4 ms·

Even if you don't care about the rest of the review, if you're interested in some real-world/empirical evidence about how the Touch Bar model's battery life com

Even if you don't care about the rest of the review, if you're interested in some real-world/empirical evidence about how the Touch Bar model's battery life compares to the Function Key model, please read through the Battery section of this post. I open sourced the script and methodology I used to run heavy battery use tests: https://github.com/geerlingguy/macbook-pro-battery-test https://github.com/geerlingguy/macbook-pro-battery-test And I also published the raw results of the third full battery test on each laptop: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16H6TeKCOZRwzsd5bZJM2IHVqN9fU6GZhUrDiu_SK2zU/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16H6TeKCOZRwzsd5bZJM2...

richardwhiuk 10y ago
I'm confused: # Builds completed Total battery life Avg. Build time 2016 Touch Bar - 3.1 GHz i5 49 4:54:00 0:08:45 2016 Fn key - 2.4 GHz i7 30 3:54:00 0:07:52 2015 Retina - 3.1 GHz i7 24 3:30:00 0:06:02 suggests that the 2016 model did 19 more builds, and had a battery life of 1 hour longer, suggesting a _better_ battery life...
- tcbawo 10y ago
  Looking at the data in his spreadsheet, I think he has the models and build times switched.
  - geerlingguy 10y ago
    You're correct. Sorry about that, I fixed the table!
    - yabatopia 10y ago
      Ah, that makes so much more sense now!
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dogismycopilot 10y ago
  2016 Touch Bar - 3.1 GHz i5 24 3:30:00 0:08:45 2016 Fn key - 2.4 GHz i7 30 3:54:00 0:07:52 2015 Retina - 3.1 GHz i7 49 4:54:00 0:06:02 Above is straight off of his website. Looks like the OLDER MBP has more builds/more battery, which is what he was saying. Your table looks completely wrong, but I understand that he had some errors on the original site. The comments in the article claim that the above is correct.
  - richardwhiuk 10y ago
    My comment was from prior the up date to the site, or the comments, hence the confusion
cr3ative 10y ago
Do you have your table labels muddled on the article? It's showing the 2016 with Touch Bar completing the most builds, but your spreadsheet and general disappointment disagrees with that.
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  Yes, sorry; I fixed the table just now; I had some of the data points switched between the Touch Bar model and the 2015
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
acomjean 10y ago
even consumer reports had enough issues with the battery to make it a "not recommended" machine. "The MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next."[1] did you see the same? [1]http://www.consumerreports.org/laptops/macbook-pros-fail-to-earn-consumer-reports-recommendation/ http://www.consumerreports.org/laptops/macbook-pros-fail-to-...
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  The results were highly consistent for me (I tested the Touch Bar model 5 times just to be safe). I presume that a lighter test (e.g. only browsing, watching videos, etc.) would probably allow macOS to apply more battery optimizing techniques, which may vary depending on the exact test, WiFi conditions, etc. For my test, it was full bore, using lots of CPU (all cores), lots of bandwidth, and lots of I/O, with the screen on 100% brightness the entire time.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    Using 100% brightness makes the test basically invalid. The backlight is one of the biggest power hogs in the whole machine, and the new Macbook is 65% brighter at maximum. That's helpful for e.g. outdoor use, but for office use the proper setting is 150-200 lux (about 50% brightness on the old machines, 30% brightness on the new ones). Testing the machines at different brightness settings is akin to testing them running different workloads.
    - geerlingguy 10y ago
      I'm less concerned with the regression from 2015 to 2016 models, and more with the fact that the Touch Bar model does so much worse than the Function Key model.
    - codazoda 10y ago
      At 100% the test might be invalid but I don't think your percentages are correct. I'm sure it's environment specific but I run my new 2016 Macbook Pro w/ Touchbar at about 60% brightness most of the time. At 30%, in office LED lighting, it's way to dark. At 60% it's still darker than a Monoprice gaming monitor that sits right next to it.
AlphaSite 10y ago
One important point is that you switched from i5 to i7, which has a fairly significant impact on battery life (in my experience).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
eknkc 10y ago
I switched from 2014 15" to 2016 15" with touch bar. Can't really complain about the battery life. Is it the 13" with battery issues? This is my last 12 hours. http://c.ekin.io/3o0S3e1j3i36 http://c.ekin.io/3o0S3e1j3i36 Have been working on several projects with a VM and PgSQL running at background. This is comparable to my older device.
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  Yes, it seems to be a much larger problem on the 13" Touch Bar model especially. See the links in the blog post to the iFixit reviews—the battery in the Touch Bar model (which is driving more things and a higher TDP CPU) is actually _smaller_ than the one in the Function Keys model.

