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Is the new MacBook Pro 13' with touch pad worth it?

L

Legion103

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
565
385
Hi guys, I'm in the market for a new MacBook Pro. Was on the Apple Store before and noticed quite a price difference to get the touch pad

Pricing starts at 1299, but if I want the Touch features it's 1799, is it worth the $500?

Thanks!
 
That $500 difference isn't just from the Touch Bar, you're also paying for a faster processor, slightly better integrated graphics, 2 more TB ports, and a larger SSD.
 
I should mention I would just use the MacBook for basic use, nothing crazy.
 
Legion103 said:
Browsing, writing
Click to expand...

That depends entirely on your own preferences, then. With respect to browsing and writing, there's nothing a Touch Bar does that you can't do on a non-Touch Bar MBP.

You should decide whether the other features (faster CPU, larger SSD) are worth the extra cash outlay and treat the Touch Bar as an extra, non-essential feature.
 
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If all you do is writing and browsing then go with the non-touch bar one. I would just boost the SSD to 256GB to give yourself some room to download movies or store some pictures on it. You could even get a last generation one (either on sale online or through Apple refurbs) and save money.

As an owner of the Touchbar 15 inch, I can say the touch bar is cool as a gimmick but wouldn't be worth paying hundreds of dollars extra for.
 
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Gregintosh said:
can say the touch bar is cool as a gimmick but wouldn't be worth paying hundreds of dollars extra for.
Click to expand...

Man I hope they torpedo the TouchBar ultimately...

It's so polarizing already and being not ubiquitous means it's just never going to mature in terms of great developer support.

They tried - Double back and do something interesting integrated under the Trackpad itself perhaps...that area makes more sense for touch interactions (for obvious reasons)
 
I don't think theres anything wrong with the touch-bar to the point it should be removed. It's just not super useful most of the time.

There are apps that take good advantage of it, but since they require all functions to be accessible without the touch-bar it means its just another way to do something in an app, not a mandatory thing. Then it becomes a matter of preference.

I enjoy sometimes using the Touch-bar to fast forward/rewind videos versus using the mouse to move the slider on the screen, but it's not something I'd pay $300 extra to do.

Like it or not, the touch-bar is probably here to stay.
 
Gregintosh said:
Like it or not, the touch-bar is probably here to stay.
Click to expand...

I would bet against that personally... (if I had to choose one way or the other)
We'll see I guess..

I think it was a test of the concept and there will be another revision and perhaps integration of that idea into a next generation of trackpad, perhaps one that spans the entire palm rest area, etc..
 
For basic use, get a basic model.

If you are heavy on downloading and storing things for a long time, than get the 256gb ssd. Or use the money to get a basic external hdd for storage. Don't even bother with external ssd.
 
IMO, no. But for the basic use of browsing and writing, the fact that some retailers have had brand new MacBook Airs for as low as $650 cannot be ignored...
 
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At this current time, touch bar doesn't have that many uses. I decided to go with the non touch bar Mbp because I really don't see myself using it that much. The extra cost just didn't seem worth it to me.
 
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IllIllIll said:
you're also paying for a faster processor, slightly better integrated graphics, 2 more TB ports, and a larger SSD.
Click to expand...

And less battery, non-replaceable SSD (if the internals are the same as 2016's) and useless TB.

For your use get the nonTB, even an iPad would be enough for you
 
I've found the touch bar "as is" is not THAT useful most of the time, however...

The whole point of the touch bar is to MAKE it functional. You can customize it per app and just surface the things that YOU find useful.

Here are some tips from my experience:
  • less is more: don't fill out the touchbar with all the shortcuts, it makes it difficult to use because you're playing "hunt and peck". Use spaces generously and group common buttons together. Leave most used buttons "isolated" for easier access.
  • Change the touch bar in a per-app basis: View -> Customize Touch Bar with a specific app selected will allow you to modify it.
  • BetterTouchTool for even more customizability.
  • You can configure the always visible "control strip" portion of the touchbar by going to Settings -> Keyboard -> customize control strip. I recommend removing siri from it and just keep brigtness, vol and mute.
  • Allows you to fast forward ad-videos by scrubbing on the media player progress bar that appears.
  • Use touch id to do cool stuff with other apps like 1Password
there's other stuff, but if you're not going to use the power of the pro, I would actually recommend getting the 12" rMB and use the rest of the money to get a new iPad
 
I think the $500 "difference" -IS- "too much".

