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Do you like the touchbar?

Do you like the touchbar?

  • Yes

    Votes: 126 55.5%

  • No

    Votes: 101 44.5%
  • Total voters
    227
I’ve customized my touchbar to just have the ESC key on the far left. I’ve removed all other keys in its default view except for volume and brightness slider. In order to access the F keys, I hold the fn to toggle. Even then it’s quite a nuisance

What is annoying is some IDEs/debug tools use the function keys. I’ve all but given up on hotkeys and just mouse click. I don’t think the touchbar is that friendly to touch typist developers.
 
Used to like it a little, now that I have accidental presses of this "key" or that every day I ****ing hate it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cape Dave
It's nice and can be convenient depending on what I use it for, but definitely not a huge fan of it.
 
How useful is the Touch ID that seems to be mentioned along with Touch Bar?

Thinking of 15" or new 16" MBP
 
I like using sliders for sound and brightness compared to buttons. Aesthetic is pleasing, makes the laptop a bit more special and fresh with the app dependent buttons, its nice. It's also good because it removes couple of keys and thats a good thing with butterfly keyboard.
 
ghanwani said:
Just as we find out we have a small majority that prefers the touchbar, we are about to lose it!

(I don't like it so I'm good with it being removed.)
Click to expand...
A small majority of what ?
Of the people who answered this poll ? Statistically speaking, a 157 people sample made of people who decided to vote (as opposed to a larger sample the composition of which would have been decided based on some better knowledge of the user population) is a joke.

Moreover, the question is not just about the user base, but also whether it has been adopted by application designers (who still have to assume users may or may not have it), whether it fits the rest of the design well, etc. For starters, after 6 years, I would have expected it on some desktop keyboard as well, if it had been such a success.
 
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Reactions: jaymc and throAU
Granted, I haven't tried it. I currently have a 2020 Air and find it annoying to have to tilt the screen down to light up the keyboard so I can see where the button is to turn on the backlight (Big Sur now has it in the control center).

My thought was to actually get a Touch Bar MBP so the entire keyboard doesn't have to be lit up just so I can see the volume and keyboard backlight controls.

As for some of the complaints out there, the Escape key is physical now with the Scissor keyboards, and the Touch ID sensor can also simply be pressed to lock the MacBook, so no need to map a lock button. There also are 3rd party applications to add features like Haptic touch.

I'm heading to Best Buy tonight to try one out.
 
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Reactions: VaruLV
MrTSolar said:
Granted, I haven't tried it. I currently have a 2020 Air and find it annoying to have to tilt the screen down to light up the keyboard so I can see where the button is to turn on the backlight (Big Sur now has it in the control center).

My thought was to actually get a Touch Bar MBP so the entire keyboard doesn't have to be lit up just so I can see the volume and keyboard backlight controls.

As for some of the complaints out there, the Escape key is physical now with the Scissor keyboards, and the Touch ID sensor can also simply be pressed to lock the MacBook, so no need to map a lock button. There also are 3rd party applications to add features like Haptic touch.

I'm heading to Best Buy tonight to try one out.
Click to expand...

Yes, physical ESC key solved the biggest thing I disliked about touchbar on my 2018 MBP, and then learning that I can set the touchbar to mimic the classic hotkey/fn row solved the rest of it.

SysPrefs->Keyboard and try different settings.

Touch Bar Shot 2020-12-07 at 9.42.20 PM.png


Touch Bar Shot 2020-12-11 at 7.21.20 AM.png


You can also remap to other hotkey functions as you wish.

Screen Shot 2020-12-02 at 12.16.04 PM.png
 
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Reactions: VaruLV and jaymc
Well, it was a lot of "meh" in the store. The Touchbar is likely one of those things that you learn to love or hate as you use it as it doesn't have a lot of wow factor on a demo. It could be handy if the apps support it well, but if you're sticking with the stock Apple apps, there's not much to gain from it as keyboard shortcuts and trackpad gestures are optimized for the system.

It's a pass from me. Maybe on the next laptop if they still have it several years down the road.
 
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Reactions: Cape Dave
I know this is an old thread, but I've been using Touch Bars for 2 years at this point and although it's nice and somewhat useful, I wouldn't pay extra for it. Perhaps that's why Apple never made it a paid addition?
 
mrt.plt said:
I know this is an old thread, but I've been using Touch Bars for 2 years at this point and although it's nice and somewhat useful, I wouldn't pay extra for it. Perhaps that's why Apple never made it a paid addition?
Click to expand...
It was effectively a premium addition since it didn’t come on the model with 2 Thunderbolt ports, only on the one with 4. However, they changed that later.
 
ghanwani said:
It was effectively a premium addition since it didn’t come on the model with 2 Thunderbolt ports, only on the one with 4. However, they changed that later.
Click to expand...
Oh, I meant like a true add-on. Because as you mentioned, the only non-TB model was the base MBP with only 2 Thunderbolt ports. If I were given the option, I wouldn't pay extra for the TB on my old 15" nor my current 16".
 
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Reactions: ghanwani
Worst idea Apple ever had and was stubborn to stick with it. I had my company supplied Macbook Pro to death. **** keyboard, **** touchbar I keep touching by accident 20x a day until I turned the darn thing off.

Love my Macbook Air M1. Perfect keyboard, no touch stuff I accidentally touch. Nothing. Total bliss.

Will never spend a dime on a touchbar Mac again ever. (had a 16" briefly...)
 
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  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: fishernomad, jaymc and Cape Dave
calstanford said:
Worst idea Apple ever had and was stubborn to stick with it. I had my company supplied Macbook Pro to death. **** keyboard, **** touchbar I keep touching by accident 20x a day until I turned the darn thing off.

Love my Macbook Air M1. Perfect keyboard, no touch stuff I accidentally touch. Nothing. Total bliss.

Will never spend a dime on a touchbar Mac again ever. (had a 16" briefly...)
Click to expand...
Amen! Those who like the touchbar also pass the salt like this...
It was useless right out of the gate.
 
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  • Haha
Reactions: VaruLV and jaymc
I luv the way Safari browser is integrated with the Touch Bar. I wish Firefox and Brave would follow suit. Those are the only browsers I will use. Brave spoofs Google Chrome, so that is a enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jaymc
In special use case - online class, i can use the touch bar to control media with affecting what's on the screen
And when i play audio i can see where it pauses... so sometimes very useful. Some times not so much.
 
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Reactions: jaymc
Cape Dave said:
Amen! Those who like the touchbar also pass the salt like this...
It was useless right out of the gate.
Click to expand...
lol when you find it useful you find it useful. Like the first 2 years of using the mac, i found it useless. But as soon as i started to give online class, the touch bar help so much. It’s like a mini control center, i can play and pause videos without accessing onscreen control, i can see the waveform when playing audio.

It really depends on how you use it.

Replying just to remind you that some people do use it in a meaningful way.
 
calstanford said:
Worst idea Apple ever had and was stubborn to stick with it. I had my company supplied Macbook Pro to death. **** keyboard, **** touchbar I keep touching by accident 20x a day until I turned the darn thing off.

Love my Macbook Air M1. Perfect keyboard, no touch stuff I accidentally touch. Nothing. Total bliss.

Will never spend a dime on a touchbar Mac again ever. (had a 16" briefly...)
Click to expand...
Totally understandable! people love it, people hate it.
 
Been using the Touch Bar for over two years on various MacBooks. It was never on my iMac, or now Mac mini, so I thought I was indifferent to it.

When I recently used my wife's M1 MacBook Air I found myself reaching for the TB, and was disappointed that it wasn't there.

Count me in the "Like" camp.
 
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