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I absolutely despise the Touch Bar

ZestyOne

ZestyOne

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 18, 2009
113
68
Paradise
I just got fully loaded 15" model.

- The screen tint on mine is very red, almost like f.lux is on... I can tweak that later with calibration.

- The keyboard actually feels very good. It will take some getting used to but I can type much faster.

But man... the Touch Bar... ****.

I'm a programmer, I love vim, my entire life is dedicated to workflow. I program for 15+ hours a day sometimes, and as bad as it sounds I'm the type of person that just uses every hotkey ever made.

This thing really royally ****s me so hard.

- I can't rest my hand comfortably when I'm in "close tab" position while browsing, because my long fingers constantly rest on the escape key (so it thinks I'm holding the key down)

- My biggest pet peeve... I CANT ****ING CONTROL MUSIC WITHOUT LOOKING AND TAPPING. This one is unbelievable to me... I must skip forward/back at least 500 times a day. Now it requires staring down... hitting 'expand', still look around, then hit the glass key. They should have those always visible at the very least. They also don't let you customize it with << and >>

- They keyboard / touch bar remains black until you log in... so basically during the entire bootup / choose user sequence, youre staring at a pitch black keyboard, as well as a pitch black touch bar. You can't see ****, you cant' adjust anything during that time, etc.

- It's extremely limited in customizability. At the very least if they let you control when/how it behaves... it might be bearable because I could tell it "never ever ever turn to the miniature version". Or "if chrome opens, just dont load the that apps touchbar". But of course, they give you like 3 icons to choose from.

Overall I feel like I'm having an existential crisis XD I've gotten used to my workflow over the course of 10 years programming every day and now it feels like even the simplest things (with the touchbar) are just ****ed.
 
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Clamshell mode.

And yeah, I'm not at all impressed. In practice, none of the apps I'm using have app-specific magic, and honestly if I could just set the touchbar to always stay in fn-held mode, I'd probably mind it less.

Be glad the keys themselves on the main keyboard work for you. For those of us who get RSI pain from it, it's... gonna be a rough patch, here.
 
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therealseebs said:
Clamshell mode.

And yeah, I'm not at all impressed. In practice, none of the apps I'm using have app-specific magic, and honestly if I could just set the touchbar to always stay in fn-held mode, I'd probably mind it less.

Be glad the keys themselves on the main keyboard work for you. For those of us who get RSI pain from it, it's... gonna be a rough patch, here.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain... I'm praying to god someone is going to release some kind of hack or app or something that lets you tap into the raw touch pad options, so we can use plist settings or something to 'lock' it open, or have fine grained control over it.
 
Sounds like the music controls dilemma is going to hit me hard as well when I get mine. Maybe set up Fn + arrow keys to skip tracks and adjust volume? I personally didn't want the touch bar at all, wish we could get the full 13" model specs (increased CPU, RAM speed, ports) without the damn bar.
 
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ZestyOne said:
I just got fully loaded 15" model.

- The screen tint on mine is very red, almost like f.lux is on... I can tweak that later with calibration.

- The keyboard actually feels very good. It will take some getting used to but I can type much faster.

But man... the Touch Bar... ****.

I'm a programmer, I love vim, my entire life is dedicated to workflow. I program for 15+ hours a day sometimes, and as gay as it sounds I'm the type of person that just uses every hotkey ever made.

This thing really royally ****s me so hard.

- I can't rest my hand comfortably when I'm in "close tab" position while browsing, because my long fingers constantly rest on the escape key (so it thinks I'm holding the key down)

- My biggest pet peeve... I CANT ****ING CONTROL MUSIC WITHOUT LOOKING AND TAPPING. This one is unbelievable to me... I must skip forward/back at least 500 times a day. Now it requires staring down... hitting 'expand', still look around, then hit the glass key. They should have those always visible at the very least. They also don't let you customize it with << and >>

- They keyboard / touch bar remains black until you log in... so basically during the entire bootup / choose user sequence, youre staring at a pitch black keyboard, as well as a pitch black touch bar. You can't see ****, you cant' adjust anything during that time, etc.

- It's extremely limited in customizability. At the very least if they let you control when/how it behaves... it might be bearable because I could tell it "never ever ever turn to the miniature version". Or "if chrome opens, just dont load the that apps touchbar". But of course, they give you like 3 icons to choose from.

Overall I feel like I'm having an existential crisis XD I've gotten used to my workflow over the course of 10 years programming every day and now it feels like even the simplest things (with the touchbar) are just ****ed.
Click to expand...

