New Apple MacBook Pro Slammed, Tests Reveal 3.75 Hours Battery Life

The highly influential US publication Consumer Reports has slammed the new Apple MacBook Pro which in one test only delivered 3.75 hours of battery life.

Similar to Australian publication Choice, the publication said it cannot recommend people purchase Apple’s new MacBook Pro because of “highly inconsistent” battery life.

In three consecutive tests, one 13-inch MacBook Pro model ran for 16 hours in the first trial, 12.75 hours in the second and just 3.75 hours in the third, the publication said of the recently released line, which starts at $1,499.

It added that battery life for the 15-inch laptop it tested ranged from 18.5 down to 8 hours.

“This is a real departure from past MacBooks,” CR reported. “Most Apple laptops have scored well in our battery test, typically lasting much longer than the manufacturer has claimed.”

By way of example, the product tester said an earlier MacBook Pro model lasted 19 hours.

Apple didn’t comment to CR or The Post about the erratic performance of batteries in the new MacBook Pro series.

The Apple Store Web site assures would-be buyers of the laptop of “up to 10 hours of battery life” between charges.

CR added that a laptop’s battery life typically varies from one trial to another by less than 5 percent.

But the batteries in the new MacBook Pros generated such “widely disparate” test figures, CR said, it opted to use only the lowest in calculating final scores.

“It’s the only time frame we can confidently advise a consumer to rely on if he or she is planning to use the product without access to an electrical outlet,” CR said in a blog post published online.

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.