M1 Macs Support WiFi 6, MacBook Air Has Updated Function Keys

[boss.king]

Look at

Mac - Compare Models

See what makes each Mac laptop and desktop different. And find the one that’s perfect for your life, your work, and your budget.

www.apple.com

Scroll to the very bottom.
Explain to me what the difference you see there means:

My mistake, I confused USB 4 and TB 4. But either way, each only has two ports.

As for what USB C Power Port mean, I have no idea, but if you scroll a few sections up, you'll see the ports for each:



or hit Learn more down at the bottom and they show you the ports labeled (grey is Pro, gold is Air):




Or just look at the gallery and count the ports for yourself.

 

[boss.king]

I’ve never understood the point of the Fn key. We have so many other modifier keys used to change the behaviour of normal keys. Why can’t the difference between F1 and Brightness Down be shift or control or command or alt?

Some programs use combinations of option/cmd+Fn keys, so making one of them the modifier key would make those commands unusable.

 

[tangfish]

I would actually pay more, maybe $100-$200 more on a 16” MBP, to not have a Touch Bar. I really hate that thing!

 

[albebaubles]

The TouchBar hate is absurd. It just adds functionality and takes nothing away except the tactile experience, which we are all clearly used to (see your phone). You all sound like grandpas complaining about new fangled technology. These comments, I only use my TouchBar for this or that. Well we’re you only using those buttons prior to TouchBar? Because all of the function keys are still there, plus word prediction, emojis, macros, app integration, etc. I must be crazy because everyone seems to hate it, but all I see are additions and no negatives. OK, maybe don’t touchify the Esc key, but that’s the only small negative. I’ve never personally had it be non-responsive but I’ve heard that complaint a lot and I suppose I get that.

No tactile feedback
additional heat
additional complexity (things to break)
additional power draw
(some 3rd party vendors have yet to implement in their apps)

At least give the possibility it doesn't work for some people some reasonable consideration.

 

[4jasontv]

keep touting wifi 6 for smart home devices when most smart home devices practically still use wireless N

My free Comcast router has WiFi 6. Just ask them to replace yours.

 

[tgwaste]

I’ve never understood the point of the Fn key. We have so many other modifier keys used to change the behaviour of normal keys. Why can’t the difference between F1 and Brightness Down be shift or control or command or alt?

Personally I use the FN keys with tmux to switch windows. Ive done it for many years and heavily rely on them.

 

[4jasontv]

The TouchBar hate is absurd. It just adds functionality and takes nothing away except the tactile experience, which we are all clearly used to (see your phone). You all sound like grandpas complaining about new fangled technology. These comments, I only use my TouchBar for this or that. Well we’re you only using those buttons prior to TouchBar? Because all of the function keys are still there, plus word prediction, emojis, macros, app integration, etc. I must be crazy because everyone seems to hate it, but all I see are additions and no negatives. OK, maybe don’t touchify the Esc key, but that’s the only small negative. I’ve never personally had it be non-responsive but I’ve heard that complaint a lot and I suppose I get that.

As someone who touch types it’s constantly recognizing touches when I enter numbers and producing erratic behaviors. I don’t look at my keyboard so I never have any clue what data it’s trying to show and all it ever does is interrupt my flow.

Might as well have a screen on the other side of the display because I’m never going to see it.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I can see it now,

The new MacBook Air keyboard has a MAJOR issue!!! -Unbox Therapy.

 

[The Cappy]

I can't express enough how much I hate hate hate TouchBar. It's the stupidest, most wasted, most useless, most gimmicky feature ever. I fell for its hype and hated it ever since.

The new Fn key layout is amazing, and I will be using the Spotlight button probably 1000000000 times a day. It's super useful.

I just hope Apple will offer 16" MacBook Pro Silicon without the stupid TouchBar (at least as an option).

That's quite an over-reaction. Personally, I use it daily. I find the sliders far better controls for brightness and volume. And to honest, that's all I ever used function keys for. As for spotlight, if you plan to use the button that often and you haven't learned the must easier cmd-space, your opinions might not be worth airing.

 

[SkippyThorson]

settings. I dont get why one would need to see the keys anyway.

Yeah; black plastic keys in a dark room... I just open up the laptop, and start blindly hitting keys to orient myself.

Do they even still have the orientation marks on the F/J keys anymore?

 

[Tovenaar]

Did you just call it the emoji key with a straight face?
Many people around the world have to work in more than one language. We've always had to sacrifice the caps lock as a keyboard switching button so I'm glad this is no longer the case.

 

[Sasha-1]

I ordered the MacBook Air. Giving up my 15.4" 6 core i7 for it. I have wanted fanless, thin, and light, but with graphics forever. Having to buy decent graphics to get good performance has always been a compromise. And I have noticed how my iPad has great graphics this whole time. I had wished and wished this day would come. Finally. I can't wait.

