Images of New MacBook Pro With Magic Toolbar Leaked in macOS Sierra 10.12.1

[kucharsk]

macOS Sierra 10.12.1, released yesterday, includes hidden Apple Pay images that depict the brand new MacBook Pro with an OLED touch panel that's set to be announced by Apple on Thursday, October 27.

In addition to confirming that such a product is in the works, the images give us our first full look at the redesigned MacBook Pro ahead of its launch. An OLED touch panel is located on top of the keyboard, where the function keys would normally be placed, and it very clearly supports Touch ID, as it is seen used with Apple Pay.

As has been rumored, the touch panel, which may be called the "Magic Toolbar," appears to be contextual, changing based on what's on the screen. In the images, Apple Pay dialog is depicted, asking a customer to confirm a purchase with a finger on the panel. It appears Touch ID is built into a nearly-invisible power button located next to the display.

Aside from the OLED touch panel, the new MacBook Pro looks similar in design to the existing models. It looks like the 13-inch MacBook Pro is used in the images, suggesting the machine will gain speakers located at the side of the keyboard.

Thickness can't be determined from the orientation of the MacBook Pro in the images, but rumors suggest the new machine is thinner and lighter weight than existing models. A redesigned hinge can be seen in the images, suggesting it is indeed quite a bit thinner. Also visible are much flatter keys, similar in design to the keys of the Retina MacBook, which use a new butterfly mechanism.

Ports are not visible, but based on past part leaks, we're expecting four USB-C ports and a headphone jack, with the HDMI port, MagSafe port, and SD card slot being eliminated.

Apple will announce the new MacBook Pro on Thursday, October 27 at 10:00 a.m. A new MacBook Air model is also expected, and new iMacs are a possibility. MacRumors will provide live coverage of the event both on MacRumors.com and on the MacRumorsLive Twitter account.

(Thanks, Richard!)

Article Link: Images of New MacBook Pro With Magic Toolbar Leaked in macOS Sierra 10.12.1

[doublepost=1477574529][/doublepost]This is going to be absolutely horrible for anyone that relies on a physical Escape key, like:

1) People who use vim for text editing
2) People who frequently bring up the Force Quit Applications window

 

[broaddy]

Does it have a touchscreen? similar to the Surface Book?

 

[NT1440]

Does it have a touchscreen? similar to the Surface Pro?

I hope not.

 

[broaddy]

I hope not.

Why not? I messed with one at Best Buy and it was pretty neat... pretty sure Apple will head that way when they redo their design.

 

[NT1440]

Why not? I messed with one at Best Buy and it was pretty neat... pretty sure Apple will head that way when they redo their design.

I don't find touchscreens to be ergonomic, or good from a UI standpoint unless you're actually holding that screen in your hands.

When I worked at Best Buy it seemed like all the touchscreen existed purely for that 30 second "gee whiz" demo on the sales floor. Whenever someone would come in to have their machine serviced I would make a point to ask (because I was curious) how they like the touchscreen, the vast majority of users told me they rarely use it.

I just don't see why Apple should go with a "me too" approach unless the OS's UI is explicitly redesigned for touch input. To just slap touch functionality on top is lazy engineering, and frankly an insult to user experience in my opinion.

 

[kucharsk]

Why not? I messed with one at Best Buy and it was pretty neat... pretty sure Apple will head that way when they redo their design.

Touch screens are for iOS devices; Macs have trackpads or mice and cursors.

The day they have touch sensitive screens is the day I stop buying Macs.

 

[Gudi]

I say it's 'black and white to you' referring to your comment about 'no professionals use function keys'. Also that statement is quite clearly incorrect.

It's an linguistic exaggeration, professionals don't find more utility in function keys than average users. There's nothing "professional" about function keys which would allow one group of users to complain louder than the other. It's not like Apple is taking your terminal away. Function keys are only used for a few cumbersome shortcuts which can easily be mapped on other keys, problem solved.

 

[NT1440]

Touch screens are for iOS devices; Macs have trackpads or mice and cursors.

The day they have touch sensitive screens is the day I stop buying Macs.

I'd agree, but I don't think Apple would slap one on without seriously reconsidering the use case and UI/UX design to accompany it.

 

[Stella]

I don't think me or anyone ever stated function keys where "professional", your the one making the outlandish and exaggerated claims.

Pressing a function key is easier than pressing various modifier keys ( one or more ) + key.

