MacBook Pro's Touch Bar Will Display Function Keys When Running Windows With Boot Camp

[otternonsense]

You can just hold down FN and get to the function keys in any app - the same way it works now with the normal keyboard.

In my case, I use the function keys for music/volume almost continuously while working on other apps, and I don't even take my eyes off the screen while doing so. Even if FN brings them back, I'd still have to peek down the touchbar to make sure I'm pressing the right key. I wouldn't call that an improvement in intuitiveness.

 

[V-l-a-d-i-m-i-r]

IMHO too much attention to Touch Bar. And too little attention to the new monster trackpad... Isn't the new trackpad PHENOMENAL?

By the way the alternate multi touch trackpad driver for Boot Camp (Trackpad++) should soon work with the new trackpads. And we hope to develop the Touch Bar enhancements, as well. We (trackpad devs) will be looking into it ASAP.

 

[Stella]

As long as Parallels updates their program to do so.

Parallel would state the latest version is incompatible and users should buy the upgrade of the upcoming new version

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

More good news.

 

[iEMH]

So the configuration I want costs here in Germany 3199 EUR, while the same configuration in NY costs me 2799USD...
With NY sales tax and at the current exchange rate, I save 450 USD...which pays for the ticket to go home for a quick holiday. (If I drive to the Apple Store in NH, I'd probably save even more...)

On the other hand, a Dell XPS 15" with twice the ram and SSD (also PCIe) (4K, 6th Gen i7, 32GB 2133 and 1TB PCIe ssd), basically the maxed out configuration, is 817 USD cheaper than the mac, and 96USD even cheaper if I buy it in Germany...but with a German keyboard.

Why can't we run OS X on a XPS?...Now I need to make a decision...

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Because they are people, just like everyone else. I don't say that with snark. They're people, just like you and me.

Yep! I ran into an executive at the company I work for (Near the top of the Fortune 500), and said, "Hi," and told him the backstory of a person he gave an award to that was featured in a company video they were both in. (As an aside, the guy that got the award is brilliant, and I was worried that another company would hire him, as he was a contractor at the time...)

He appreciated that info, and as a bonus, had heard of me.

Nice 90 second conversation, and a nice guy.

 

[madsci954]

So the configuration I want costs here in Germany 3199 EUR, while the same configuration in NY costs me 2799USD...
With NY sales tax and at the current exchange rate, I save 450 USD...which pays for the ticket to go home for a quick holiday. (If I drive to the Apple Store in NH, I'd probably save even more...)

On the other hand, a Dell XPS 15" with twice the ram and SSD (also PCIe) (4K, 6th Gen i7, 32GB 2133 and 1TB PCIe ssd), basically the maxed out configuration, is 817 USD cheaper than the mac, and 96USD even cheaper if I buy it in Germany...but with a German keyboard.

Why can't we run OS X on a XPS?...Now I need to make a decision...

I have a 2014 Mac Mini that I just replaced the HDD; swapped the 1TB HDD with a 1TB SSD. As of right now, I plan on keeping that Mini until a) Apple stops providing updates for it or b) when it starts to die on me.

After either scenario, I may build a Hackintosh. I love macOS far more than Windows, but it's getting harder and harder to justify the hardware costs.

 

[mudflap]

Bootcamp is a bit crap, you loose most of the user experience that comes with the Mac, like gestures etc. If you really need Windows applications in your Mac you'll rather use Parallels to loose the least possible in user experience and really won't sacrifice system performance. I won't be surprised if the Parallels team is already working in ways to make clever interactions with the TouchBar for Coherence mode

I use Boot Camp for running graphics-intensive games that aren't available for Mac. Neither Parallels nor VMware can't even get close to native performance. For everything else, I use VMware. I kinda gave up on Parallels. Too many problems over the years. We'll see how THAT goes, though. Probably have to switch back again.

 

[soucisyl]

Bootcamp is a bit crap, you loose most of the user experience that comes with the Mac, like gestures etc. If you really need Windows applications in your Mac you'll rather use Parallels to loose the least possible in user experience and really won't sacrifice system performance. I won't be surprised if the Parallels team is already working in ways to make clever interactions with the TouchBar for Coherence mode

I understand your point of view, but I have a MBA with 4Gig, Parallel or VMware lag to much. Bootcamp works well.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

i was wondering about this. i wonder how vmware and the like will handle this

Until the program is specifically updated to use new APIs, my guess is you'll need to hit the function key on the keyboard to have it display the function keys.

I actually feel like the function key itself isn't really necessary... it could be a purely software thing. The function keys are so rarely needed, and will only become increasingly rare... Apple could offer an option where you can enable or disable having the Function key on your Touchbar to toggle whether the function keys themselves are shown or not.

 

[soucisyl]

In my case, I use the function keys for music/volume almost continuously while working on other apps, and I don't even take my eyes off the screen while doing so. Even if FN brings them back, I'd still have to peek down the touchbar to make sure I'm pressing the right key. I wouldn't call that an improvement in intuitiveness.

I'm pretty sure, if the active window doesn't give any command to change the Tool Bar, the OSX keep the default key and work as usual. I'm pretty sure also you can modify the keys for your own purpose when the default keys show up.

 

[Tubamajuba]

That is just amazing!

How do they even think about such smart and truly innovative things???

Crazy.

