MacBook Pro earns Consumer Reports recommendation after battery bug fix

After addressing some wonky battery consumption with its latest laptop, Apple's MacBook Pro has just earned a "Recommended" rating from the watchdog reviewers at Consumer Reports.

Despite high remarks in display and performance, Consumer Reports originally denied the MacBook Pro top marks following an "inconsistent" battery life - ranging as wide as 19.5 hours of juice to just 3.75 hours. 

This led Apple to issue a software patch in beta for its newest Ultrabook, citing the problem to be a bug in the Safari web browser that excessively sucked power - a problem the tech giant claims Consumer Reports triggered during testing.

After applying the update, Consumer Reports says that all three MacBook Pro models it re-reviewed "performed well" in the battery test, receiving high enough marks to bump the laptops into the organization's "Recommended" range. 

Battery woes no more?

After remedial testing, Consumer Reports clocks the 13-inch MacBook Pro (with Touch Bar), 13-inch MacBook Pro (without Touch Bar), and 15-inch MacBook Pro with average charge times of 15.75 hours, 18.75 hours, and 17.25 hours, respectively.  

While the fix was enough to sate Consumer Reports' issues with the MacBook Pro's troublesome battery, it's still uncertain if it will solve those experienced by some users, should there be an issue separate from the one caused by the Safari bug.

For those hoping to try Apple's remedy for themselves, the bug-squashing software update is available now through Apple's Beta Software Program

As for the rest, time will just have to tell if Apple is out of the woods with its latest laptop, as the software update isn't expected to release to the public at large for several more weeks.

Parker Wilhelm
Parker Wilhelm is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He likes to tinker in Photoshop and talk people's ears off about Persona 4.
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