Bike used my ipad and then came back to my laptop at 20% but nevertheless I was both disappointed and frustrated to learn that this morning.

 

it seems that apple found out the battery issue and the consumer report now recommends back the macbook pro.

http://www.consumerreports.org/apple/consumer-reports-now-recommends-macbook-pros/

 

Wonder how short the battery life is with Firefox?

 

Good question. I'd be interested to know the answer.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

how are you supposed to turn it on if it died on your last night? it has no more charge, why did you expect it to turn on without charging it? makes no sense to me

 

What he's saying is if the battery is at 0%, even after you connect the Apple 87w PSU you have to wait for the battery to charge a little before the system will power on.

 

oh sorry, thanks for clarifying that

 

Apple themselves CLAIMED that you would normally get 16hrs of battery life in their release "party" I intently watched it waiting for apple to finally release touchscreen macbooks...but was disappointed in last gen processors, non upgradability, silly touch bar, and removal of a lot of ports.

 

As I wasn't there I wouldn't know what they said. IF they really believed this it would be on their website though. Let's not start the last gen cpu rant again, there was no kaby lake cpu available to meet the MacBook Pro requirement at the time of release. If memory and drive upgrades are important then you buy what you will need or get a PC. The touch bar is not silly imho, you don't like it that's fine. Ports are a non issue, peeps who use a lot of external peripherals were already using cables and dongles. And finally, touchscreen are overrated and are not ergonomic unless used on a tablet.

 

beg to differ on touchscreens. I use mine all the time designing products and stuff for my business clients....touchscreens have made my job MUCH simplier and faster....and yeah the touch bar is a silly thing they did to say we need touch but don't want to admit we are wrong with leaving touchscreens on macs. I was ready to buy but after what they released....nope.

 

So you 're saying you constantly reach over your keyboard to touch the screen or you use the touch screen while in tablet mode on your 2 in 1?

The rest of your port is personal opinion, nothing more, nothing less. you don't like the touch bar and want touchscreen, you have lots of options available.

 

Reading through this today, hopefully we can get some good results, I'll post my findings later in the week:

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-...3c77551&bhid=23482233996391640664346578846583

Honestly I'm actually alot happier then I initially thought I would be with my Macbook, after reading about Razer I'm ultra happy that I ended up getting a Macbook.

 

What are you a T Rex or something...you make it sound like you have to reach a mile and a half to touch the screen...YES....I do use my touch screen ALOT. So much so, there are new touchscreen monitors on the way for my office, workshop and my wifes craft room.

 

This is how Apple gets away with these silly positions in the market, no Blu-ray, no ports, no headphone jack, no SD card expansion, no after purchase RAM / Storage options, no touchscreen...etc, etc, etc.

Stop making excuses for Apple and tell them to knock it off.

Pretty soon there will be an empty box or bag with an Apple Logo on it, "completely perfectly optimized" - and completely perfectly useless...

 

Seriously, do you have any idea what an ergonomic computer setup looks like? Have you dealt with staff suffering from repetitive stress injuries resulting from poor ergonomics? Touch screen where you must extend your arm over the keyboard cause stress in your shoulder/neck muscles and affect your sitting posture. Goggling "health risk of touch screen interface" should provide countless articles explaining this.

If you don't like what Apple is doing then vote with your cash and move on. With every iteration of their products we see the same flow of peeps crying because this or that is not to their liking, this is not a war and with all the options available out there it should not be a problem for peeps to find something that fits their requirements. I bought a MacBook that meets my needs and I'm happy with it, if you think a touchscreen is indispensable then buy something else...

 

I did leave it long ago, due to overheating issues with MBP's and finally with the cancellation of the 17" MBP, dumb move for Apple - Again!

But, a lot of clients issue me MB's when on site, so I am forced to deal with them frequently.

And, I occasionally need to deal with IT level Apple stuff, as rare as it is becoming, there is a lot of legacy stuff still running.

And, many try to get back the glory of performance by making Hackintoshes, so sad...

Apple could really do a service to humanity to expand their computer options and performance, rather than forcing all their loyal customers into smaller, fewer, and less optimal computer configurations.

Wouldn't it be more fun to have a computer from Apple that others accepted as great, rather than to feel the need to defend the purchase?

But, I'm happy you're happy...sigh.

