The Touch Bar a Year In – A Believer's Review

[EugW]

https://www.cultofmac.com/11850/review-2009-macbook-pro-13-inch-is-freakin-awesome/

2009 13" MacBook Pro on left, 2008 13" MacBook non-Pro on right.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/12/13_inch_macbook_pro_teardown/

2008 MacBook on top, 2009 MacBook Pro on bottom:

As you can see, their dimensions are identical, and they look identical aside from the ports (and bottom case which you can't see unless you flip the laptop upside down).

OK, back on topic:

While there is precedent for Apple to listen to its customers, I don't think this time Apple will listen and offer high end non-TouchBar machines. I predict the TouchBar will stay with us going forward at least for a few years.

Fortunately for me though, I'm a 12" MacBook guy these days, and those are blessed with proper function keys. Unfortunately, the 12" MacBook probably won't get Thunderbolt for a couple more years, and the lack of a second USB-C port is a real downer.

 

[shaferz]

Wow. I've had the 2017 MBP for a couple weeks and absolutely LOVE the touch bar. It's extremely useful and offers a lot more functionality than standard F keys do. I use VMWare for my windows instances and it integrates the Touch Bar. Maybe that would be a better solution for you? Either way, I see the future of the TB being very positive.

Same. I have used windows based laptops for eternity, and bought my first MBP 15" W/touch bar in early-mid december. I really enjoy the touchbar - and as you mentioned, it works well with VMWare in my experience as well.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

Sorry if I was somewhat unclear. 2008 was a very unusual release year, so let me provide the details.

They created a new aluminum 13” laptop and priced it like a Pro, but it was branded a MacBook non-Pro. However, at the same time, despite the premium price, it was missing the Firewire port.

It was priced too high for the MacBook crowd, and it was missing the Firewire port that the pro crowd wanted. Plus, the previous MacBook non-Pros had Firewire, so this seemed like a slap in the face to everyone. I suspect this hit Apple in the pocketbook because in 2009, Apple reintroduced the Firewire port in this model but rebranded it as a MacBook Pro, leaving all the non-Pro MacBooks as plastic and all the Pros as aluminum.

If you look at the 2008 aluminum 13” MacBook non-Pro and the 2009 13” MacBook Pro, they look identical, aside from minor differences in the bottom case and of course the presence of the Firewire port in the 2009. Furthermore, the innards are nearly identical. Same GPU but the 2009 gets a slight speed bump.

Ahhhh - the 13". That's what threw me. I was referring to the 15" which is what I tend to buy. Thank you for clearing that up!

 

[William Payne]

FireWire is a really poor comparison to something like USB-A
USB-A is the most ubiquitous port in computing history so far.

Could say the same about the Floppy Disc.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Could say the same about the Floppy Disc.

Can you elaborate?
The floppy was important, but nowhere near the same as the reach of USB-A.

It's not just a way to transfer & store data (like a disk).
As you know it connects literally anything/everything.
Adapters, peripherals, data storage & transfer devices, input devices, on and on and on.

Simply put its the most ubiquitous and important port ever.

 

[William Payne]

Can you elaborate?
Not sure what you mean.

The USB-A port completely dwarfs any comparison I can think of.
It's not just a way to transfer & store data (like a disk). As you know it connects literally anything/everything.

Simply put its the most ubiquitous and important port ever.

I meant that there was once upon a time where people ability to work was governed by the floppy disk. They took that away. They will take and are taking away the cd drive.

What I am saying is that eventually this will all just be a memory.

 

[turbineseaplane]

What I am saying is that eventually this will all just be a memory

Well sure. Everything will be gone eventually.
I'm not sure that's a very good argument to use for getting rid of the port at this moment in time however.

(If that's what you are implying?)

