I've never owned a MBP with a Touch Bar, but have repeatedly read user comments about much they disliked it. Is there a reason for this? Having never used it, I think it's a cool feature, but maybe it isn't?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Downsides of Touch Bar??
- Thread starter hoodafoo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It’s cool at first but after a while it’s just ok. It’s not bad but it’s not great, I would rather have real function keys. But it is cool to slide the brightness/volume up or down.
Outside of basic functions, I didn't find much use for it, and in 2016 & 217, there was hardly any app support for it. And from wha I have seen, there is still little support.
It is also easily triggered, even if your fingers don't actually touch it.
It is also easily triggered, even if your fingers don't actually touch it.
I like looking at the screen not the keyboard. The function keys are, well, functional. If the touch bar was replaced with tactile touch keys that would work much better.
I forgot to mention but you may like to customize the touch bar, and you can use an app called BetterTouchTool and download someone's setup. I tried it for a while but went back to the stock config of the touch bar, but if you are getting one its not a huge downside unless you constantly rely on the fn keys. The new macs have a real escape key which is really nice.
There are two main issues:
- The touch bar is a part of the keyboard that does not work like the rest of the keyboard. When you are using a keyboard, your fingers can rest on the keys without pressing them. You can also feel whether you are about to press a single key or multiple keys and correct the position of your fingers without looking. Not so with the touch bar.
- It's hard to get used to the touch bar, because most keyboards don't have one. My MBP has a touch bar, but the external keyboard I sometimes use with it doesn't. My iMac keyboard does not have one, and neither does the keyboard of my gaming PC. Even after three years, the keyboard of my MBP feels wrong.
Maybe I'm using my keyboard wrong but I never touch my function keys unless it's to change volume
I remember this is very similar with 3D Touch which introduced in iPhone 6s. It disappeared now in recent iPhones.
Here's the downside to the touch bar:
1. The bar changes depending on the application, and there's no consistency
2. You can't have muscle memory with the touch bar, unlike function keys
3. IF you turn off the touch bar, where it reverts back to the function keys, there's no tactical feedback that you pressed the key, or pressed the right key.
1. The bar changes depending on the application, and there's no consistency
2. You can't have muscle memory with the touch bar, unlike function keys
3. IF you turn off the touch bar, where it reverts back to the function keys, there's no tactical feedback that you pressed the key, or pressed the right key.
This 'hard knock' issue started when Apple didn't really step up an support the touch bar for what it actually could be. I too am a big user of the BetterTouchTool which allows the touch bar to be everything Apple probably envisioned but failed to provide. The tool's sophistication and capability is quite impressive and it's author is constantly updating it. JMTC
It's utter crap. I always manage to hit something unintentionally when I use the macbook without my external monitors. Bring back the physical keys..
I like it OK now that they have added dedicated escape keys. The touchbar works well for giving presentations by providing a tiny version of upcoming slides, and similar functionality in other apps. Also, volume and brightness controls are sliders that come up as you touch the control, so that is much better than having dedicated buttons that take up space all the time.
But mostly it is "meh". No killer features.
But mostly it is "meh". No killer features.
Most gimmicky thing on any laptop ever.
99.99% of stuff touch bar does, you can do with kb shortcuts. And you don't have to look away from the screen to do those.
Also, function keys don't freeze, and you don't need to restart them via terminal. They also don't waste battery life, and you can actually see them in the sun light.
I've vowed not to purchase anything with touchbar again.
99.99% of stuff touch bar does, you can do with kb shortcuts. And you don't have to look away from the screen to do those.
Also, function keys don't freeze, and you don't need to restart them via terminal. They also don't waste battery life, and you can actually see them in the sun light.
I've vowed not to purchase anything with touchbar again.
Just got my MacBook Pro M1 today and using the Touch Bar for the first time and all I can say it OK, but nothing to rave about and I will continue to use it. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible either.
