2016 MacBook Pro getting Better Reviews, but still Criticized

I love Apple products as much as the next guy. I have an iPhone 7, an iPad Pro, and a 2014 model MacBook Pro. I love them all. I was hoping to get my hands on the new 2016 MacBook Pro, but I held off when Consumer Reports issued a bad rating late last year.

When the new Apple computers came to market in September, there was a bug of some type that caused the battery life to be inordinately shorter than originally advertised. Some people experienced a battery life of just a few hours, if not less.

Apple was reasonably infuriated by the report, having expected sales to fly through the roof following its highly anticipated launch. The company had worked tirelessly to introduce a trio of 2016 MacBook Pro models, including a 13” without Touch Bar or Touch Id, (retailing at $1399), a 13” with Touch Bar and Touch ID ($1799), and the crown jewel, a 15” with Touch Bar and Touch ID ($2399).

However, after investigating the matter, the company found there was indeed a bug in the system that, for many, drained the battery life much more quickly than the design called for. The technicians got together and quickly developed an update that fixed the problem.

When the update was released on January 9, 2017 the team over at Consumer Reports installed it and ran the same tests on a huge batch of these new MacBook machines. This time, the battery life was perfect – in some cases, beyond perfect. The longest test actually saw one MacBook Pro’s battery lasting a phenomenal 18.75 hours.

Getting a recommendation from Consumer Reports is critical for major technology brands, as it can be the difference between a stellar year in profits, and a plummeting position on the stock market. Thus, when CR made an update of its own, changing its bad rating to a thumbs-up for the new MacBook Pro, Apple was quick to wipe the anxious sweat from its brow.

Still Problems for 2016 MacBook Pro

The criticism isn’t over just yet, though. Critics are still jeering the new Apple laptops for what essentially amounts to false advertising. They argue that the new MacBook Pro isn’t worthy of a ‘Pro‘ title.

When we think of professional business laptops, we envision ultimate power, lots of accessory ports, and a huge price tag, among other things. They got the price tag right…

Some were underwhelmed by the machine’s processing speed, not to mention the elimination of almost all legacy I/O ports and no SD card reader. Even the Touch Bar – the biggest selling point from Apple – failed to harvest cheers from too many directions.

But, what the 2016 MacBook Pros do have is worth mentioning, like the latest i5 and i7 Intel Core processors, a lightning quick SSD, Touch ID and a trio of Thunderbolt USB C ports. It’s also got a lighter and slimmer designer, making for better portability. Surprisingly, the 13” MacBook Pro comes in lighter and thinner than the 13” MacBook Air.

I’m no blue-collar business executive, but for me, a regular gamer and long-time mac pokies fan, the 2016 MacBook Pro – with properly working battery – has more than enough under its hood for me.