I got the 13" model over the weekend (check my sig for specifics) and I really, really like this machine. First off, let me state that I've had the following:
- 12" Aluminum G4 PowerBook
- Late 2006 MacBook
- Late 2008 15" MacBook Pro
- Mid 2010 13" MacBook Pro
- Mid 2012 13" MacBook Air
- Late 2013 15" Retina MacBook Pro
The last machine, the 15" Pro, was a machine I bought purely because it was a stupid good deal used. I picked it up late last year as a stop gap until new Pros were released. I never expected it to be my main machine. The point of this is that I've had a pretty wide variety of Apple laptops in various sizes and in the group the 13" Air was EASILY my favorite machine. That's my bias as a developer. The larger machines are annoying to carry and too big to use in transit (e.g. in a car or in coach on a plane).
Also, due to the lack of ports on the Air, I've made HEAVY use of Thunderbolt docks for years at this point and I love the setup (which is why all the dongle rage has been pretty meaningless to me). So, in no particular order:
- The machine is surprisingly small, super light, and is the most "solid" feeling laptop I've ever had.
- The keyboard is a noticeable improvement over the MacBook. After a few days of use I think I prefer it to my previous laptops (not saying too much because I never liked the chicklet keyboard since my first MacBook in 2006).
- Is there any downside to a bigger trackpad? (The answer, by the way, is no.)
- It's absurdly responsive.
- The screen is just plain gorgeous.
- TouchID is really fast and a very nice addition, although the current implementation is inconsistent. Sometimes you can use it instead of your user password and sometimes you can't. I imagine this will improve over time.
- Battery is all right. It takes some time to get an accurate idea of battery use but my initial impressions are this isn't better than my Air was.
- The Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 1/2 adapter works like a charm. My docks work. I can even use it to boot the machine in Target Disk Mode with Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 1/2 -> FireWire just fine. I'm not sure what the practical use case for this would be, but it works!
- Being able to charge from either side is significantly more convenient than I expected.
Issues:
- I've had some minor sleep/wake issues when connected to Thunderbolt devices. It's reminiscent of issues I had when docks were brand new and suspect it's just some of kinks of Thunderbolt 3 that have yet to be ironed out.
- The multi-port HDMI adapter is a bit flakey sometimes. I've had to unplug it and plug it back in to carry charging through it. This only seems to happen on the right ports.
The Touch Bar
I'm still not sure what to think. Is it game-changing? I don't think so. Is it better than what it replaces? (Function keys.) Definitely.
I like that the control strip can be customized. There are controls I care about and controls I don't. I can set the order and placement as I want. The advanced operations (like holding for a slider) is just plain cool and better than buttons. Also, I now have a nice screen lock button (no more Siri).
The esc key not being physical would be annoying except that you can easily rebind caps lock to esc which I have been doing since long before this.
I've found that the usefulness of the Touch Bar is very up and down based on a lot of factors. In programs I am very familiar with and use hotkeys like crazy, in its current state it's not particularly useful (but neither were function keys)—even apps that Apple actually has early support for.
Where it shines, at least for me, is:
- Full screen media apps. Being able to control things like videos from the bar is super handy.
- Applications I am not terribly familiar with or that are not part of my workflow. (More on this in a minute.) If you don't have a bunch of hotkeys memorized, the Touch Bar is a nice addition.
- Certain popup actions, like answering a FaceTime call.
I think a lot of "pros" gripe about this because despite the fact that emoji jokes have been old since like two days after WWDC, they just can't let it go (right along with jokes about watch bands) and because they can't see themselves using it for their main apps. I can see the latter because the Touch Bar is probably never going to be faster than a hotkey combination except for more complex controls like sliders and such.
What it aids with, in addition to actual interactions, is discovery. Stuff that would normally be hidden away in a menu bar shows up in an opinionated manner in the Touch Bar. Developers who really exploit this can really help users learn things about what their apps are capable of in a very active and attention-getting way. I don't think the value of this can be overstated. Again, "pros" will scoff because a lot of the people that identify as such apparently already know everything about their computer and every app they have ever used. Yay.
For everyone else (including a professional developer like myself) it's an interesting window into apps I use casually or occasionally.
It's also going to get a lot better, a lot richer, and a lot more interesting over the next year. So, even in its infancy it's an improvement over what it replaces (so there's that) and it has a lot of potential and a lot of usability right now. With that said, if Apple doesn't make it an option for all or most of its machines in the future—and that includes in a standalone keyboard—I have a hard time seeing this get widespread adoption and that's gonna be key in its usefulness.
Finally, issues:
- It's still buggy. I've had issues where touch buttons simply don't do anything (specifically emojis once or twice).
- Sometimes things don't redraw properly and you'll see missing buttons (or won't see them actually).
- I think haptic feedback would be a major improvement.
- It's really easy to bump the rightmost control when typing "delete." Since this area is "lock screen" for me, you can probably imagine the issue I've run into a couple times.
That's my impression thus far. I'm very happy with this machine (even if it was a little beyond what I wanted to spend) and I think the naysayers are as tired and boring as they've ever been. It's a bunch of droning about wanting a faster horse.
