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Touch Bar MacBook Pro Q&A
Update Published February 6, 2017
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What is the "real-world" battery life of the "Late 2016" Touch Bar MacBook Pro models? How does the battery life compare to the models replaced? Is it possible to replace the battery?
Please note that the "Late 2016" MacBook Pro models have been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and can be helpful to someone considering one of these models on the used market.
In the company press release for the "Late 2016" Touch Bar MacBook Pro models, Apple makes no mention of battery life, so it is a safe bet that the battery life is not significantly improved compared to their predecessors. If the battery life was much better, the company would have proudly proclaimed it.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (Late 2016 MacBook Pro Line)
Official Battery Life Estimates & Battery Specs
Apple estimates that the glued-in, non-replaceable battery in all three models from the "Late 2016" MacBook Pro line is "up to" 10 hours in both a wireless web test and an iTunes movie playback test.
More specifically, Apple used preproduction versions of the non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.0 13" with a 256 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM, the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.9 13" Touch Bar with a 512 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM, and the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.6 15" Touch Bar with a 256 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM to arrive at these numbers for the wireless web and iTunes movie playback tests.
The company estimated "up to" 10-12 hours of battery life for the previous "Early 2015" 13-Inch MacBook Pro models (10 hours in wireless web and 12 hours in iTunes movie playback) and "up to" 9 hours of battery life in both wireless web and iTunes movie playback for the previous "Mid-2015" 15-Inch MacBook Pro models.
In fine print, Apple reports that these tests were performed according to the following criteria:
The wireless web test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing 25 popular websites with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%. The iTunes movie playback test measures battery life by playing back HD 1080p content with display brightness set to 12 clicks from bottom or 75%.
Without more detail it is not possible to know which websites are being browsed, but it is a safe bet that the company chose fairly simple websites without advanced code or large files that could drain battery life more quickly. It also is assumed that the movie playback test is performed while the notebook is offline to keep its wireless capabilities from simultaneously hitting the battery hard.
Additionally, a detailed evaluation of the battery and thermal specs of these models reveals a curiosity about the three notebooks all providing the same results:
|
|
|
|
Processor Type |
i5-6360U |
i5-6267U |
i7-6700HQ |
Processor Clockspeed |
2.0 GHz |
2.9 GHz |
2.6 GHz |
TDP |
15 W |
28 W |
45 W |
Battery Watt Hours |
54.5 W h |
49.2 W h |
76.0 W h |
The middle model -- the MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.9 13" Touch Bar -- has a processor with not only a faster clockspeed but also a higher TDP (Thermal Design Power) than the low-end model, which means that its average power or heat dissipation is higher. It also has a smaller battery that provides fewer watt hours for runtime. Additionally, the "Touch Bar" is effectively another small display and when in use, it no doubt increases power consumption, too.
Consequently, despite the official battery life estimates, with higher power usage and a smaller battery, it would be reasonable to expect the middle model to perform worse in real-world use.
Third-Party Battery Life Test Results
In recent years, Apple's battery life numbers have been reasonable. However, the flat across the board estimates as well as numerous reader reports of disappointing battery life that is not close to the estimated time means that third-party duplication of Apple's tests as well as real-world usage results are particularly worthwhile.
Some early reviews from PC Mag, C|Net, and Tech Crunch found battery life results very close to Apple's own ten hour estimates running similar tests. However, those who used the systems longer were more likely to encounter issues.
In detailed testing, Engadget confirmed better battery life for the entry-level model as well as demonstrated varying results:
Even after half a dozen battery tests, I'm still noticing some inconsistencies in my results: 13-inch battery life is sometimes in the seven- to eight-hour range, with some tests hinting at a ten-and-a-half-hour capacity. Testing on the 15-inch model has also been inconclusive. I've generally seen between nine and 10 hours of video playback, but in one instance I exceeded the 13-hour mark by lowering the brightness slightly. I'll be conducting more tests and updating this review with final battery life results.
(Update: It took a few battery cycles and some very specific system settings, but I eventually saw the 15-inch model last 11 hours in the iTunes playback test, with the 13-inch Touch Bar model coming in at nine hours and 55 minutes. The entry-level 13-inch Pro without the Touch Bar lasted 11 hours and 42 minutes in the same test. That said, I've heard other tech reviewers complain of shorter battery life and I believe them -- especially if they were judging by everyday use as opposed to video playback.)
Even if we take my best battery results as fact, though, it's worth noting that earlier-gen MacBook Pros lasted longer on a charge. In particular, the 13-inch MacBook Pro I tested a year ago was rated for 12 hours of iTunes playback, and logged nearly 11 and a half hours in the same test I used this time. That's about on par with this year's entry-level, lower-spec model, but an hour and a half longer than what I got with the Touch Bar configuration.