Hmm, I must have missed the part where Apple, or anyone for that matter, claimed that this specific usage scenario of the touch bar was innovative.

 

[KPOM]

I don't run Bootcamp, but Windows via Parallels. Will the function keys show when a virtual box is being run?

It's probably up to Parallels how they decide to support it.

 

[The Mercurian]

As long as Parallels updates their program to do so.

Oh they will update it....but you will have to buy a new copy of Parallels to get that functionality

 

[Imm0rta1Crow]

Bootcamp is a bit crap, you loose most of the user experience that comes with the Mac, like gestures etc. If you really need Windows applications in your Mac you'll rather use Parallels to loose the least possible in user experience and really won't sacrifice system performance. I won't be surprised if the Parallels team is already working in ways to make clever interactions with the TouchBar for Coherence mode

Actually, bootcamp is awesome because it takes full advantage of the hardware where a VM doesn't. Yes you may lose the "mac" experience but you're using bootcamp solely for a Windows environment.

 

[kidaje]

Hey Tim, Who is the moron who decided for the touch bar on the new MacBooks?

You need to find him/her another job.

Maybe the touch bar could be great as an add-on to the f-key, but not as a replacement

 

[plokoonpma]

One of the biggest questions about the Touch Bar on Apple's new MacBook Pro is how it will work with Windows through Boot Camp. That led MacRumors reader Abraham to send an email to Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, who shared good news for dual-booters.Presumably, this means the Touch Bar will likely display virtual function keys between F1-F12, along with an Escape key, when running Windows. It remains to be seen if there will be specific controls for system-level tasks such as volume, playback, and display brightness. Meanwhile, the virtual power button should work, but without Touch ID.

MacRumors cannot fully confirm the authenticity of the email, but it does appear to be sent by Federighi through Apple's corporate servers based on full headers we saw. Apple executives occasionally respond to customer emails, or it is possible the response was handled by Apple's executive relations or public relations teams.

Boot Camp is an Apple utility that enables users to partition their SSDs or hard drives and install Windows directly on a Mac, allowing for macOS and Windows to be run side by side. It differs from virtualization software like Parallels and VMware Fusion, which allows Windows to run as a desktop app within macOS itself.

Article Link: MacBook Pro's Touch Bar Will Display Function Keys When Running Windows With Boot Camp

Jaja, that was my only concern. The new macbook pro with the radeon pro 460 should give a very good experience in games like Arma 3 besides all the other benefits on native apps like final cut pro, logic, resolve. It has a lot of horsepower.
Wonder what the new iMac will have under the hood.

 

[AfroAbel]

Am I the only one who thinks that after adapting for a while using the touch bar will become second nature and willl be able to use it without looking.

 

[Pootmatoot]

IMHO too much attention to Touch Bar. And too little attention to the new monster trackpad... Isn't the new trackpad PHENOMENAL?

By the way the alternate multi touch trackpad driver for Boot Camp (Trackpad++) should soon work with the new trackpads. And we hope to develop the Touch Bar enhancements, as well. We (trackpad devs) will be looking into it ASAP.

It seems bizarrely oversized to me - it would be great if it doubled as a Wacom tablet with the pencil. It doesn't.

 

[zzLZHzz]

Bootcamp is a bit crap, you loose most of the user experience that comes with the Mac, like gestures etc. If you really need Windows applications in your Mac you'll rather use Parallels to loose the least possible in user experience and really won't sacrifice system performance. I won't be surprised if the Parallels team is already working in ways to make clever interactions with the TouchBar for Coherence mode

yes, you definitely lost the multi-touch gesture on the bootcamp, i hasn't use parallel for a long time, but when i tried virtualbox with windows 7, my early 2015 13" MBP is lagging badly even when I allocate 8GB ram to host and 8GB ram to the virtualbox. I am sure parallel will perform a lot better since it is a paid app.
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Am I the only one who thinks that after adapting for a while using the touch bar will become second nature and willl be able to use it without looking.

muscle memory will take place after a while.

 

[theluggage]

But who would buy the new MacBook Pro if they could just buy a $249 keyboard instead??

...because the $249 keyboard would be gimped to only work properly with 2016 Macs.

This is what is getting me - 90% of the time I use my MacBook Pro on an elevator stand, giving me a dual-monitor setup with an external monitor and keyboard. It commutes with me between home and work but the laptop keyboard only gets used a few weeks a year when I'm on a trip. Several of my colleagues work the same way.

(...admittedly I got into this habit in the days of the pre-Unibody Macbook Pro which had an awful keyboard)

So, while I do think the touchbar is a cool idea for people who mainly use their laptop, its pretty irrelevant to people like me - all I see is a rMBP brought more or less up to date and given an eye-watering price hike (even on the new pro/Air crossover which, otherwise, would be a credible MBA replacement).

Fail.

A few dongles I could live with - balanced by the promise of single-cable docking - but OMG the price...

 

[b656]

in short a useless thing that just drains your battery.

 

[jameslmoser]

Bootcamp drains the battery so fast, I don't know how anyone can use it when disconnected from a power source.

this is the first I've heard of this... I've never had that problem.

 

[Eidorian]

It makes sense given the Touch Bar has its own SoC. It will work given the context and they added one where it recognizes that Windows is running. Nice.

 

[mi7chy]

Doesn't fix the benefits of having real function key feel when reaching for them without looking. Failed ergonomics 101.