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Consumer Reports Stands by MacBook Pro 2016 Battery Test Findings; Refuses a Retest

Consumer Reports Stands by MacBook Pro 2016 Battery Test Findings; Refuses a Retest

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 30 December 2016 12:08 IST

Highlights

Consumer Reports does not recommend the new MacBook Pro
It cites battery life issues as the main reason
The organisation refuses to take perform retests

Many early users of the new MacBook Pro 2016 units have reported battery life issues. Consumer Reports also reported inconsistent battery life in its in-depth tests, and the MacBook Pro 2016 shockingly became the first MacBook to not receive the organisation's recommendation. Surprised by the findings, Apple even announced that it is working with Consumer Reports to understand the battery tests that were performed by the latter. However, Consumer Reports has now announced that it won't be doing any retests as it's quite sure about the tests it performed initially.

The company told 9to5Mac that a retest is unwarranted, as it is confident about its findings. Their tests are monitored very closely and an entry is logged every minute to ensure accuracy. "In this case, we don't believe re-running the tests are warranted for several reasons. First, as we point out in our original article, experiencing very high battery life on MacBooks is not unusual for us - in fact we had a model in our comparative tests that got 19 hours. Second, we confirmed our brightness with three different meters, so we feel confident in our findings using this equipment. Finally, we monitor our tests very closely. There is an entry logged every minute, so we know from these entries that the app worked correctly".

Consumer Reports had found widely varying battery life across different MacBook Pro 2016 models, stating in its report: "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." Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, had expressed his surprise at the findings, saying that the numbers did not match Apple's own data, in a Twitter post, "Working with CR to understand their battery tests. Results do not match our extensive lab tests or field data."

Consumer Reports also confirmed to 9to5Mac it is continuing to work with Apple to find an explanation for these results. "We are working collaboratively to understand the lower battery life findings and will report back to our readers if and when there is an update," said Consumer Reports' director of electronics testing Maria Rerecich.

The non-profit firm is considered as a reputable organisation whose recommendation holds high regard in the tech industry. This bad recommendation report could hinder Apple's new MacBook Pro 2016 models sales in the future.

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