Is Touch Bar that bad?

[casperes1996]

I have to use vi from time to time but I prefer emacs. There are a lot of people where I work that use vi first and other things second.

Whilst I do indeed prefer VI over Emacs... I was mostly just joking about that age old argument. It's just a case of preference. Though I find it a bit ridiculous how big emacs has gotten... It's got both Pong and Tetris built in... Next up, the kitchen sink.
Anyways, in the end it's irrelevant cause of course nano beats both

 

[maflynn]

Another fan that didn't like the touchbar. Its a solution in search of a problem. Taking away the physical function keys (And escape) proved too much for me (among other issues), and I decided to get a laptop that had what I needed.

 

[Gen]

its completely pointless and useless to me. i have old shaky fingers and its nearly impossible for me to always look down and correctly 'touch' the right icon. i also find it incredibly stupid that they made the bar that thin. and its hard to pay attention as the icons are semi-constantly changing as im doing stuff and its becoming distracting at times.

i like physical keys. maybe im just getting too old.

 

[MrMister111]

Its a solution in search of a problem.

not sure if that’s the case. Is it not more of a “these F keys don’t do a lot, what can we do to expand”.

I agree some will hate, maybe either another row, keep the F keys, but people will not like that either.

Maybe what the rumours are saying, a separate and physical escape key and touchID a better solution?

 

[maflynn]

Is it not more of a “these F keys don’t do a lot,

They do as much as any other key, such as A, E or I. Why not get rid alpha keys and replace it with a display ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I use the function keys throughout the day so losing them was a big issue.

 

[pshufd]

not sure if that’s the case. Is it not more of a “these F keys don’t do a lot, what can we do to expand”.

I agree some will hate, maybe either another row, keep the F keys, but people will not like that either.

Maybe what the rumours are saying, a separate and physical escape key and touchID a better solution?

They should admit it was a mistake and get rid of it. That it’s not available on all of the other Macs is ample evidence.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I don't own a Touch Bar MacBook, so my opinion may not be that valid, but from what I've seen when messing with it in the Apple Store it seems like a cool feature and I would enjoy having it on my MacBook. I can see how the escape key not being there and not being tactile can be an issue, but also, if you use it enough, can't muscle memory help with that?

And another thing I see people complain about is the function keys not being there permanently. But from what I recall, there is an option to always have them there when you customise the Touch Bar.

 

[pshufd]

I don't own a Touch Bar MacBook, so my opinion may not be that valid, but from what I've seen when messing with it in the Apple Store it seems like a cool feature and I would enjoy having it on my MacBook. I can see how the escape key not being there and not being tactile can be an issue, but also, if you use it enough, can't muscle memory help with that?

And another thing I see people complain about is the function keys not being there permanently. But from what I recall, there is an option to always have them there when you customise the Touch Bar.

I use an external keyboard 95% of the time so going back and forth between a conventional keyboard and a touch strip would be annoying. I will admit, though, that 99% of my function key usage is the escape key.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I use an external keyboard 95% of the time so going back and forth between a conventional keyboard and a touch strip would be annoying. I will admit, though, that 99% of my function key usage is the escape key.

Ah, I can see how that'd be annoying. I occasionally use an external keyboard so this isn't an issue to me. . But you make a good point.

 

[jameslmoser]

They didn’t add it to the base 13” Pro, it’s always been available on that model for as long as the Touch Bar has existed. What they did do recently is discontinue the non-touchbar version of the 13” mbp.

None of the new machines that Apple have released since the 2016 debut of the touchbar have had one. It remains limited to just the current form factor of MacBook Pro.

None of the desktops got it, and the only other laptop — the air — didn’t get it.

Apple don’t seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for it, or confidence in it.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they discontinued the non-touch bar version is because of inventory or part commitments from suppliers. It seems like a lot of products apple has released since Tim Cook became CEO make more sense when you look at it from that perspective.

 

[Count Blah]

I’d prefer them to drop the touch bar, go back to physical function keys and drop the price of the mbp by the $300 that went to the Touch Bar.

But as my sig says, Apple doesn’t give a darn about any of my desires.

 

[pshufd]

I was at Costco and there was the Air on the right with one function key bar, the 13 MBP next to it with another function key bar (keys had different shapes and sizes), then another 13 MBP with TouchBar and then a 15 way over to the left. I really found the LG Gram a lot more interesting. 17.3 inch display, 2560x1400 resolution, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM which is user upgradeable to 24 GB. You can add an SSD as well. SD card reader, 3 USB 3.0, 1 Thunderbolt 3, 1 HD, Kensington, headphone and under 3 pounds. It should be interesting to see what this looks like with next year's model.

Cons: Windows 10.

 

[SuperSonic80]

I’d prefer them to drop the touch bar, go back to physical function keys and drop the price of the mbp by the $300 that went to the Touch Bar.

But as my sig says, Apple doesn’t give a darn about any of my desires.

Personally, if I had to choose between TB and nonTB for the same price I would choose nonTB. In fact, I'd pay $300 more to get nonTB (lost of productivity will cost me more than $300).

 

[MrMister111]

Personally, if I had to choose between TB and nonTB for the same price I would choose nonTB. In fact, I'd pay $300 more to get nonTB (lost of productivity will cost me more than $300).

