2016 MacBook Pro Denied Recommendation From Consumer Reports Due to Battery Life Inconsistencies

Apple's 2016 MacBook Pro has failed to receive a purchase recommendation from Consumer Reports due to battery life issues that were encountered during testing. Battery life reportedly "varied dramatically" from one trial to another.

According to a new report that covers the new MacBook Pro, the machine is the first of Apple's MacBooks that has not received a Consumer Reports recommendation.

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.

Consumer Reports says that a laptop's battery generally varies by less than five percent from test to test, but because of the "disparate figures" found in the MacBook Pro test, an average battery life consumers might expect to see could not be determined.

For that reason, Consumer Reports used the lowest battery score, which prevented the MacBook Pro from getting a recommendation. "Consumer Reports finds that all three MacBook Pro laptops fail to meet our standards for recommended models," reads the report.

Some customers who bought a 2016 MacBook Pro began complaining of ongoing battery life issues with the machine shortly after purchasing, which ultimately led Apple to remove the "Time Remaining" battery life estimate in the macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update.

While removing the indicator didn't fix battery life issues, some other tweaks may have been implemented at the same time, as there have been reports of better battery life following the update.

Apple claims that its own internal testing has seen the MacBook Pro performing up to the company's standards, providing up to 10 hours of battery life when watching iTunes movies or browsing the web.

Apple declined to provide a comment to Consumer Reports, but had this to say: "Any customer who has a question about their Mac or its operation should contact AppleCare."