After a week of day-to-day use, 9to5Mac expressed some disappointment:
In a test with only the apps I was actively using open, and working three notches down from maximum brightness, I got 6h 3m from 100% to 3%. That's obviously very disappointing in a brand-new machine when compared to Apple's claimed 10 hours – not just in terms of the machine not being able to make it through a full day's work on battery, but also because Apple didn't used to mislead people like that.
My rule of thumb for manufacturer battery-life claims has always been to divide them by two. Manufacturers tend to use highly unrealistic settings – low screen brightness, continuous use, super-strong WiFi signal, one app open and so on. But Apple used to stand out as a company which didn't play those sorts of games. With the iPad, it still doesn't – I have always genuinely got 10 hours plus from my iPads.
Six hours isn't terrible: it's more than enough for me most of the time. What's terrible is delivering six hours when you've promised ten. Sure, battery-life will vary depending on usage patterns, but looking around, 5-7 hours seems to be entirely typical – though a few reviewers are, somehow, getting closer to ten, and a few are reporting as little as three.
In the most detailed testing of all, the well-respected Consumer Reports also discovered inconsistencies in results and believed that the issues likely were due to software bugs:
As a primary part of our battery life tests, we repeatedly download a set of 10 website pages from a server in the lab using a WiFi connection. We test each laptop multiple times.
We saw odd results from our initial battery tests on all three of Apple's MacBook Pro models -- the 13-inch models with and without the Touch Bar, and the 15-inch model, which only comes with the Touch Bar.
"Much like the older models, the laptops started off with 15- to 17-hour results," Consumer Reports tester Antonette Asedillo says. "But subsequent runs were much lower -- down to 6 and even 4 hours long. So that was a new phenomenon."
Consumer Reports' speculation that software bugs were the issue was correct. Apple released a software update to correct the issue and Consumer Reports was able to revise its previous review and changed its review to recommend the notebook accordingly:
In more recent, in-depth evaluation of the battery life of the "Late 2016" 15-Inch models, PCWorld also noted that an additional battery life bug was fixed:
The [macOS] Sierra 10.12.3 update seems to have fixed the problem. Apple officially says the update "improves automatic graphics switching on the MacBook Pro 15," and it does.
I could no longer get the Radeon Pro to consume phantom power. It's as though Apple basically increased the graphics load requirement before firing up the power-hungry GPU. Google Maps and even more intensive WebGL tasks would no longer fire up the Radeon Pro at all. Most of the time you really don’t need it, as the Intel IGP is generally more than enough for web graphics.
I tested the updated OS running the same task that earlier gave me the horrible 206 minutes of battery life under Sierra 10.12.2. The battery life stretched out to 631 minutes under Sierra 10.12.3.
If you continue to have issues with highly inconsistent battery life, be sure to update to macOS 10.12.3 or higher.
Battery Life Software Modifications
On December 13, 2016, in response to criticism of battery life of the "Late 2016" MacBook Pro models, Apple released macOS 10.12.2, which removed the "time remaining" indicator from the operating system. The update also addressed some other problems with macOS Sierra.
The always witty John Gruber of Daring Fireball half joked that this software omission was "like being late for work and fixing it by breaking your watch" before concluding that it was the less funny "more like having a watch that doesn't keep accurate time and fixing the problem by no longer wearing any watch, rather than fixing or replacing the broken one."
There is a great deal of truth to this humor, though. Long-term Mac users know that the estimated time remaining never was accurate to the minute, and perhaps this info should be updated to give a general estimate of ~3.5 hours, for example, rather than an excessively precise 3:37 remaining in the same situation.
The time remaining still was helpful to know when you might want to alter your behavior to conserve battery life by reducing the screen brightness, turning off music, or going offline, for example. Removing an estimate of remaining time is not helpful, even if it brings the macOS to parity with the iOS, which always has provided only a percentage of remaining battery life instead of a time-based estimate.
Particularly as a battery ages -- and provides less runtime naturally -- a time-based estimate is much more useful than a percentage. 50% runtime remaining for a battery that has been used for 500 cycles is much different from 50% runtime remaining for a new battery.
Although Apple subsequently released macOS 10.12.3 to address some battery life issues, it would certainly be nice for a time estimate to return, as well. It seems unlikely that the company will bring it back, though.
Battery Life Summary
Ultimately, it appears that within the criteria of Apple's narrowly defined battery life tests, ten hours of battery life is a realistic estimate.
However, even with software bugs in the macOS fixed to address some battery life issues, it also appears that the "Late 2016" MacBook Pro battery life is rarely, if ever, better than than its predecessors in day-to-day use.
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