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I was a TouchBar hater...

M

MBX

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 14, 2006
2,030
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...but now I love it and don't want to go back to nTB.

Can't believe I'm saying that. But now after actually having used personally and not just testing in the store it's so much better than I thought.

Just simple stuff like able to lock my screen quickly with a custom assignment and then unlock with TouchID is so nice.

I was hoping though Apple would've gone for a retina sharpness on the touchbar too but it's not a deal breaker.
 
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Starfia said:
I take it you don't believe Phil?
Click to expand...

Wow I can't believe he actually said it's retina. WTF lol. Also it's really deceiving to use such a crisp visualization of the TB in that presentation and PR material.

Other than that I now like it much.
 
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MBX said:
Wow I can't believe he actually said it's retina. WTF lol. Also it's really deceiving to use such a crisp visualization of the TB in that presentation and PR material.

Other than that I now like it much.
Click to expand...
I once did the math because I was curious aswell and arrived at the conclusion that the Touch Bar has about the same dpi as the MBP screen itself which sits at 220 dpi, plus minus a few. (Couldn't find the pixel density of the Touch Bar anywhere on the internet and I believe Apple officially doesn't say it, but you can get it from the width, height and resolution of the Touch Bar, all of which are known.)

So the term "Retina" screen is technically entirely appropriate for the Touch Bar, but I get what you mean. It sometimes seems like it's slightly less sharp to me aswell, even though I know it's not the case. I think it's because OLED screens generally tend to look slightly wash-ier than LCD-screens of the same resolution.

My guess is that Apple will increase the Touch Bar resolution in the same iteration where they increase the screen resolution, whenever that might be. It's not impossible that we get a full 4K panel or something around that resolution in the next big redesign, considering other laptops in the same price range have it aswell.
 
After buying a 2018 MBP I am sort Meh. I like the touch unlock. But, while it looks cool, I really hate that you have to actually look at the bar rather than being able to do actions like increasing or decreasing volume, key brightness, screen brightness.

Also, who thought it was a good idea to get rid of the physical escape key? Did they not have any of their service DevOps people try this? I can't image any hardcore linux guys would have approved of removing the escape key. I am a developer and do not use vi that much and I hate the loss of the physical escape key.
 
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jerryk said:
After buying a 2018 MBP I am sort Meh. I like the touch unlock. But, while it looks cool, I really hate that you have to actually look at the bar rather than being able to do actions like increasing or decreasing volume, key brightness, screen brightness.

Also, who thought it was a good idea to get rid of the physical escape key? Did then not have any of their service DevOps people try this? I can't image any hardcore linux guys would have approved of removing the escape key. I am a developer and do not use vi that much and I hate the loss of the physical escape key.
Click to expand...
how many 17 year olds name Jennifer do we know that uses the escape or function keys?
Apple thought Jennifer does not need these features and omitted them accordingly.
 
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TinaBelcher said:
I still haven’t found a need for it in my personal use. I actually hate it, because I can’t adjust the volume directly, I have to click on the volume button first to access the adjustment :mad:
Click to expand...
There's no need to click on it. Tap and hold the button, then without lifting up your finger slide it left to right to adjust the volume.
 
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TinaBelcher said:
I still haven’t found a need for it in my personal use. I actually hate it, because I can’t adjust the volume directly, I have to click on the volume button first to access the adjustment :mad:
Click to expand...

like what others have said, you don't have to click and then access the adjustment. I find that adjusting the volume and screen brightness is easier on the touch bar. And to be honest I am someone who can never do touch type with the function keys but I hardly use them anyway.
 
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I haven't heard of anyone enjoying the Touch Bar except for instances where they are unaware of the other ways to do things. You can press ctrl cmd Q to lock the screen, and they can be annoying depending on dexterity so you can set a hot corner to do the same thing. There's honestly nothing redeeming about the touch bar unless you're a hunt and peck typer.
 
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I don't have an experience with it, but the idea of that I can customize it to show the current spotify song with some media buttons is everything I need.
 
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maflynn said:
I don't hate it, but other then emojis (I'm serious), I've not really used it. Keyboard shortcuts has been more efficient
Click to expand...
For me it has mostly been a fancy way to turn my volume and brightness up and down in a nice fluid manner. Even the emojis can be slightly irritating to use if it isn't already in your frequently used list.

I am all for the Touch Bar if more app developers used it. I still need to test out the Better Touch Tool application to see if it improves my use.
 
FrozenDarkness said:
escape key is the most obvious problem with the touch bar. if they included the escape keyt his would've been a huge meh
Click to expand...

Got my MBP a few days ago and I have to agree. They have that empty space just above the tilde. If they just made a dedicated button there for ESC everything would be great. I just don't like how ESC is offset to the right. I always have to hunt for it. I'm not sure if this is something I can get used to over time, but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm slowly liking the TB, I think it has some neat features. I think I would still prefer actual keys though. But I guess time will tell and I'm open minded. Maybe after a few months I'll actually really like it.
 
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KarmaRocket said:
Got my MBP a few days ago and I have to agree. They have that empty space just above the tilde. If they just made a dedicated button there for ESC everything would be great. I just don't like how ESC is offset to the right. I always have to hunt for it. I'm not sure if this is something I can get used to over time, but it's not a deal breaker.

I'm slowly liking the TB, I think it has some neat features. I think I would still prefer actual keys though. But I guess time will tell and I'm open minded. Maybe after a few months I'll actually really like it.
Click to expand...
You can actually press the leftmost area of the Touch Bar (to the left of the visible escape button) aswell in order to trigger escape! It just doesn't extend visually there since the actual screen ends just before that. I presume it was done for symmetry reasons since the same area on the right is occupied by Touch ID/the power button.
 
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afir93 said:
You can actually press the leftmost area of the Touch Bar (to the left of the visible escape button) aswell in order to trigger escape! It just doesn't extend visually there since the actual screen ends just before that. I presume it was done for symmetry reasons since the same area on the right is occupied by Touch ID/the power button.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that. Thought it was just empty space. I just wish it pushed down like the right one does for the power button.
 
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afir93 said:
You can actually press the leftmost area of the Touch Bar (to the left of the visible escape button) aswell in order to trigger escape! It just doesn't extend visually there since the actual screen ends just before that. I presume it was done for symmetry reasons since the same area on the right is occupied by Touch ID/the power button.
Click to expand...
I learned something new! Thanks for that tidbit!
 
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I hear it is even better with Better Touch Tool but I won’t be getting my 2018 MBP for a little while.
 
MBX said:
...but now I love it and don't want to go back to nTB.

Can't believe I'm saying that. But now after actually having used personally and not just testing in the store it's so much better than I thought.

Just simple stuff like able to lock my screen quickly with a custom assignment and then unlock with TouchID is so nice.

I was hoping though Apple would've gone for a retina sharpness on the touchbar too but it's not a deal breaker.
Click to expand...

I use a hot corner. Top right to trigger my screen saver. Just flick move my mouse cursor to the top right corner of the screen. Set it in settings.
Screen saver is set to require password to unlock.
 
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