It's an linguistic exaggeration, professionals don't find more utility in function keys than average users. There's nothing "professional" about function keys which would allow one group of users to complain louder than the other. It's not like Apple is taking your terminal away. Function keys are only used for a few cumbersome shortcuts which can easily be mapped on other keys, problem solved.

 

[Gudi]

Does it have a touchscreen? Similar to the Surface Pro?

Steve Jobs had reservations about the ergonomics of vertical touch screens. In the 2010 'Back to the Mac' keynote he explained, why Apple won't build a surface-like MacBook.

We've done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn't work.
Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical.
It gives great demo but after a short period of time, you start to fatigue
and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.
It doesn't work, it's ergonomically terrible.
​

Therefore the Magic Toolbar must be seen as an attempt to integrate a horizontal touchscreen on a laptop, that can be used with arms resting on the table and only fingers moving over the keyboard. Yes for once Apple does care about ergonomics and yes they are working on this idea for the better part of a decade.

I don't think me or anyone ever stated function keys where "professional", your the one making the outlandish and exaggerated claims.

Yes, I'm the one making the exaggerated statements and I'm making them to make a point. When Steve Jobs says 'your arms want to fall off', he doesn't mean they will literally fall off and end up laying on the ground. He means the fatigue is so bad, you absolutely want to avoid it, not endure it. And there's absolutely nothing professional about function keys. Programmers don't need them more than other people and their arms suffer from fatigue all the same.

 

[sna3]

seeing this:

http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/macbook-matte-black-colorware/

Really makes me want a BLACK mac book pro!

Actually I Miss the pearl White Macbook ...

I dont like black much they show scratches easy

 

[Stella]

Yes, I'm the one making the exaggerated statements and I'm making them to make a point. When Steve Jobs says 'your arms want to fall off', he doesn't mean they will literally fall off and end up laying on the ground. He means the fatigue is so bad, you absolutely want to avoid it, not endure it. And there's absolutely nothing professional about function keys. Programmers don't need them more than other people and their arms suffer from fatigue all the same.

Well, thats pretty obvious, when someone says "your arms will fall off" it won't actually happen in this context.

Its another thing when some random person on an internet forum, such as yourself says "no professional uses function keys" - it is uncertain whether they actually mean what they are saying. Its not so cut and dry... because there are actually people who actually think this.

 

[broaddy]

Steve Jobs had reservations about the ergonomics of vertical touch screens. In the 2010 'Back to the Mac' keynote he explained, why Apple won't build a surface-like MacBook.

We've done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn't work.
Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical.
It gives great demo but after a short period of time, you start to fatigue
and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.
It doesn't work, it's ergonomically terrible.
​

Therefore the Magic Toolbar must be seen as an attempt to integrate a horizontal touchscreen on a laptop, that can be used with arms resting on the table and only fingers moving over the keyboard. Yes for once Apple does care about ergonomics and yes they are working on this idea for the better part of a decade.
Yes, I'm the one making the exaggerated statements and I'm making them to make a point. When Steve Jobs says 'your arms want to fall off', he doesn't mean they will literally fall off and end up laying on the ground. He means the fatigue is so bad, you absolutely want to avoid it, not endure it. And there's absolutely nothing professional about function keys. Programmers don't need them more than other people and their arms suffer from fatigue all the same.

At the time I don't think Jobs was thinking about detaching the screen like the Surface... ideas change... we will see what the future brings.. maybe Apple doesn't want to put sales pressure on the Ipad. I have a feeling if Apple had come up with the detachable Surface everyone would think it was the best invention yet. Just sayin. I might add that the desktop Surface Studio for drafting and artist types is also something I would have thought Apple would have come up with, not Microsoft. It is a pretty amazing system that really makes the Intuos obsolete.

 

[Brookzy]

At the time I don't think Jobs was thinking about detaching the screen like the Surface... ideas change... we will see what the future brings.. maybe Apple doesn't want to put sales pressure on the Ipad. I have a feeling if Apple had come up with the detachable Surface everyone would think it was the best invention yet. Just sayin.

A detachable screen?

You mean an iPad Pro.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[2IS]

The point is another thinner product has more ports. It has nothing to do with saving space.

Sure it does. Why do you think they got rid of it then? Lets hear what your insight is, or are you just the type who likes to complain for the sake of complaining?

 

[broaddy]

A detachable screen?

You mean an iPad Pro.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Don't know why you would compare those two but here you go:

http://newatlas.com/microsoft-surface-book-vs-ipad-pro/40226/

No match.