 

Thanks for being condescending. Others have accepted the MacBook is a great computer and others haven't, this is the same with just about any product and unlikely to change anytime soon.

 

Yeah, I know it hurts, I went through the withdrawal myself, long ago, but I do still recall feeling betrayed by Apple's indifference to it's loyal fan's.

Enjoy it while you can

 

Touch screen is so massively awesome if you've every lived with it, you'll totally miss it when you are stuck with a "dead" screen that doesn't respond to touch.

Your hands are right there on the keyboard, and a fraction of an inch further than that touch strip, it's very natural to live with one hand closer to the screen for touch all the time.

Don't knock it till you've tried it

Apple's iphone / ipad touch screen been so innovative, and so useful, it's frightening to think that Apple completely missed the boat on laptop touch screen's and digitizers for drawing.

Mind blown

 

And condescending again, it takes away from any point you're trying to make when you act this way.

 

Really man, I am opening up and honestly giving you my experience, nothing more.

I was speaking from the heart, expressing how I felt then, how I feel now, and sharing that you should enjoy it while you can.

Apple has let all of us down when it comes to Macintosh desktops, AIO's, laptops, etc.

And, the kiddy iOS and associated hardware is no consolation prize to make up for the loss of what Mac OS and Mac hardware should have become.

Watching the latest MBP fail so badly to provide any perceptible performance upgrade from their previous MBP hardware, so many people realizing their previous models got compute work done so much faster that they've had to put their old hardware back into service just to get work done.

Apple let a lot of people down with what they've done with their latest hardware.

I hope someone there is given the go ahead to revamp the whole Mac line, and finally put out some performance computing to give legs to the MacOS again.

 

I know what an awesome computer setup works like. Since getting my touchscreen setup and selling my mac's. Its much better. maybe for typing its better using the keyboard instead of the screen, but for ALOT of other things like graphics, video, photography, music production touch screen mops up the touchbar/apple computers now. Hence the reason I switched....Touchscreens are the present and future. hell even 300 dollar computers are coming with touchscreens. I use mine ALOT during the day....it's awesome!

 

Now you're just trolling, plonk into the ignore list...

 

NO...I am not.....I am explaining why the touchscreen is more useful than the touchbar, simple. I was a fan of apple, and was sitting watching the release show, waiting to buy a new MBP...because there were lots of rumors of touchscreens on the new macs. They disappointed me, so I spent my money elsewhere. touch bar is NOT a touchscreen, nor, is it a replacement for a touchscreen....

Sorry you feel like I am "trolling" you....I am not....having a discussion is not trolling....the T rex comment was quite obviously a joke.

 

Either you like touchscreens or you do not. I love them on hand held devices. I've used touch screen occasionally on desktops and a few laptops and it isn't that bad but not a requirement. For example, while typing and mousing I've sometimes just reached out real quick to open up This PC, drag a few desktop documents across the desktop real quick or pop open and select something from the start menu, but anything requiring precision is mouse only. When a system doesn't have it, I don't miss it. I've yet to discover a killer exe that suddenly makes it worthwhile. But to each their own....

 

I find touchscreen and stylus/pen, way more accurate than trying to yip around with a mouse. It's way more natural to draw then to try to draw with a mouse. Photo editing and grpahics is way better with touchscreen.

 

Huge difference between touchscreen and a real stylus especially for drawing and some editing. I have graphic artist friends who swear by their Wacoms daily. But for real drawing work, ergonomically, a standard desktop or non convertible laptop would be a nightmare. I use a surface 4 pro and an iPad Pro with Apple pen. Both are the bees knees, but ergonomics play a huge role and for many day to day tasks, I find myself switching to my laptop or desktop as it is easier to use and navigate with a KBM setup. Hand held and light or laid on an adjustable angle, that is a specific and killer app and use I agree. But for normal day to day use, I can take it or leave it. Like I said, I've used touch screens before as noted. I do like and appreciate the immediate location touch and push of function navigation in some instances, but it isn't a deal maker or breaker.

If it works for you, great. Obviously touch screens are a part of society on many levels beyond even PCs, tablets and smart phones. I love touch based interfaces as in theory they remove another interactive layer for direct touch and response. But for me, I need applications, in quantity, that make it a MUST have feature and right now it just isn't there yet on a desktop'standard laptop level.