Deep breath buddy, as a developer myself, I feel the pain. Esc is important, but i don't have long fingers, and I don't accidentally press it. I think you're being a LITTLE dramatic. you WILL grow into it, just like you do every time something changes over life. And while we're at it... Nano > VIM.. Just saying :p
 
I thought I would be easily able to adapt because I thought it's just the escape key (in vim), I can probably deal with that.

I couldn't have been more wrong. As I use it I realize there's probably like ... without exaggerating, 50 or more different very tiny motor movements, hotkeys, ways I rest my hands, or overall just THINGS I do that I no longer do. It's hard to explain. These are also things which don't overlap with 'you will get used to change', it's more like 'things that just simply aren't possible anymore'
[doublepost=1479254693][/doublepost]
yillbs said:
Deep breath buddy, as a developer myself, I feel the pain. Esc is important, but i don't have long fingers, and I don't accidentally press it. I think you're being a LITTLE dramatic. you WILL grow into it, just like you do every time something changes over life. And while we're at it... Nano > VIM.. Just saying :p
Click to expand...

Lol, I tried to give it a fair shot before replying. The music thing is what pushed me over the edge though. I really hope they fix that, and I don't think its being dramatic.
 
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yillbs said:
Deep breath buddy, as a developer myself, I feel the pain. Esc is important, but i don't have long fingers, and I don't accidentally press it. I think you're being a LITTLE dramatic. you WILL grow into it, just like you do every time something changes over life.
Click to expand...

Well, gosh, that's a brilliant insight.

We could all save $thousands by just buying Windows machines. I mean, you WILL grow into it, right? There's no such thing as "no, this is actually genuinely worse". Heck, why are we buying high-end machines? We could get those $300 Windows machines you find on clearance at Target. You WILL grow into it. There's no such thing as hardware or software that just plain can't do what you need it to do.
 
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Think I read a review which said you can change a setting to make the expanded control strip the default view for every app on the Touch Bar? Would mean the media control keys were always visible. Could probably learn the position and it wouldn't be much harder than using physical keys. Could be wrong though, still waiting for mine...
 
I remember what happened to the harmony remote controllers that I used. I would generally get their top rated ones every few years and one year, they moved to a touch screen. What a horrifically bad idea that was. Now, every time I needed to change a channel or choose some setting, I couldn't just feel my way through the remote. I had to look at the remote. I tried it for a year and finally got an older version without the touch screen. I don't really use that bar that much, so I don't think I'll be bothered as much by the touch bar but I can totally understand your frustration. Thankfully, I think that you should be able to use an external keyboard and solve the problem. Think of it as another... dongle. lol
 
therealseebs said:
Well, gosh, that's a brilliant insight.

We could all save $thousands by just buying Windows machines. I mean, you WILL grow into it, right? There's no such thing as "no, this is actually genuinely worse". Heck, why are we buying high-end machines? We could get those $300 Windows machines you find on clearance at Target. You WILL grow into it. There's no such thing as hardware or software that just plain can't do what you need it to do.
Click to expand...

Just ignore him. If his replies to my past posts have been any indications, it's that he just really doesn't know tech.
 
If you want to always have the default function keys appear on the touch bar, do the following;

Settings > Keyboard

Change "Touch Bar Shows" setting to "Expanded Control Strip."

Hold down "Fn" key when you need to use standard F keys.

At the bottom the button "Customize Control Strip" lets you move the buttons around and even add other buttons to your touch bar.
 
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Not sure how OP is "resting" hands on the escape key, so I can't help there. But I too am a programmer who uses (loves) vim and spends all day programming. Do yourself a favor and remap caps lock to be your escape key. Once you reprogram your muscles, you will find that your vim efficiency is much better because you hardly have to move your fingers off the home row to switch modes.

I personally find that in some circumstances, the touchbar provides me with a more efficient and ergonomic way to do certain actions, like opening the Notification Center, without having to remove my hands from the keyboard. I've only been using it for today, but I'm definitely a fan.
 
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Hopefully they will make one without the touch bar for the next release, and drop the damn price a little. I might consider buying it then as USB C becomes more mainstream.
 
I knew I wouldn't be a fan of the Touch Bar. I use every function key. I favor physical keys that can depress over touch screen keys. And I already have the keyboard memorized so I prefer not having to look down. I think Apple is just trying to introduce a feature to suffice hybrid laptop demands. But I'm sure many will enjoy Touch Bar. I really wish they would have introduced a 15" non-Touch Bar though, or at least a higher spec'd 13" non-Touch Bar.
 
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So Apple has managed to literally deface the traditional keyboard: Remove an entire row, remove key travel, while dramaticaly increasing the key failure rate (wait for this folks).
 
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