As one of the leading lights in digital technology, Apple has faced major embarrassment over its latest versions of the MacBook Pro series of computers. With the company claiming a battery life of ‘up to ten hours’, it has been left red-faced by recent tests which show that some users can expect the battery to give up the ghost long before this amount of time has elapsed.
Consumer Reports’ Test Results
A leading review organisation, Consumer Reports, usually recommends Apple products after putting them through a rigorous testing process, but for the first time it has failed to endorse the MacBook Pro series.
In a series of tests of battery performance, Consumer Reports found that results varied wildly, ranging from just over nineteen hours down to less than four hours. The organisation expects to see a variance in results of around five per cent, but the MacBook Pro findings are very wide of this benchmark.
Apple’s Response
Apple maintains that the tests were conducted under conditions which would not occur in general use. For example, the browser cache was disabled for the duration of the tests, which most users simply would not do. This still fails to explain how other computers manage to achieve good battery life results under the same testing conditions.
As a first response, Apple has issued a software fix for people who sign up to its Beta Software Program, which it believes will resolve issues for the majority of users. It intends to include the fix in a future software update which will be available to all MacBook Pro users in the coming weeks.
Some MacBook Pro users are still not convinced by Apple’s response, and this is likely to make a huge dent in the company’s credibility. This appears to be an issue beyond the remit of even leading software testing services such as https://www.bugfinders.com, and Apple needs to ensure that these issues are resolved as quickly as possible.
A recent article on the Forbes website points out that Apple’s marketing strategy relies on recommendations from organisations such as Consumer Report. The article suggests that this recent negative report may force the company to review the way it markets products in the future.
Meanwhile, Apple says it is working closely with Consumer Reports in an effort to restore brand confidence.
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