Evidence in Trademark Filing Points to MacBook OLED Panel Officially Called 'Magic Toolbar'

[DevNull0]

I just responded to DevNull0 who was saying the same thing about getting some painful feedback from that keyboard, and I'm starting to think the reason I don't have that response is that I learned to type on the spongey laptop keyboards of the early - mid 90's.

What's interesting is when I went looking for a laptop in the late 90's, I couldn't stand those spongey keyboards. So in 1999 I bought a powerbook G3 (wallstreet) because even though it was kind of spongey it was better than anything else out there and I've been a mac user ever since. It was the keyboard that got me. When I replaced it in 2004, I bought a Powerbook G4 12" (one of those early silver ones they introduced along side the 17" PB's). It had a pretty solid keyboard while the rest of the market was all spongey. The keyboard in my 2011 MBP is the best I've ever had in a laptop. I actually do still prefer a good mechanical keyboard which I use on my desktop, but the MBP I have is good enough that I'm completely satisfied.

I'm still hopeful that I won't be disappointed next week, but it looks like I may be leaving the Apple ecosystem over a keyboard 27 years after I entered it over a keyboard.

 

[hybrid_x]

I've tried the MacBook keyboard, and loved it. I like the smooth, solid feel and minimal key travel. I'm one of those users who totally doesn't get the appeal of the clickety-clackety long-travel mechanical keyboards.

 

[Datalinks]

Smart would have been adequate

 

[Hieveryone]

It's magical? Take my money

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...st/scale-to-width-down/2000?cb=20140829235648

 

[efktd]

"And boy have we patented it!"

Samsung didn't get the memo...
[doublepost=1476987420][/doublepost]I just realized a feature that this magic toolbar is going to allow us to do: Quicktype...

 

[kazmac]

quit trying to make "magic" work

Heheh at this post and your avatar. This makes me think in the case of magic, Apple should look to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to see their equal: magic = advanced science (tech).

I have to say Apple's magic "wand" (a.k.a. pencil) is the only piece of tech they've released that could be described by using magic as an adjective. I love the pencil.

I would like to think this toolbar will be pretty cool if deployed right. Name still makes me giggle though.

 

[Macist]

I'm still rocking a 2011 MBP for no other reason than, aside from retina, there's as much downgrade as upgrade on later models. Mine's gone from 4 to 8 to 16GB, from 500GB HDD to 1TB Hybrid to 1TB SSD - try that on the nobbled later junk. It could use more poke but still manages to hack things like big Logic projects.

Can't get excited about the new MBPs. Apple's lost the plot, now just charging you more for less.

 

[RMF2000]

I think they are overdoing it a bit with the term magic lately

I think they are overdoing it with the word "truth".

 

[pbasmadj]

I've tried the MacBook keyboard, and loved it. I like the smooth, solid feel and minimal key travel. I'm one of those users who totally doesn't get the appeal of the clickety-clackety long-travel mechanical keyboards.

Agree 100%. If you type on it for any length of time over a short matter of days, the old keyboards feel very antiquated. given that there may be a very low profile touch strip on the new models, I definitely anticipate low profile keys to match. I believe the renderings we have seen from the Martin fellow are very, very accurate.

 

[nilk]

As do I. But after ten years on Macs my muscle memory doesn't extend beyond the qwerty keyboard and modifier keys. I'm always checking the function keys before pressing them. I know that the volume keys are roughly to the right, and the brightness somewhere on the left, but still need to look before hitting any of them.
So long the keys on the touch bar are laid out in a reasonably predicable manner, I don't see anything lost here.

I'm a touch-typist, and I also have to look for volume and brightness because they are just non-standard enough that I often don't have muscle-memory for them. But I have mine configured to be F1-F12 instead of the default, and those function keys matter to me as a developer. Not being able to touch-type those keys easily will be a huge setback and will seriously make me reconsider getting another MacBook Pro.

Since these are the machines on which iOS apps are made, Apple would be foolish to piss off developers, so I'm somewhat hopeful they have a solution that retains the feel of keys and keeps touch-typing developers happy, at least on the 15" model. But I'm still worried. We'll see in 7 days.

I'm less concerned about what keyswitches they use, as I can live with any of the possible current choices, and I say that as someone who uses buckling spring keyboards on the desktop.

 

[melendezest]

I'm still rocking a 2011 MBP for no other reason than, aside from retina, there's as much downgrade as upgrade on later models. Mine's gone from 4 to 8 to 16GB, from 500GB HDD to 1TB Hybrid to 1TB SSD - try that on the nobbled later junk. It could use more poke but still manages to hack things like big Logic projects.