 

[Dave245]

The Touch Bar is very useful in Final Cut Pro X, for example instead of having to use the trackpad and or mouse to select the volume of a clip you can just reach up and use the slider that is pretty useful. I don't own a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (i'm waiting for 2018 release) but considering that most of my time is spent writing and editing (more so just lately) i will be picking up a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

 

[audiomatt]

The Touch Bar is very useful in Final Cut Pro X, for example instead of having to use the trackpad and or mouse to select the volume of a clip you can just reach up and use the slider that is pretty useful. I don't own a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (i'm waiting for 2018 release) but considering that most of my time is spent writing and editing (more so just lately) i will be picking up a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

I've noticed that so far final cut people are the only people that like it.

 

[NeuralControl]

How's the Microsoft Office support for Touch Bar? I recall Office was updated almost a year ago.
Did Apple do a good job with Touch Bar integration for the iWork suite?

 

[EugW]

I've noticed that so far final cut people are the only people that like it.

Funny you should mention that. So far the one person I know that actually really likes the TouchBar is someone who uses Final Cut a lot.

 

[Dave245]

Funny you should mention that. So far the one person I know that actually really likes the TouchBar is someone who uses Final Cut a lot.

Same here, one of my friends really finds the Touch Bar useful within Final Cut Pro X.

 

[MarkB786]

Appreciate the review. I am looking at an MBP upgrade and will avoid the TouchBar for now. I suspected there would be issues early on, but sounds like the issues are still there.

 

[Apple Fritter]

Funny that Final Cut users would have a use for it. You'd think they got their quick keyboard shortcuts handy so they couldn't be bothered to take their eyes off the screen for a simple action.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

I've noticed that so far final cut people are the only people that like it.

I don't use final cut and love the touch bar.

I recall seeing a keyboard similar to the following YEARS ago - keys weren't OLED, but LCD at the time. Very expensive or I would have seriously considered it. You have to have vision to appreciate what the bar can do and what will come in the future.

http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/

 

[EugW]

I don't use final cut and love the touch bar.

I recall seeing a keyboard similar to the following YEARS ago - keys weren't OLED, but LCD at the time. Very expensive or I would have seriously considered it. You have to have vision to appreciate what the bar can do and what will come in the future.

http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/

That's completely different, since each key is still separate.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

The point is it's customizable. Same as the touch bar. There are other keyboards out there that are just one screen where you define the keys and how they sit. In Apple's case the solid touch bar allows for much more flexibility. It's awesome.

 

[EugW]

The point is it's customizable. Same as the touch bar. There are other keyboards out there that are just one screen where you define the keys and how they sit. In Apple's case the solid touch bar allows for much more flexibility. It's awesome.

Customizable: That's a big plus.
No tactile cues: That's a big minus.

 

[OriginalAppleGuy]

No tactile cues: That's a big minus.

I can see where that could be an issue for some. But so is trying to remember which F key does what function in each app. When you can display the function instead, much more productive. Especially when you can immediately modify that function while pressing on the screen - like the volume or screen brightness.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The visual blasting you get from command-tab'ing around and having the TouchBar change incessantly is another major annoyance to me.

 

[jackoatmon]

Funny you should mention that. So far the one person I know that actually really likes the TouchBar is someone who uses Final Cut a lot.

This is the one thing I love it for. It feels like the touch bar was specifically made for FCPX. At the expense of virtually all other functionality.

 

[Pangalactic]

The problem with the touchbar is that the benefits it offers are few and marginal, and the drawbacks are numerous and global

Benefits:
Final Cut Pro - not everyone uses it, and even amongst it's users not everyone uses the touchbar, and you can do everything a touchbar does with a trackpad at almost the same level
VMware - don't personally use it, but looking at the thread seems to be good. Again, the percentage of people using VMware and of those using the touchbar is not a high one at all.

Drawbacks :
Lack of tactile feedback? Check
More battery drain? Check
More crashes and freezes? Check
No working esc key for the IT crowd? Check
Confusing icons changing for every app? Check
Nothing similar on iMac or iphone or iPad or any other iDevice? Check

And these apply to almost everyone. Not saying you can't make the touchbar useful, but it's a marginal convenience for few - and, of course, more $$$ for Apple and the ability to use "revolutionary" one more time in their ads, which sadly falls into the more typical for them "innovation for the sake of innovation" category - at the cost of major inconvenience for almost everyone.