I paid almost as much for my 12 Pro Max as I am for the MacBook Air with M1. Kind of odd, but I believe this is finally going to be perfect for me. This is what I wanted with the original MacBook 12". It just didn't work as I had hoped it would. Super excited. More excited for Apple than I have been in a very long time. Most of the time at this point, I just use the iPad Pro. But still need a computer for this and that.

 

[macduke]

I don’t have many WiFi 6 devices yet, but working from home I’ve found I need greater coverage and more bandwidth for everyone streaming around the house at the same time. Furthermore, while being stuck at home I’ve expanded my smart home setup which uses even more WiFi. I’m planning to upgrade to WiFi 6 during the sales on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The mesh networks should give me better coverage, even for my older devices. Trying to decide between Orbi, Eero and Velop. Would like the HomeKit integration.

 

[marek.jalovec]

I can't express enough how much I hate hate hate TouchBar. It's the stupidest, most wasted, most useless, most gimmicky feature ever. I fell for its hype and hated it ever since.

The new Fn key layout is amazing, and I will be using the Spotlight button probably 1000000000 times a day. It's super useful.

I just hope Apple will offer 16" MacBook Pro Silicon without the stupid TouchBar (at least as an option).

cmd+space ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[matrix07]

But why does Spotlight need a function key? It's super easy to activate with Cmd+Spacebar!

I’m using this combination to change language keyboard so I’m glad we have Spotlight button now.

 

[aednichols]

I approve of this. It's about time!

100%. You’d be amazed how many people have no idea you can bring up the emoji picker in ANY Mac OS text field by hitting Option-Command-Space (at least that’s what it is on my machine, can’t remember if that’s custom).

 

[Exhale]

I should have said “integrated” my fault... and to my knowledge, MacBooks have been using that

They haven't.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

No! The touch bar is worth absolutely nothing, it's just plain annoying. Often wish my MacBook Pro had regular keys...

I agree.

I was slightly optimistic about the touch bar, when I got my 13" 1.4 MBP last fall, after using an 11" MacBook Air 2010 since - well - 2010.

After a year of usage I can conclude: I hate it! I keep touching it by accident, and - even worse - the non-physical escape key (that they later re-added as a physical key) is useless.

So, I'm abandoning my 15 month old MBP and are going back to the Air. Ordered the 8/8 Air with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD (same spec as my MBP). Should be arriving by the end of the month.

 

[mazz0]

Some programs use combinations of option/cmd+Fn keys, so making one of them the modifier key would make those commands unusable.

What about Shift? I don't think I've seen that used with Fn keys.

Either way, programmes could have adjusted. I'd rather put up with that for a few months/years if it meant getting rid of the Fn key. Such a waste of space and makes left control much harder to hit reliably, especially in games (where you can't use Fn, so Control is your left-most button on the bottom roll, and is often quite important).

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I think those who play games (even occasionally) will get annoyed that CONTROL key is not in the corner...

If that's important you can just change them:

 

[Karlsruhe]

The new Fn key layout is amazing, and I will be using the Spotlight button probably 1000000000 times a day. It's super useful.

I got used to using the keyboard shortcut "cmd+spacebar" but I think it's ok to have a dedicated fn for it.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

The TouchBar hate is absurd. It just adds functionality and takes nothing away except the tactile experience, which we are all clearly used to (see your phone). You all sound like grandpas complaining about new fangled technology. These comments, I only use my TouchBar for this or that. Well we’re you only using those buttons prior to TouchBar? Because all of the function keys are still there, plus word prediction, emojis, macros, app integration, etc. I must be crazy because everyone seems to hate it, but all I see are additions and no negatives. OK, maybe don’t touchify the Esc key, but that’s the only small negative. I’ve never personally had it be non-responsive but I’ve heard that complaint a lot and I suppose I get that.

I used to be quite (well, slightly) optimistic about the touch bar, and having the ability to have it change context with apps and add functionality seemed like a good idea...

In practice though, a non-tactile escape key (since fixed) was a hard pass, and also I experienced (and are still experiencing after over a year), accidentally touching (and you just need a slight touch, not a press as with physical keys) the other ones, invoking siri, pause/play music, etc, without meaning to.

So, even if I'm not a touch typer (and need to look down every now and then), I still get this experience:

As someone who touch types it’s constantly recognizing touches when I enter numbers and producing erratic behaviors. I don’t look at my keyboard so I never have any clue what data it’s trying to show and all it ever does is interrupt my flow.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

No tactile feedback
additional heat
additional complexity (things to break)
additional power draw
(some 3rd party vendors have yet to implement in their apps)

At least give the possibility it doesn't work for some people some reasonable consideration.

This is what I've come to think, too.

Keep the touch bar for those wanting it, but have a BTO option for a regular (old-school) function key row for us old grumps who wants that.

 

[kugino]

will be upgrading to a new MBP next year for work...i assume theyʻll be giving us these MBPs...but hell, i donʻt want the touch bar!! i think iʻd prefer the MBA over the MBP...itʻll be way faster than my current MBP anyway...and lighter and quieter...

 

[AussieStu]

So will todays apps like MS office etc work on these new macs or do we need to wait for a new MS Office release?