Consumer Reports on Thursday says it now recommends Apple’s new MacBook Pro laptops to consumers, after Apple issued a software fix that resolved the laptops’ battery issues.
After evaluating three models back in December, Consumer Reports refused to recommend them. While the laptops were impressive in areas such as display quality and performance, there were wild variations in battery life. Consumer Reports’ tests showed the battery life on the machines would last anywhere from 19.5 hours to 3.75 hours.
Then earlier this week, Apple said it had found the problem, blaming a Safari bug that was triggered by the settings Consumer Reports used. Apple issued a fix, which is currently available to those who sign up for the Apple Beta Software program. It will be a part of a broader software update available in a few weeks.
After downloading the software update, Consumer Reports ran its tests again with satisfactory results. Consumer Reports specifically tested one 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Touch Bar, one 13-inch model without the Touch Bar, and a 15-inch model (all the 15-inch machines come with the Touch Bar). They found the three machines respectively ran an average 15.75 hours, 18.75 hours and 17.25 hours.
