Apple’s latest MacBook Pro has been controversial for a number of reasons, mostly for calling itself Pro while appearing to cater more towards mainstream users, with limited ports, configuration options and it appears battery life.
Now for the first time the range has lost the coveted Recommended rating by Consumer Reports, who complain that battery life has been very inconsistent with the devices, sometimes as little as 3.5 hours in their real world testing, which involve loading a range of web pages repeatedly.
They write:
“The MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next.
“For instance, in a series of three consecutive tests, the 13-inch model with the Touch Bar ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second, and just 3.75 hours in the third. The 13-inch model without the Touch Bar worked for 19.5 hours in one trial but only 4.5 hours in the next. And the numbers for the 15-inch laptop ranged from 18.5 down to 8 hours.
“Those were just a few of the results; we tested battery life on these laptops repeatedly.”
Complaints regarding the battery life of the laptops have been widely reported, with Apple responding by removing the estimated battery life meter from the OS.
“When combined with the differing ways people use their Mac throughout the day, the calculation of remaining battery life displayed as a measure of time has become less accurate,” an Apple spokesperson told Business Insider. “With the latest update to Sierra, we have removed the remaining-time indicator.”
Microsoft appears to have been a major beneficiary of Apple’s stumble, with Microsoft saying:
More people are switching from Macs to Surface than ever before. Our trade-in program for MacBooks was our best ever, and the combination of excitement for the innovation of Surface coupled with the disappointment of the new MacBook Pro – especially among professionals – is leading more and more people to make the switch to Surface, like this. It seems like a new review recommending Surface over MacBook comes out daily. This makes our team so proud, because it means we’re doing good work.
The news simply adds to the recent narrative that Apple has lost its innovation edge, and that Microsoft has now taken over the mantle, underlined by products such as the Surface Book and Surface Studio which wowed users when unveiled.
Is Microsoft the new Apple? Let us know below.
