F Keys... from the 1970s and Windows. Meh.
They could have at least come up with something different - OLED or E-INK keys?
Eh, for what?
I like tech. I like gadgets. However, they need to actually serve a purpose beyond gee-whiz. I liked the TouchBar but it's usefulness never went beyond that and in some cases it was actually harder to use than media keys.
Do you really want to add an expensive row of keys that require their own sub processor, use more power, and raise repair costs so you can... have changing OLED in a place where virtually no one changes the default?
Again, I
liked the TouchBar okay, but... that was a ridiculous amount of tech that required a ridiculous amount of developer buy-in for, "Oh, neat." Aside from a minority on this forum, I have never even heard of someone talking about how the TouchBar was a serious part of their workflow. I remember the original keynote having a DJ showing ways to use it but... yeah, it just never really went anywhere.
It feels like Apple was just trying to do something different for the sake of different and hoping developers and users would find a real use for it. In 4+ years, that simply never really materialized for a vast number of users. What's worse is that so many of the features were not really Pro features. I think the TouchBar would have actually been better received on Airs where being an emoji keyboard probably would have been better received.
I mean, you can make this same argument about the arrow keys (and Apple rather famously removed them on some early Macs) but the fact as, we use them.