 

[FWRLCK]

This is actually a deal breaker for me.

Of course, I said this and then realize that I mostly use ctrl-c anyway and can map ctrl-c -> esc in my .vimrc. Or just retrain to use ^[, which is probably what I should actually do.

 

[\-V-/]

Sure it does. Why do you think they got rid of it then? Lets hear what your insight is, or are you just the type who likes to complain for the sake of complaining?

Another thinner product has more ports ... that would be the insight. Complaining for the sake of complaining? Pretty sure most people are not particularly fond of the single port on the MacBook. Quit being silly.
[doublepost=1477585401][/doublepost]

And you're saying that as if philosophy is just nothing – an opinion. As if the accuracy of our world view isn't the decider of failure and success. The company is called Apple, because Steve Jobs was a fruitarian of Californian counter culture. You're buying into his philosophy of computing. And he wasn't shy to tell people to stop living in the past and start to embrace his awesome new yet incompatible technology.
Again gravity – a law of nature we've all got to deal with. You can't cheat with it and you can't put all the ports you want on a laptop and keys with very long travel and hope it's still the lightest MacBook ever. Self-limitation is the price for sailing at the edge of lightweight computing. Less ports, smaller ports, more universal ports are a means to an end.
[doublepost=1477568388][/doublepost]And if it was all black and white for me, wouldn't that make me more like Steve Jobs? People were using floppies when the Mac dropped floppy drives, people were using DVDs when the Mac dropped optical drives, people are using SD cards as the Mac is losing the SD slot. The loss of features is unavoidable to reach the point where we are. Absolutely nobody owned USB peripherals when the first iMac only had USB 1.1 ports. Apple is constantly taking away features a lot of people use and giving them features nobody uses at that time. The alternative to that approach is keeping the old color-coded PS/2 ports around for ever.

Function keys had a good 50 year run despite being a poor solution to the problem. Do you want the children of 2065 to still memorize them or are we ready for a new technology? Safari and Xcode are Apple apps, they will support the **** out of this Magic Toolbar.

 

[Pow!]

A quickie before it starts

 

[Ploki]

Maybe it's 'pro-folks' as in, folks who use a Macbook Pro.

Seriously, does everyone in this forum have nothing better to do than bitch about people calling themselves "Pro" or not? It's just a name for a product. Macbook is a low end (specs wise) machine for light to moderate work and the Macbook Pro is a higher specced machine for heavier lifting. And they've chosen the name Pro. What's the big deal?

because nothing leaked so far is suggesting that this machine will not be a "pro" machine and people already whine.
I don't know why on earth keyboard type defines what is pro and what isn't... people moaned and whined about macbook pro keyboard since i remember.

I don't like when people think that change is automatically for the better. If a change is not an improvement, it's just an annoyance. If someone went and renamed the street which I live on, I'd find the change quite annoying.

Every change is going to be an improvent for some people and annoyance for other. You can't please everyone. If you're someone is so picky about keyboards, he can buy another one and use another one, can he not?

 

[mcorleone]

I foresee bugs up the wazoo with that new touch panel....

 

[2IS]

Another thinner product has more ports ... that would be the insight. Complaining for the sake of complaining? Pretty sure most people are not particularly fond of the single port on the MacBook. Quit being silly.
[doublepost=1477585401][/doublepost]

I think I see the problem here.

Single port? MacBook? I think you're in the wrong thread.

 

[TeamMojo]

Sadly, I think Apple really has lost its way. A company this wealthy and formerly innovative should be able to put out a line of products and more software in a more cohesive way on a much more regular basis. And they appear to be obstinate about the future integration of mobile and desktop that their competitors are surely working on. Touch Bar is a nice and useful iteration, but should have been a sidenote in a much larger presentation with a line of computers with a new Mac Pro, Mac Mini, iMac and new Magic Keyboard 3 with Touch Bar and Touch ID. The MacBook Pros are nice but only evolutionary. I'm a long time Mac fan and own many Apple products and will continue to buy, but I'm not very impressed and certainly not by Apple's usual standards.

 

[25ghosts]

The problem is that vim is readily available on basically every platform known to mankind.

So is Windows. That doesn't mean you should actually use it

 

[Kelliann]

SD slot eliminated? DEALBREAKER!!!! So they think we should go back to the stinky old card readers?? Or maybe they think the only cameras used are the ones on the iphones. UGH!!!! What about photographers who use Mac??? And use pro cameras. Or even people who like their point and shoot cameras? What arrogance.