As a software developer I use the function keys quite often while debugging. With physical keys you can find them blindly and watch the screen while pushing buttons.
With the touch-bar often my fingers do shift a little and suddenly I hit the wrong 'button' / area and something I don't want does happen.
For me the Touch Bar is a real step back from physical keys. Apart from the function keys I almost never touch the 'gimmick bar'.
Function keys + touch-bar would be cool, but if I can choose, keys I can feel blindly every day of the week :=)
With the touch-bar often my fingers do shift a little and suddenly I hit the wrong 'button' / area and something I don't want does happen.
For me the Touch Bar is a real step back from physical keys. Apart from the function keys I almost never touch the 'gimmick bar'.
Function keys + touch-bar would be cool, but if I can choose, keys I can feel blindly every day of the week :=)
It often takes longer to do basic function bar tasks. For example, if you're adjusting the volume, you first have to tap the volume icon, then move your finger and drag a volume slider. It's a cool feature and looks neat, no doubt - but it's slower than tapping the volume up/volume down keys several times. The same can be said for adjusting screen brightness - it's a cool animation, but it's several steps slower than just tapping the brightness function keys.
The last thing I'd say is that the touchbar requires you to look at it to use it - and that's jarring for many of us that have been trained to look at the screen, not the keyboard when we type. Ultimately, I just prefer to type instead of looking at the touchbar for it's prediction of my next word or emoji suggestion.
The last thing I'd say is that the touchbar requires you to look at it to use it - and that's jarring for many of us that have been trained to look at the screen, not the keyboard when we type. Ultimately, I just prefer to type instead of looking at the touchbar for it's prediction of my next word or emoji suggestion.
I love mine and am honestly convinced the people who hate it never actually used it. It's a huge timesaver when you need to work from the laptop.
If you have no apps that use it, I can understand not getting it but when apps take advantage of it its fantastic.
I've used it. Hate it.
How is touch bar a time saver? Honest question, I can be wrong. Maybe I'm just not seeing the 'big picture'
It’s a great multimedia control strip and has some limited utility in some apps. As long as it’s available at no extra cost, it’s certainly a more useful input device than the function keys it replaces.
As to drawbacks, I don’t dont see any. People often mention lack of tactile feedback or difficulty for blind typing, and I never understood that argument. Nobody uses function keys to type. The Touch Bar gives you visual feedback, which is much more important at tasks it has been designed for. Volume control, color selection etc. - none of these are used “blind”. And Touch Bar is great for these things. It’s not a typing device. It’s a touchscreen with visual feedback.
As to drawbacks, I don’t dont see any. People often mention lack of tactile feedback or difficulty for blind typing, and I never understood that argument. Nobody uses function keys to type. The Touch Bar gives you visual feedback, which is much more important at tasks it has been designed for. Volume control, color selection etc. - none of these are used “blind”. And Touch Bar is great for these things. It’s not a typing device. It’s a touchscreen with visual feedback.
I've used it. Hate it.
How is touch bar a time saver? Honest question, I can be wrong. Maybe I'm just not seeing the 'big picture'
90% of my Touch Bar use is volume control, and I don’t want to go back to keys for that.
What does touchbar do in multimedia that you can't do with function keys? Play/pause, volume, etc., you can do all of those without looking away from the actual media on the screen. And it is an extra cost. Prices of MBP have gone up by 300$ since TB was introduced.
Actually, we developers use function keys all the time. While we type.
Visual feedback? You do realize you can look at function keys as well?
Volume control is harder to do with touchbar. First, you have to look away from the screen. Then tap and slide. With F-keys all I have to do is press a single button. No looking away from the screen, no taping and sliding. And function keys don't use battery life, you can actually see them in sun (there's a visual feedback for those looking for that), and F-keys don't freeze and need a restart via terminal.
And yes, I can change volume controle, brightness, etc., without looking at my keys. So blindly. I can't do that with gimmick called touch bar.