You hate it that bad? Not sure of your situation but sounds like you need the F keys all the time? So can’t you set the F keys to show all the time, or is it as they are not physical for the tactile feel of them?

 

[SuperSonic80]

You hate it that bad? Not sure of your situation but sounds like you need the F keys all the time? So can’t you set the F keys to show all the time, or is it as they are not physical for the tactile feel of them?

What I hate the most is that I was left without a choice between TB and non TB.

Speaking about TB, I don't like it because:

• there is no physical ESC button and I use it a lot
• there is no tactile response
• I have to move my eyes from the screen to TB (at least to confirm that TB has actions that I expect to be there)
• some actions take more time (ex. adjusting volume or brightness, however, this is subjective)
• pressing a button in a numeric row sometimes triggers a TB action (ex. Siri, it's very annoying)
• it looks ugly, this is completely subjective, but, in my opinion, the quality of the image is too low to call this product Pro).

What I liked about Apple in the past is that their keyboard layout was almost the same among all of its products. It was easy to jump from MBP to iMac without extra thoughts and expect the same button in the same spot. Now it's not the case, even if I enable F-keys their location will different to the physical one.

Imho, Apple should either give users an option to select between TB and nonTB or just drop F-keys completely and make all their product with TB.

 

[MrMister111]

I can understand a lot of points but others I can’t. I’m not championing TB either, just trying to understand why some do, some don’t like it.

What I hate the most is that I was left without a choice between TB and non TB.

Fair point, although Apple seem to “tell” us what we want sometimes!?!

there is no physical ESC button and I use it a lot

This maybe fixed on the newer MBP if rumours and images are correct, seems a lot use/want this so maybe Apple listened.

there is no tactile response

Would have been nicer maybe with haptic feedback?

I have to move my eyes from the screen to TB (at least to confirm that TB has actions that I expect to be there) .

You would do this anyway with normal F keys though surely?

some actions take more time (ex. adjusting volume or brightness, however, this is subjective)

Thought you could hold down and slide in one press/slide, existing way is holding a key and continuously tapping, isn’t the TB way quicker and easier?

pressing a button in a numeric row sometimes triggers a TB action (ex. Siri, it's very annoying)

Must be annoying I agree, can’t you use settings to remove the Siri button though?

What I liked about Apple in the past is that their keyboard layout was almost the same among all of its products.

Some would use their own keyboards only on iMac though.

 

[SuperSonic80]

I can understand a lot of points but others I can’t. I’m not championing TB either, just trying to understand why some do, some don’t like it.

Fair point, although Apple seem to “tell” us what we want sometimes!?!


This maybe fixed on the newer MBP if rumours and images are correct, seems a lot use/want this so maybe Apple listened.


Would have been nicer maybe with haptic feedback?


You would do this anyway with normal F keys though surely?


Thought you could hold down and slide in one press/slide, existing way is holding a key and continuously tapping, isn’t the TB way quicker and easier?


Must be annoying I agree, can’t you use settings to remove the Siri button though?



Some would use their own keyboards only on iMac though.

I suppose with 2nd - 3rd generation of TB will get the TouchBar that we actually want. For now, a lot of "old-school" people has to tweak TB to make it work for them (including myself) instead of enjoying using it.

Funny to say, I remember my disapointment when I got an iPhone, I was unable to hold the phone in one hand and blindly type a message using T9. And now, I cannot imagine to type the message without using onscreen keyboard.

 

[chrono1081]

Why do you use a mouse when you have a trackpad much closer to the keyboard? When you figure out the answer to that you may begin to understand why people don't find the touch bar to be a suitable replacement for a physical Esc key. For people who actually use the Esc key, it's a terrible alternative.

Mouse or track pad either or. And sorry were going to have to agree to disagree. I use the escape key all the time and it’s a literal non issue.

 

[CrazyForCashews]

Well to Apple it isn't bad because it seems like that redesigned 16" MacBook Pro will still feature it.

Such a shame.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Besides haptic feedback I do love my Touch Bar... Especially after customising it to my needs.

 

[MrMister111]

Besides haptic feedback I do love my Touch Bar... Especially after customising it to my needs.

A lot of complaints I seem to read on here, could maybe be fixed by customising it to personal tastes. That’s what is good and why Apple has built this in. Apparently even better is BetterTouchTool although I’m not sure what it does over and above Apple settings

 

[pshufd]

A lot of complaints I seem to read on here, could maybe be fixed by customising it to personal tastes. That’s what is good and why Apple has built this in. Apparently even better is BetterTouchTool although I’m not sure what it does over and above Apple settings

If you're a company deploying macOS though, on notebooks, minis, pros and imacs, why would you want to deal with the inconsistency between models?

 

[MrGunnyPT]

A lot of complaints I seem to read on here, could maybe be fixed by customising it to personal tastes. That’s what is good and why Apple has built this in. Apparently even better is BetterTouchTool although I’m not sure what it does over and above Apple settings

It allows you to do even more customisation regarding plugins and what not. I'm using stock tou bar with a few different configurations to lock my screen and for music and etc..

I do rather have a Touch Bar than a touch screen (no point for me)

I do wish for the ESC to be physical since I use it A LOT on SAP GUI