Love TouchBar thread discussion [merged]

[PhilMacbook]

I like the new MBPs and am thinking of buying one. Ideally there would be a TouchId without TouchBar option but that is never going to happen so it looks like I'll have to get a MBP with TouchBar.

It's easy to find negative TouchBar posts but has anyone grown to like it? It would be interesting to hear some positives about it.

I'm not interested in using a TouchBar for emojis but do use Logic X as well as general coding, emails and browsing. If people who actually have a TouchBar MBP have found positives for it then I'd be interested to hear.

 

[sockdoggy]

POSITIVE: TouchID works 10/10 for me for unlocking my MBP and passwords in Safari. (I wish in Keychain it was enabled.) So I've been able to set a pretty long password

Overall, I'd say if you have a hunt and peck style of typing, the TouchBar will be great. Personally having used a computer for as long as I have, I just don't really ever look at the keyboard. So my TouchBar just slows me down and I'll avoid using it (so hitting volume up and down, pause on my BeatsX instead of the TB). And I'll accidentally hit the Siri icon a few times a week when going for the delete button.

 

[Schranke]

I have not been one who have used the function key for much since I got my first MBP in 2010. So I actually have not found the TB to a negative but rather positive.

First I do not use emojis, would love if I could disable emoji suggestions in the TB when typing, but not an important factor. What I love with the TB is its utility, developers have a lot of great option to incorporate it in their app design and the added functionality. There are some apps which uses this nicely and I kinda wish apple would remove the function keys from all their keyboard so that developers would have a reason to focus more on it. The TB hase another great feature, and that is customisation, I can however for the life of me not understand why apple themself have not incorporated this more into the system for us to use. But luckily enough we have tools like BetterTouchTool which allows for almost what ever you like to be part of the TB. I am still trying things out, but I think many just love to hate it and don't see the possibilities it provides

 

[poorcody]

I personally love the Touchbar. I use the BetterTouchTool to create custom macros in most of the applications I use. I'll give some random examples:

• I use Notes extensively for tracking projects and such. I have a bunch of templates, and use various special characters like checkmarks, colored circles, etc. I had used various keyboard shortcuts before, but it was a hassle. Now everything is visible right on the Touchbar. I can create a new note and drop in one of my templates with a simple tap.
• In Safari, I have buttons programmed for when I want to send an email of an article. I have different buttons programmed for different groups of people (e.g. programming related, finance related, etc.) I press one of my color-coded buttons, and it formats the page, opens mail, inserts the contents, sets the subject, and fills in the addresses of people I send to that are interested in that subject area.
• Many macros in Finder. For example, select a file or folder and automatically compress and encrypt it, and drop it in an email
• Select a book title in an email or webpage, and one of my macros looks it up in Amazon and my local library simultaneously.
• I have a global macro that only appears when I press the control key: it allows me to take a screen-shot, automatically watermark it, and copy it to the clipboard or email
• In Xcode and Visual Studio, I have many for development: example, place cursor on a method name, and it automatically inserts a method comment stud of my format, reading various parameters from the method signature. Also have two arrow buttons that allow me to jump around in my code for "@todo" markers. Lots and lots of others for development...
• I use a writing tool and a separate tool for grammar checking. They are totally unintegrated, but I create corresponding macros in each that allow text to instantly flow back and forth between the two, as if they were one app. Really useful!

I could give more examples, those are just some. While one can use macros without the Touchbar, I find having them visible and a simple touch away all the difference between using them and not.

 

[fokmik]

the "flick" option for the touch bar i often use for volume/brightness etc...and some affinity app shortcuts that i customise
Also in youtube or movies timeline

 

[warburg]

I love the Touch Bar. Unless you have mastered touch typing, it's a great asset in writing, especially if you tend to use the same words. The Touch Bar learns to anticipate your needs and saves time and effort. t's also great for quick raising and lowering of lighting and volume. I'm puzzled by the detractors.

 

[cman-uk]

Looking forward to hearing more custom uses - sounds like BetterTouchTool opens up a lot of possibilities

 

[afir93]

I love the Touch Bar. Unless you have mastered touch typing, it's a great asset in writing, especially if you tend to use the same words. The Touch Bar learns to anticipate your needs and saves time and effort. t's also great for quick raising and lowering of lighting and volume. I'm puzzled by the detractors.

