Does the huge trackpad matter?

[therealseebs]

So, just curious:

Is anyone specifically happy about the extra-large trackpad? I am pretty sure I don't need it, and depending on how it works, it may actually be worse for me than the smaller ones.

And since making the trackpad huge seems to be why the fancy new touchbar needed to replace the escape and function key row, instead of just being above them... I'm curious. Does anyone want or need the extra huge trackpad? I've seen people say that "most" users don't need function keys. Well, maybe. But do "most" users need the extra half inch of trackpad size?

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Why does the trackpad effect the function row?

Function row is gone because it doesn't make sense to have a function row, and a touch function row above it...

I like the bigger trackpad, I'm lazy and cannot be bothered to plug in a mouse or my graphics tablet half the time and use the trackpad for far too detailed work in Photoshop. I've developed quite the skill in pressing, holding, and moving at the same time, often with both hands. So a bigger trackpad is awesome, gives me more room to work!

 

[double329]

I think the new large track pad is certainly a nice to have one. It is certainly very nice for me when I moved from old trackpad to a new force-touch trackpad for my iMac. I was spoiled by the real-estate of the trackpad. I do like the new trackpad where you can silent the click. The noise can be annoying sometime when you are in the meeting.

 

[therealseebs]

Why does the trackpad effect the function row?

They took away a thing, and simultaneously bragged about how huge the trackpad was, so I assume that if they'd left the function row there, the trackpad would have been smaller.

Function row is gone because it doesn't make sense to have a function row, and a touch function row above it...

Except the thing above it isn't a function row.

A function row is tactile keys that work for touch-typists that includes keys which are, even now, common keybindings in Mac apps. (It's also relevant for people who might, say, want to use Boot Camp or something.)

So it would have been pretty practical to just add a touch bar above the keyboard, and that would have worked.

 

[cmaier]

They took away a thing, and simultaneously bragged about how huge the trackpad was, so I assume that if they'd left the function row there, the trackpad would have been smaller.

No. correlation is not causation.

The new touch controls take the space where the function row was. The new trackpad has nothing to do with it.

The new trackpad is there because this is the first new design since Apple switched to taptic trackpads. With the old trackpad there was a natural size limit, because it would be hard to click on every point of it if it was too big. The taptic trackpad has no such limitation.

Although the most recent MBP had a taptic trackpad, it was shoehorned in where the old mechanical trackpad was and the case was not redesigned at that time.