However, the price of an "Apple-refurbished" TB model is getting closer to reality.

Although I can afford to buy the highest-price MacBook Pro available, I don't see paying that much to be "a good value returned for $$$ spent", at least for my needs (which are light). So I want "bang for my buck".

For folks who use these to earn a living, paying more does make sense (the MacBook becomes a tool for work that is an asset that can be depreciated over time).

If "the difference" between the ntb and tb models was only, say, $200-250, that would make the choice between them harder, and make the tb version "a better buy for the money".

The tb is fun to play with, but for me would be mostly a distraction...
 
You're getting more than just the touch bar for the added primume. 2 more ports on the OTHER side, faster processor and ram, and TouchID. I bought the tbMBP for TouchID and more ports but I've come to LOVE the touch bar! It's great while note taking. e.g. You have quick options to change font colour. Photo editing is great too!

Just like everything else you need to go try it out a few times and see if you'll use it. As noted above Apple refurbs is great! (Only refurb on the market where you can get AppleCare)
 
Gregintosh said:
I don't think theres anything wrong with the touch-bar to the point it should be removed. It's just not super useful most of the time.
Click to expand...

Hence the topic of the thread?

There are way to many posts in these forums of users finding the TB just interrupts their workflow; it's gimmicky. Why spend a bunch of time trying to learn new habits on something that may or may not aid your productivity? And worse, it appears that Apple isn't putting a TB on their keyboards that come with the iMac or Mac Pro, so those habits aren't transferrable to any other Apple product.

Half baked idea if you ask me. My guess is that Apple thought this was compelling enough to put on the MBP, but did so as more of a test case than a full commitment. Why didn't they make it standard on everything, or at least on some of the higher grade desktops too?
 
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toddzrx said:
Hence the topic of the thread?

There are way to many posts in these forums of users finding the TB just interrupts their workflow; it's gimmicky. Why spend a bunch of time trying to learn new habits on something that may or may not aid your productivity? And worse, it appears that Apple isn't putting a TB on their keyboards that come with the iMac or Mac Pro, so those habits aren't transferrable to any other Apple product.

Half baked idea if you ask me. My guess is that Apple thought this was compelling enough to put on the MBP, but did so as more of a test case than a full commitment. Why didn't they make it standard on everything, or at least on some of the higher grade desktops too?
Click to expand...

That could well be because people are more prone to post frustration than admiration on a MBP help forum. And a lot of people get called out as a 'Fanboy' or 'defending Apple' if they do say they like it. Personally I'm so-so on the TB, but I'm sure there's many thousands of people out there enjoying it or at least living quite happily with it.
 
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New_Mac_Smell said:
That could well be because people are more prone to post frustration than admiration on a MBP help forum. And a lot of people get called out as a 'Fanboy' or 'defending Apple' if they do say they like it. Personally I'm so-so on the TB, but I'm sure there's many thousands of people out there enjoying it or at least living quite happily with it.
Click to expand...

Can confirm. I thought it was a gimmick but honestly I love it.
 
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I would chime in that I don't understand people being upset at the touch-bar to the point they want to see it removed. I mean, sure, it may not be super useful for some, but it certainly doesn't impede or detract from the MacBook experience. It's neutral at the very worst.
 
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Get the touch bar if you really want it and won't have to sacrifice RAM or storage, but the humble 2.3 NTB is an outstanding machine (but get 16 GB RAM and > 128 GB SSD if at all possible).
 
Gregintosh said:
I would chime in that I don't understand people being upset at the touch-bar to the point they want to see it removed. I mean, sure, it may not be super useful for some, but it certainly doesn't impede or detract from the MacBook experience. It's neutral at the very worst.
Click to expand...

The one area where it is not neutral is the pricing aspect in that one may have to pay for something they do not want IMO. The touchbar is neat. I prefer the physical function keys as I use them quite a bit and I do not look at them while using them. If the touchbar were to get its own feedback engine that could differentiate between different 'keys', I'd buy a touchbar model the day it comes out, as I think this would make the design far more useful.
 
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