I agree. Even when you can effortlessly touch type, the typing suggestions can greatly help you when you‘re learning a new language or need to type something in a secondary language you‘re not so fluid in. For example you‘re not sure how a complicated word is spelled, and the TB will give you the suggestion when you start the first few letters. Or you‘re not sure what the best adjective or verb for something is, or cannot remember a specific word or phrase, and the TB might suggest you a fitting one depending on the context and the sentence you‘ve typed thus far.

I think having these typing suggestions on the Mac is a pretty underrated feature. It‘s not for everyone but I remember times in my life where I was struggling with a new language that I needed to type some texts or E-Mails in, and where such a feature would have come in pretty handy and would have greatly reduced the times where I needed to fire up Google Translate or something.

 

[dgdosen]

I personally love the Touchbar. I use the BetterTouchTool to create custom macros in most of the applications I use. I'll give some random examples:

• In Xcode and Visual Studio, I have many for development: example, place cursor on a method name, and it automatically inserts a method comment stud of my format, reading various parameters from the method signature. Also have two arrow buttons that allow me to jump around in my code for "@todo" markers. Lots and lots of others for development...

Are you a touch typist?

 

[roland.g]

I’ll be getting my first Touch Bar MBP soon but I also use an external keyboard when I can an would want to see the Magic Keyboard come with a Touch Bar too.

 

[poorcody]

Are you a touch typist?

No... I guess pretty close in practice... I use all my fingers, but my hands "dance around" a bit. Do you think the Touchbar is better/worse for touch typists?

 

[PhilMacbook]

I’ll be getting my first Touch Bar MBP soon but I also use an external keyboard when I can an would want to see the Magic Keyboard come with a Touch Bar too.

I think they will do this once all the older MBPs without touchbar start to fall by the wayside through being unsupported or unable to run the latest O/S. Once TouchBar Macs are heavily adopted it will be worth Apple's while to chuck a Magic Keyboard out there. Before then, it might serve to hamper MBP sales.

 

[poorcody]

I think they will do this once all the older MBPs without touchbar start to fall by the wayside through being unsupported or unable to run the latest O/S. Once TouchBar Macs are heavily adopted it will be worth Apple's while to chuck a Magic Keyboard out there. Before then, it might serve to hamper MBP sales.

Yeah, I also think because they are putting the T2 chip in all the Macs now for various functions, the controller to run the Touchbar is going to be there anyway, so the added cost will be just for the OLED strip itself. I also suspect, as others have said, there is a lot of potential new functionality that could grow out of it -- like an OLED touch pad for example.

 

[dgdosen]

No... I guess pretty close in practice... I use all my fingers, but my hands "dance around" a bit. Do you think the Touchbar is better/worse for touch typists?

IMO, worse...
[doublepost=1531603679][/doublepost]

Yeah, I also think because they are putting the T2 chip in all the Macs now for various functions, the controller to run the Touchbar is going to be there anyway, so the added cost will be just for the OLED strip itself. I also suspect, as others have said, there is a lot of potential new functionality that could grow out of it -- like an OLED touch pad for example.

See, this makes me think the touchbar is akin to blockchain. All hype, but no great use for it. Might there be someday? Of course, but they're putting too much emphasis on the technology and too little on the problems is solves (let alone creates).

 

[Novus John]

A few colleagues who have gotten a mbp with the touchbar find that at best it's neutral as they don't use the touchbar at all but they didn't bother with the function keys either, and at worse others have switched to other non-Apple or older hardware because they prefer the actual physical keys. It's the same problem as typing on an ipad or a phone, you can do it but you have to have your eyes focused on it otherwise there's no way to hit the right button.

Anecdotally speaking, I think people who are programmers hate the touchbar with a passion because it breaks their previously established habits, while the less technically inclined people are kinda okay with it. They still find it a gimmick, though.

To answer your original question, the single biggest positive side of the touchbar is that it's contextual. You can program it yourself or the programs that you use can learn your habits and display contextual information that can be useful to you.

 

[mmomega]

The only positive I can think of with the TouchBar is that TouchID came with it.

I think that's it.