 

[Glockworkorange]

So I was a proponent of the touch bar. Some here may remember me posting optimistic thoughts about it.

And I am still a big proponent of the 2016-17 Macbook Pros. I strongly believe these are the finest laptops ever created, and that there's literally nothing on the market that even comes close. I love the keyboard, have had zero issues with USBc & legacy I/O, the machine is insanely powerful, cool and quiet, and it looks sick in client presentations.

But.

A year in I have to say, the Touch Bar is an utter and complete failure. A mistake so huge and so prominent as to be historic. Why? [note: I am on the latest updates of everything mentioned here]

• A year in, very, very few of my everyday professional applications support it. And these are huge flagship mainstream programs. I spend the majority of my work time in Adobe CC programs. To date, only Photoshop and in the past few weeks Illustrator has finally gotten support. Lightroom, InDesign, After Effects – all the most important programs display a black Touch Bar. Adobe has no stated plans to expand support to the rest of the CC, and my communications with their customer service has indicated that I should not hold my breath. This is true of many professional programs – software companies seem to be just treating it as an unnecessary edge case and spending their dev time elsewhere.

• Bootcamp still does not support Touch Bar. Yes, I know it works sometimes, but about 60% of the time, the bar is black, meaning for Windows, I have to restart the computer 1–3 times each time I go into Windows, hoping to luck out and get a bootup with touch bar. And since there's no escape key, restarting in windows requires a lot of weird shortcuts, since the trackpad often doesn't work when the touch bar doesn't load up.

• The system preferences feature to set certain programs to default to display F keys instead of contextual controls simply does not work. I have various programs set to opt for F keys, and the touch bar simply shows up black. I've never gotten this to work for a single program. The cake is a lie.

• No escape key turns out to be the bane of my existence about 3 times per week, as the touch bar loves to freeze, disappear, crash and otherwise flub when in unsupported applications. I've hard-reset this laptop holding down the power button more in one year than all other times I've ever hard reset a Mac combined.

I could go on and on and on and on. I love this computer. It's my favourite piece of technology I've ever owned, outside one very nice Kona bicycle I custom tricked-out. I wanted to leave this frank highly negative review, as someone who is very positive about the direction Apple is going with its laptops. As someone who gave it the old college try, and even got my entire company on the machines, at considerable expense to my own profit margin. I'm a believer.

And this thing is an epic, epic fail.

The lack of support is disappointing for sure.
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This is the one thing I love it for. It feels like the touch bar was specifically made for FCPX. At the expense of virtually all other functionality.

It's decent when using Photos.

 

[cageface]

Apple did a good job integrating Logic Pro with the touch bar too. All the same, I’d much prefer to have my old function keys back.

 

[organicCPU]

Thank you for the review and all your thought on the Touch Bar.

As soon as the 2016 MBP was released, I decided to buy a MBP 2015 and never regret it. Not because of the Touch Bar in particular, but because of its lacking ports. Later at the Apple Store I took a look at the Touch Bar and was thinking by myself, that it somehow appears like an unfinished design study by Apple.

I've found the best part of the TB is that it can really amazingly crispy clear display things on its screen with good contrast and brightness. I can imagine that some kind of TB could substitute the whole keyboard in some future MacBook, but I hope at that time it just works.

If I had to design this, I would keep all of the haptic single keys and include a Touch Bar display in every separate key. Imagine if one could choose a different keyboard layout in Finder and would get a fitting overlay on all keys. Do you remember the keyboard covers for certain apps? Combine this with an integrated (full width) Touch Bar Trackpad that can give you all the different controllers for your Pro apps like Final Cut, Logic and other stuff where the recent Touch Bar makes sense. Best of it would be the real F and ESC keys.

Why not (re)thinking different about the Touch Bar and tell Apple to give us at least some alternative choice of MBP models while they decide to release their prototyping designs in the wild?