MB Pro TB: is Touch Bar a pretty much pointless gimmick?

[TinaBelcher]

So, I just received my MacBook Pro 15-inch. This is my first time using the Touch Bar (coming from a 2013 MacBook Pro 13-inch) and I already dislike it. It's one thing to try it out at the store but using it at home reveals the annoyance of it all. It's slowing me down because I have to hit the very, very, very narrow arrow to reveal very important options like mission control that I use non-stop. The onscreen buttons are not very sharp considering it's oled. it reminds me of the very first iPhone were you could see the pixels when holding it up close to your face. The only good thing as of now is the emoji shortcut as I hate holding 3 keys down.. and tapping on the suggested words are ok too, I guess.

On a positive note: I love my new macbook. It's very large but in the best way possible! The keyboard feels nice, and I'm getting used to the larger keyboard and placement more by the minute. At first I would press the keys way to harsh, but I'm learning myself to type softer on the keys and it's not tha challenging. I can't get used to pull my finger all the way down on the track pad. It feels slow, but thats just because I'm used to having to travel my finger so far away from the center.

Other first time owner of a Touch Bar macbook and find it annoying... or perhaps enjoy it?

 

[AdamA9]

I'm really enjoying it as a first time user. I've programmed it using BetterTouchTool to give me shortcuts depending on what application I'm using. It makes things quicker for me.

 

[Schranke]

It's slowing me down because I have to hit the very, very, very narrow arrow to reveal very important options like mission control that I use non-stop

open system pref, go to keyboard, change touch bar show...

The only good thing as of now is the emoji shortcut as I hate holding 3 keys down

You like that part? I find it annoying and it should go to hell, even the mere suggestion of an emoji when typing words like heart, car and so on. really wish I could disable that part

 

[Lennyvalentin]

It's slowing me down because I have to hit the very, very, very narrow arrow to reveal very important options like mission control that I use non-stop.

As I recall, there's a touchpad gesture to activate MC, if you don't like using the touchbar for that...

The onscreen buttons are not very sharp considering it's oled. it reminds me of the very first iPhone were you could see the pixels when holding it up close to your face.

Whuh. The touchbar is a retina display class device. It has similar PPI as the macbook's main display. Its resolution is far superior to the original iphone's.

 

[Hakiroto]

Whuh. The touchbar is a retina display class device. It has similar PPI as the macbook's main display. Its resolution is far superior to the original iphone's.

I actually saw somebody else on here mention the low-resolution Touch Bar. Mine hasn't arrived yet so I can't be 100% but I recall thinking it looked really sharp when using others. Hmm.

 

[TinaBelcher]

I'm really enjoying it as a first time user. I've programmed it using BetterTouchTool to give me shortcuts depending on what application I'm using. It makes things quicker for me.

I gotta check that out!

open system pref, go to keyboard, change touch bar show...

I'm an idiot. I can simply use 3 fingers on the trackpad and get to it, lol! Oh, well. I learn something new every day

 

[deeddawg]

open system pref, go to keyboard, change touch bar show...

Info on this here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207240
and here: https://www.imore.com/how-make-function-keys-default-touch-bar-display

As I recall, there's a touchpad gesture to activate MC, if you don't like using the touchbar for that....

Several ways to activate Mission Control:

• Swipe up with three or four fingers on your Multi-Touch trackpad or Magic Trackpad.
• Double-tap the surface of your Magic Mouse with two fingers.
• Click Mission Control
  
  in the Dock or Launchpad.
• Press the Mission Control
  
  key on your Apple keyboard, or press Control–Up Arrow.
• In OS X El Capitan, drag a window to the top of the screen.

(from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204100 )

 

[Schranke]

I can simply use 3 fingers on the trackpad and get to it, lol!

Oh yah that too, I completely forgot that, have used it for so long I don't even notice anymore

 

[deeddawg]

To be honest, Control-UpArrow was new to me.

 

[Mockletoy]

The only thing I ever used the hardware function keys for was adjusting brightness and volume, which the Touch Bar makes a little bit nicer. Anything it does on top of that is just extra. Still, I hardly ever use it for anything but volume and brightness. It's just sort of there if I want it, and easy to ignore if I don't.

As for Mission Control, I have that bound to 4-finger swipe up on the trackpad and to one of the side buttons on my Logitech mouse.

My only complaint with the Touch Bar, and it's super minor, is that I've occasionally tapped the Siri key when reaching for Delete, but that's rare and not a big deal anyway, so all in all I guess I barely even notice the Touch Bar is even there.

 

[fokmik]

BetterTouchTool is the way for once...and for another, i write a lot in French and it helps a lot with words spelling

 

[SeattleMoose]

If you don't like or want the touch bar, you are paying for a useless feature. No thanks!!!

 

[leman]

If you don't like or want the touch bar, you are paying for a useless feature. No thanks!!!

Not really. The prices didn’t change, unless I’m mistaken? Apple simply discontinued the cheaper MBP without the dGPU since that Intel discontinued Iris Pro. The models with dGPU were always around USD 2400, if I remember correctly (there were few years when they were co sudetably cheaper though)

 

[nylon]

I think its absurd that you need to upgrade to the Touch Bar model to get Touch ID on a MacBook Pro but not on the new MacBook Air. Hopefully this means that Touch ID will come to the MBP line without forcing the Touch Bar on users.

 

[GoldfishRT]

I tried to use a touchbar and I just hate it. But you know what I kind of get it too? What I don't get is why having the touch bar meant removing the normal function row anyway? Give me more features not less. Being able to set brightness and such while also using the keyboard shortcuts i use every day without toggling the function key would have been geniunely useful

 

[leman]

What I don't get is why having the touch bar meant removing the normal function row anyway?

Because the function keys are a remnant of the far gone past and have no functionality on macOS aside some third-party apps that copy their use from Windows...

The really funny part about all this is that the Touch Bar revives the original concept of function keys (before they were dumbed down by popular OSes) — a customisable, programmable set of additional keys.

 

[GoldfishRT]

Because the function keys are a remnant of the far gone past and have no functionality on macOS aside some third-party apps that copy their use from Windows...

Unfortunate that's the case then because they are incredibly useful in my work (spreadsheet junky)

 

[Phwoar]

Just a neat little update a few years later, and I know I'm a few months late to the January 2021 party, but:

Pointless Touch Bar removed January 2021.

Thanks Apple for making us pay more on MBP for pointless gimmicks that were not asked for, and that led to pointless compromises in other areas of design...all for something that is not needed and people were not asking for!!

And before we get into the scene of "if you don't like it, don't buy it" – in order to have the advanced processors, we were forced into also paying for a useless gimmick (Touch Bar). How about doing some actual consumer testing on your products??

https://www.techradar.com/news/appl...y-would-it-consider-a-macbook-pro-touch-panel

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/22/apple-removing-macbook-pro-touch-bar/

https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/20/opin...reportedly-killing-the-macbook-pro-touch-bar/

The attention of Apple should be on what the users are buying the MBP for – high end graphics, mobility, battery life, reliability, as much processing power/storage space/memory that can be jammed into the machine at that price point.

Not pointless gimmicks, thin flimsy cables (Flexgate) and so on. What's in the next one, taking out another 3cm³ for an FM radio? Maybe adding 500grams of weight so we can have wireless charging?

No more nonsense in the MacBook Pro please Apple.

EDIT:
Also while we are at it, how about doing some actual basic engineering stress testing on your products – Butterfly Keyboard anyone?