Can't get excited about the new MBPs. Apple's lost the plot, now just charging you more for less.

THIS. I had a similar RAM and HD progression on mine, but I have 2ea 2TB spinners in RAID 0.

I'd put 2 SSDs in there for blazing speed, but I'm waiting for SSD prices to go down just a bit more and I don't need the extra speed (personal, not professional use only).

The 17" screen leaves me with zero Retina envy, I still have faster-and-more-reliable-than-wireless Ethernet, and the Expresscard slot allows me to connect to all the legacy and /or new devices I still have (eSATA, USB 3).

Best machine Apple EVER built, by FAR. And it looks like the best they ever will.

IMHO, of course.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I'm not sure what your definition of "bad" is, but it's clearly different from mine.

bad - lack of innovation, lack of courage, banal

 

[GeneralChang]

What's interesting is when I went looking for a laptop in the late 90's, I couldn't stand those spongey keyboards. So in 1999 I bought a powerbook G3 (wallstreet) because even though it was kind of spongey it was better than anything else out there and I've been a mac user ever since. It was the keyboard that got me. When I replaced it in 2004, I bought a Powerbook G4 12" (one of those early silver ones they introduced along side the 17" PB's). It had a pretty solid keyboard while the rest of the market was all spongey. The keyboard in my 2011 MBP is the best I've ever had in a laptop. I actually do still prefer a good mechanical keyboard which I use on my desktop, but the MBP I have is good enough that I'm completely satisfied.

I'm still hopeful that I won't be disappointed next week, but it looks like I may be leaving the Apple ecosystem over a keyboard 27 years after I entered it over a keyboard.

Well, my own personal attraction to the ecosystem (and hate of Windows) runs much deeper than keyboard feel, even though their current batch of machines has my favorite keyboards out there right now. But I'd say they could replace the keyboard with a sheet of glass (or a full-travel mechanical keyboard) and as long as the OS and ecosystem stays pretty much as it is now, there's nothing they could do to the keyboard next week that would get me to dump their laptops.

I'd just have a nice, deep, resigned sigh and start working on getting used to the new thing. Unless they ditch the keyboard all together and give me a tablet running macOS. That would end it for me, actually.

 

[dav1dd]

My complaint would be if they make the rest of the keyboard ****** like the Macbook keyboard...

Better brace yourself - that will almost definitely happen.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Magic is the i-product convention

Mine was a subtle reference to cinematic masterpiece Mean Girls in which one of the characters, unsuccessfully, attempts to make the term "fetch" (in the British parlance, attractive or cute) happen.

 

[Blaisele]

Bring on the complaints.

Hey Old School; check out saldanah.com/apple-magazines -- Interested?

 

[Tech198]

Only Apple can streamline names. You touch it, and things happen.

 

[DonutHands]

"Magic" and "Mighty" how were these even considered when naming products. Mighty was dumb in 2005, Magic was even sillier in 2009. Thought these names would have died out by now.

 

[uburoibob]

I DO hope they come out with a desktop keyboard with a Magic Toolbar in it.

 

[Apple.Fanatic]

If they do away with normal USB ports & the SD card reader - no professional is going to thank them. I reckon it also won't have a headphone jack. But this time they also won't include a lightning connector so you have to use wireless headphones.

The headphone jack will be very interesting. They just took "courage" to remove it from the iPhone, telling us its old tech and need to move on. What kind of message would it be to include it on a new MacBook Pro?

 

[Manderby]

I'm still rocking a 2011 MBP.

Got two of 'em. They simply don't die.

 

[Mac 128]

The headphone jack will be very interesting. They just took "courage" to remove it from the iPhone, telling us its old tech and need to move on. What kind of message would it be to include it on a new MacBook Pro?

They said specifically that a primary reason they removed it was because they didn't have enough room to engineer the other things they wanted to add to the phone. So the message would be that, they have more room on the Mac, so why not leave it a little longer, rather than include an adapter (which Apple acknowledges seems to be a necessity)? That takes "courage" too in light of the rest of their rationale.

On the other hand, I think they will replace it on the Retina MacBook.

 

[maerz001]

At least we get now a bit of a "touchscreen" on the macs.
In 4 years we will get the second row

 

[luddx]

am I the only one that's not too excited about this new feature ? i mean, sure, more eye candy... but is there anything breathru.... nope

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Hey Old School; check out saldanah.com/apple-magazines -- Interested?

Pretty cool stuff.