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MacBook Pro Touch reviews from actual users

I order my 15" MBP the first hour after announcement with everything I could order. and got it yesterday morning. Been setting it up and using it since then. I LOVE it. Amazingly fast and light to haul. I like the Touch bar when browsing and adjusting the volume. I LOVE it for logging in. I've been waiting for a new MBP to come out for over a year. Having this much performance, a big display and a nice keyboard in such a light and portable package is really nice.

I put in on a rolling table and use in while reclining in my Lazyboy in the evening. Part of the time I'm laying back with the wireless Apple Keyboard and Trackpad in a Spinido Bestand. Couldn't do that before the bigger display.

I like the Touchbar and THINK it will be a great feature. But, really, I need more time to be sure. Living with it for a month or two will tell.

Paul
 
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Just grabbed mine today at the Apple store. I think its a vast improvement. Its very modern, makes my 2013 look and feel very dated. If I have a complaint its that the keys are noisy to type on.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Played with the TB at the Apple Store today. It's neat in concept but overall I can't see how it would make my workflow better except maybe in FCPX.
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I agree with this whole-heartedly. I think it's a pretty nifty gimmick to show-off to people, but as of now, I just don't see how it can improve my particular workflow. That being said...Touch ID is pretty amazing.
 
Ataricade said:
Just grabbed mine today at the Apple store. I think its a vast improvement. Its very modern, makes my 2013 look and feel very dated. If I have a complaint its that the keys are noisy to type on.
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That's for sure! I had some phone meetings where I was typing a few notes, and in both cases they said they could clearly hear me banging away.
 
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Chupa Chupa said:
But then there were the mundane things like adjusting sound or brightness which seemed to overcomplicate a simple task. For example, with a non-TB Mac to adjust brightness you just press the brightness key untill you get the brightness you want. Pretty quick and easy. With the TB Mac you have to press the virtual brightness key (or the key to get to that screen) then adjust. That is one or two clicks then a swipe to adjust. So it's cool looking but not faster or easier.
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From what others have posted, that's not entirely accurate. You can supposedly press the volume or brightness buttons and slide your finger without having to lift it up. That sounds even better than having to tap a button multiple times. Of course, I have not independently verified that yet. Can't you also just use multiple taps with the TB or does that not work with brightness and volume?
 
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blSwagger said:
From what others have posted, that's not entirely inaccurate. You can supposedly press the volume or brightness buttons and slide your finger without having to lift it up. That sounds even better than having to tap a button multiple times. Of course, I have not independently verified that yet. Can't you also just use multiple taps with the TB or does that not work with brightness and volume?
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Right. It takes some getting used to but then you just press the volume or brightness and drag without lifting your finger. It works quite well. The old method of tapping the keys multiple times isn't as fast as holding and dragging.
 
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blSwagger said:
From what others have posted, that's not entirely accurate. You can supposedly press the volume or brightness buttons and slide your finger without having to lift it up. That sounds even better than having to tap a button multiple times. Of course, I have not independently verified that yet. Can't you also just use multiple taps with the TB or does that not work with brightness and volume?
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Yes, another poster mentioned that in a response. I passed by another store so tried that out and that does work well. I still prefer a hard button as I touch type but not something to get worked up about.
 
mattopotamus said:
That's I how feel so far. It's easier to hit cmd+b to bold then look away and press the TB button. It's a cool concept, but I feel the real beneficiaries are people not familiar with commands.
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Since you can modify what is displayed in the touch bar you could change it to show commands that you don't use that often and will go looking for. The generic ones like making things bold, italic, etc. can be done via good old key combos.

When I get my MBP I'll go look into this to see what could be useful to me. I do see the touch bar more as a solution to put toolbars and palettes out of my way instead of a solution that is like the key combos we've come to know and love. It would be really cool if apps that support scripts could take use of the touch bar for those scripts as that would make it very easy to select them (instead of going through the menu on top).
 
pbasmadj said:
Question for the touchbar users, is there an option to keep the touchbar static? as In, always display function keys?
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Yes, you can choose to always show the old shortcut keys (vol, transport, expose etc), but you can also set which bar shows up when you hold the FN key.
Screen Shot 2016-11-20 at 9.59.09 AM.png
Screen Shot 2016-11-20 at 9.59.22 AM.png
 
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Apparently, you will not be able to control exactly what the touch bar does in the near future, Why?
 
I really didn't care about the touch bar, but now after a few days I'm learning it works really well.

Volume, brightness, are sliders and work really smooth, word suggestions like iOS show up while typing, and Touch ID is far superior to the iPhone 6 I have. Overall it becomes a, "how did I live within this before," experience.

It is worth it.

Don't forget the difference in CPU speed with the base non-TB.
 
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bjet767 said:
I really didn't care about the touch bar, but now after a few days I'm learning it works really well.

Volume, brightness, are sliders and work really smooth, word suggestions like iOS show up while typing, and Touch ID is far superior to the iPhone 6 I have. Overall it becomes a, "how did I live within this before," experience.