richardwhiuk 10y ago

I'm confused: # Builds completed Total battery life Avg. Build time 2016 Touch Bar - 3.1 GHz i5 49 4:54:00 0:08:45 2016 Fn key - 2.4 GHz i7 30 3:54:00 0:07:52 2015 Retina - 3.1 GHz i7 24 3:30:00 0:06:02 suggests that the 2016 model did 19 more builds, and had a battery life of 1 hour longer, suggesting a _better_ battery life...

tcbawo 10y ago
Looking at the data in his spreadsheet, I think he has the models and build times switched.
- geerlingguy 10y ago
  You're correct. Sorry about that, I fixed the table!
  - yabatopia 10y ago
    Ah, that makes so much more sense now!
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
dogismycopilot 10y ago
2016 Touch Bar - 3.1 GHz i5 24 3:30:00 0:08:45 2016 Fn key - 2.4 GHz i7 30 3:54:00 0:07:52 2015 Retina - 3.1 GHz i7 49 4:54:00 0:06:02 Above is straight off of his website. Looks like the OLDER MBP has more builds/more battery, which is what he was saying. Your table looks completely wrong, but I understand that he had some errors on the original site. The comments in the article claim that the above is correct.
- richardwhiuk 10y ago
  My comment was from prior the up date to the site, or the comments, hence the confusion

cr3ative 10y ago

Do you have your table labels muddled on the article? It's showing the 2016 with Touch Bar completing the most builds, but your spreadsheet and general disappointment disagrees with that.

geerlingguy 10y ago
Yes, sorry; I fixed the table just now; I had some of the data points switched between the Touch Bar model and the 2015

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

acomjean 10y ago

even consumer reports had enough issues with the battery to make it a "not recommended" machine. "The MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next."[1] did you see the same? [1]http://www.consumerreports.org/laptops/macbook-pros-fail-to-earn-consumer-reports-recommendation/ http://www.consumerreports.org/laptops/macbook-pros-fail-to-...

geerlingguy 10y ago
The results were highly consistent for me (I tested the Touch Bar model 5 times just to be safe). I presume that a lighter test (e.g. only browsing, watching videos, etc.) would probably allow macOS to apply more battery optimizing techniques, which may vary depending on the exact test, WiFi conditions, etc. For my test, it was full bore, using lots of CPU (all cores), lots of bandwidth, and lots of I/O, with the screen on 100% brightness the entire time.
- rayiner 10y ago
  Using 100% brightness makes the test basically invalid. The backlight is one of the biggest power hogs in the whole machine, and the new Macbook is 65% brighter at maximum. That's helpful for e.g. outdoor use, but for office use the proper setting is 150-200 lux (about 50% brightness on the old machines, 30% brightness on the new ones). Testing the machines at different brightness settings is akin to testing them running different workloads.
  - geerlingguy 10y ago
    I'm less concerned with the regression from 2015 to 2016 models, and more with the fact that the Touch Bar model does so much worse than the Function Key model.
  - codazoda 10y ago
    At 100% the test might be invalid but I don't think your percentages are correct. I'm sure it's environment specific but I run my new 2016 Macbook Pro w/ Touchbar at about 60% brightness most of the time. At 30%, in office LED lighting, it's way to dark. At 60% it's still darker than a Monoprice gaming monitor that sits right next to it.

AlphaSite 10y ago

One important point is that you switched from i5 to i7, which has a fairly significant impact on battery life (in my experience).

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

eknkc 10y ago

I switched from 2014 15" to 2016 15" with touch bar. Can't really complain about the battery life. Is it the 13" with battery issues? This is my last 12 hours. http://c.ekin.io/3o0S3e1j3i36 http://c.ekin.io/3o0S3e1j3i36 Have been working on several projects with a VM and PgSQL running at background. This is comparable to my older device.

geerlingguy 10y ago
Yes, it seems to be a much larger problem on the 13" Touch Bar model especially. See the links in the blog post to the iFixit reviews—the battery in the Touch Bar model (which is driving more things and a higher TDP CPU) is actually _smaller_ than the one in the Function Keys model.