 

[poorcody]

Anecdotally speaking, I think people who are programmers hate the touchbar with a passion because it breaks their previously established habits

I work with a team of 11 developers on MacBooks, and we all share a DropBox full of Touchbar macros that we use for development. One thing we have found is that, unlike in days-gone-by when you used to sit in one editor and use one language, we are constantly hopping between development tools (e.g. XCode, Visual Studio, Komdo, Visual Studio Code, etc.), and we can design macros that perform the same or similar functions for each tool/language, which makes things simpler and more productive.

 

[ipponrg]

And I'll accidentally hit the Siri icon a few times a week when going for the delete button.

FYI - you can remove the Siri button off the Touchbar.
[doublepost=1531616205][/doublepost]

Anecdotally speaking, I think people who are programmers hate the touchbar with a passion because it breaks their previously established habits, while the less technically inclined people are kinda okay with it. They still find it a gimmick, though.

It's not just that. I'm a touch typist i.e. I never look at my keys. The issue is when I am hitting the # keys or resting my finger near the # keys, I sometimes hit the touch strip. I rest my fingers near the number keys because I know the hotkeys for several applications and they involve using numbers sometimes. I kind of learned out of habit when I'm on MBP 2016 to not let my fingers/hands rest near the number keys. On my MBP 2015, this isn't an issue at all of course.
[doublepost=1531616321][/doublepost]

The only positive I can think of with the TouchBar is that TouchID came with it.

I think that's it.

I took a look at BetterTouchTool, and I find it rather comical that a 3rd party tool makes better use of the 1st party tool.

 

[dgdosen]

FYI - you can remove the Siri button off the Touchbar.
[doublepost=1531616205][/doublepost]

I think the point is that no matter what's there, you'll hit it thinking it's an escape key. Hopefully the pentagon won't program the nuclear launch button up there.

 

[maflynn]

Ideally there would be a TouchId without TouchBar option but that is never going to happen so it looks like I'll have to get a MBP with TouchBar.

Nope, Apple wants you and all Mac buyers to embrace the TB, so they're positioning the product accordingly. Its harder to justify the nTB model over the TB model at this stage. That wasn't done by accident.

 

[LeeW]

I'm ok with the touch bar, I mean I don't embrace it but there are some things for me personally that makes it more useful than a row of function keys. Everyone I know either finds it marginally useful or not at all perhaps that will change over time.

 

[Geordiekeith]

Nope, Apple wants you and all Mac buyers to embrace the TB, so they're positioning the product accordingly. Its harder to justify the nTB model over the TB model at this stage. That wasn't done by accident.

I find the Touchbar to be a gimmick, although I must admit I do not have a Touchbar-equipped Mac. But then again I never will have one if Apple persist in using the awful keyboard for the sake of thinness - sticking to my Early 2015 MacBook as long as I can. Thankfully I got the maxed out version when I bought it, and I will investigate Chromebooks and Microsoft Surface machines when I am forced by obsolescence to change it after using Apple and Macs since the Apple II.

 

[maflynn]

find the Touchbar to be a gimmick, although I must admit I do not have a Touchbar-equipped Mac

My kids would love it in all honesty and to me that's one major sign of it being a gimmick. They're all in for that emoji stuff, and while that can be cute for some things, I'd rather have physical f-keys because I use those f-keys for work every day. Yes, I can turn on the f-keys and keep them there and/or look down at the keyboard to hit F7, but I'd rather not need to keep looking at the keyboard.

 

[Novus John]

I work with a team of 11 developers on MacBooks, and we all share a DropBox full of Touchbar macros that we use for development. One thing we have found is that, unlike in days-gone-by when you used to sit in one editor and use one language, we are constantly hopping between development tools (e.g. XCode, Visual Studio, Komdo, Visual Studio Code, etc.), and we can design macros that perform the same or similar functions for each tool/language, which makes things simpler and more productive.

Too distracting. I prefer not to have any flickering lights or other visually stimulating objects in my peripheral vision while I'm staring at the screen. It might work for some but for me the touch bar screams of wasted money.

 

[chabig]

No... I guess pretty close in practice... I use all my fingers, but my hands "dance around" a bit. Do you think the Touchbar is better/worse for touch typists?

The touchbar sits above the keyboard. Your ability to touch type is 100% unaffected.