It is worth it.

Don't forget the difference in CPU speed with the base non-TB.
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It definitely feels very weird at first. You almost have to relearn how to use a laptop. Give it a few days, and it really grows on you. That is what I am experiencing.
 
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happypappy said:
Here's my review and unboxing :)

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Does every tech video start with the phrase 'What's up guys?" lol
[doublepost=1479656055][/doublepost]
jlaumans said:
Don't listen to Sandy Santra, I (and a bunch of people on the other thread!) think your review is great. Keep it up!!

And Sandy, if you are going to be bitter about someone's hard work, why not do a better job yourself? You've got some good feedback, but everyone would like you a bit more if you dropped the attitude and be happy that there are people taking the time and effort to make video reviews like this :)

*big hug everyone*
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Great retort!

I think he is doing a great job.

Peace and love. Peace and love.
 
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bjdraw said:
Yes, you can choose to always show the old shortcut keys (vol, transport, expose etc), but you can also set which bar shows up when you hold the FN key.View attachment 673588 View attachment 673589
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Very cool. I personally purchased the non TB version and love it, but after trying it a bit in store, it's definitely not bad. I would likely use it kind of static, but maybe not. It was cooler than I thought. Thank you for the options detail.
 
Got my 15" a couple of days back.

My main issue with the touch bar is that 99.5% of the time I use it it's unintentional..I keep hitting the damn thing whenever I want to press the number keys, or just when putting my hands in a comfortable position. Frustrating. Seems like a can't rest my hands anywhere lest something goes wrong.

Also, the trackpad, I keep having unintentional behavior as well. Its so big its hard to avoid. Thing is I use tap to click and the performance of this has gotten worse as I guess I'm relying on MacOs to constantly figure out the touch rejection. No, I didn't want to 2 finger click then.
Two finger scrolling, I can no longer rest my hand on the laptop it seems- I have to hold everything but my two fingers in the air.

Guess I'll learn to be more accurate in the long run, but the ergonomics of the whole thing is not really doing it for me atm. That includes having to look away from the screen to use the touchbar. But if I return it, there is no better option and I'm heavily invested in the ecosystem.

I'm looking forward to a Mac OS revision where one can disable the touchbar unless the fn button is pressed. I feel sad wanting this.
 
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I love my base 13 w/ TB. The battery indicator has been showing 4 hours remaining for the last 5 hours though, so it's far from accurate.

Screen Shot 2016-11-20 at 2.34.32 PM.png

Here's a quick video I made on my favorite touch bar feature:

 
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What I just realized is that this laptop is what we are going to be stuck with for four long years. No ports small battery palm rejection issues nonmagsafe. The list goes on. First these machines aren't even the lightest in their class nor are they the thinnest. Second maybe CPU advancements in four years will improve battery to where it was with the 2015 models, only it will be 2020 by then.
These laptops are going to be permanently stuck with the bad choices they have made. This computer at half the price or used would be a good secondary computer. But not a pro laptop. I really do not believe that the touch bar will take off either. I would be shocked if the core user community of developers and creatives stick with Apple. The masses absolutely. But I do believe losing developer and creatives the longest mac lovers is a recipe for disaster long run. Because the brand name cachet matters and once the trendsetters have made it known that Apple has lost its way then Apple does not have a lot to stand on. Their products are no longer what they used to be.
Their main long term selling point will end up being a commitment to privacy, not their product quality. iOS apps are better than android apps. But once the devs do not have to have a mac it's a more serious problem than people think. Really surprised that Apple doesn't cater to the pro crowd more. I am curious whether they release a pro model in the next year that is a bit thicker. I bet the chances are 0.1%.
 
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I do think it is noteworthy, that if you don't like the dynamic functionality of the touchbar, you can just make it stay static buttons just like it has always been in the settings. Tried it at the Apple Store.
 
pbasmadj said:
I do think it is noteworthy, that if you don't like the dynamic functionality of the touchbar, you can just make it stay static buttons just like it has always been in the settings. Tried it at the Apple Store.
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I don't think the dynamic functionality is the problem. That's the feature, and as such, it sounds pretty good.

The first problem is that you need to look at it to use it, and many people including myself just don't look at the keyboard. Even now as I'm typing this text, I'm not looking at the keyboard, and if I were, I'd just see my hands (I have large hands), so the whole idea of having a touchable OLED strip behind the keys seems foolhardy. I'd need to take my hands off the keyboard, bend down and look at the touch bar, and then move my whole arm to select a function. An ergonomic nightmare.

The second problem is that activating a function is not like pressing a key, which is physical and easy to do/register that you've done do. Activating a virtual, drawn button requires looking at it and paying particular attention, since there's no feedback.

I just don't want to interact with my keyboard this way. The whole touchbar thing seems like a very cool party trick that's otherwise harmful to actual work flows.
 
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