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Developers constantly use F keys. Run, step, breakpoints. Most advanced applications heavily rely on F keys, especially on Windows. I already have to use an external keyboard, because the Macs don't have PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Del.
 
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The Fn key is still present. I suspect that now, instead of changing between being special keys and function keys, it'll change the Magic Bar or whatever they're calling it between displaying touch controls and acting as virtual function keys.
This.
 
How amazingly ridiculous.
On what planet is haptic touch easier or more pleasant to use than a good old physical key or button?
The same nonsense showing up in a moving vehicle is also something that makes no sense to me.
I only use third party keyboards as is because Apple keyboards are uncomfortable and overpriced.
Thin computers, thin keyboards. Ivy is a freaking lunatic who really needs to see a shrink
 
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How about some real innovation again, Apple?

Has there ever been any innovation in the MacBook line by your standards? What would those be? The evolution of the product has been about taking things away - removing optical drives, removing upgradability, removing ports. I can think of very little that's actually been added to the product.

The OLED bar is the first real *add* in a long time.
 
I'm confused. Can someone explain to me how a touch BAR can have a full keyboard on it?! And why would anyone want that if there's a physical keyboard right there? Maybe I'm misunderstanding...
The bar could have a keyboard in much the same manner as the iPhone 6S series does. Virtual buttons, haptic feedback.

In addition to buttons, the bar could use sliding gestures, like a drag-right-or-left to adjust the volume.

The buttons could be customized on a per-app basis. A custom set of buttons for Photoshop or Illustrator would be very cool.

In the past I remapped my keyboard brightness keys to cmd-shift-[ and cmd-shift-] to jump through tabs, as that is now an integral part of nearly every app I use. I also remapped the (IMO useless) Launchpad key to bring up a quick Terminal window for hacking.

If there is an API for accessing the Magic Bar™, it will be very, very cool indeed. If not… it could be a bit useless. We'll see.

(the lack of a physical ESC key sounds completely crazy, but I could see remapping the cap locks to tab, and tab to ESC, but the best keyboard remapping tool isn't compatible with Sierra yet)
 
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Because a touch pad instead of physical keys will be a dealbreaker for many. If you cannot feel the keys blindly, you constantly have to look down to see what you're touching, it's not a keyboard, it's a toy.
The keys were the same size, feeling them wouldn't have helped. Plus, if you can text on an smartphone without looking at the keyboard, I'm sure it would be easier on a OLED touch bar since your Apps can have their own organization of buttons.
I think the real question would be, which Key switches from function keys to the regular macOS shortcuts.
 
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Well, lacking the Esc key in physical form is a complete deal breaker for me. I do a lot of software development and I use the vim editor. Having the Esc key is critical for me. Guess my next laptop will not be a MacBook Pro.
 
Buy a Microsoft product then and enjoy your finger stains on your display. Because #logic.

Oleophobic coating? You still will have the keyboard for those who hate to touch the screen (everybody these days touch some screen, mobile devices! lot learnt from there). I only use Macs currently. But on occasions when I see how easy it is to benefit from a touch screen, it makes me wonder why not? Finger stains vs Ease of use? Mobile devices have already set a precedent here.
 
The keys were the same size, feeling them wouldn't have helped. Plus, if you can text on an smartphone without looking at the keyboard

On an iDevice, you are looking at the keyboard. On a laptop, you're looking at the screen. Feeling the keys helps. I know where everything is without looking, and feeling the edges and gaps allows me to type without looking. Either way, I probably won't be angry, as I already need an external keyboard and mouse if I want to work quickly enough.
 
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Honestly function keys row is very outdated and unintuitive (you never know what F* button does). Now any app will be able to declare any F* keys it needs to and can show intuitive icons and labels for them.
Ok but that doesn't help me in a VM or when bootcamping. I need those F keys.

Hopefully the windows driver would add support to turn that bar into the standard F keys on Windows.
 
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What kind of innovations were you expecting? We need to wait for the next technological wave before we see any radical change.

virtual reality
flying cars
teleportation

i can keep going

but seriously why no touch screen? why no fold over the screen and make it a touch screen?
 
Hopefully the windows driver would add support to turn that bar into the standard F keys on Windows.

I'm quite confident that when an app doesn't provide its own custom icons and labels, it'll default to the F keys. VMware has laid off all of their desktop engineers, so I don't know how long it'll take for them to update their code. Parallels could react much faster.
 
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