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shenfrey

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 23, 2010
2,506
778
Surely doing it this way would have been the much better way, the physical FN keys and their functions remain unchanged, but an optional Touch Bar above these keys, out of the way of typing so you cannot accidentally hit any of the buttons, should have been included as an OPTION, as it was extremely useful having customised shortcuts plus contextual keys.

I know there are a number of you who are wizards on a keyboard and have all the shortcuts mapped to memory, but unfortunately that isn't the case for many of us, and I actually had the Touch Bar as second nature for many actions.

Would it have not at least helped to appease both sides of the crowd to have this as an option, instead of simply saying no in typical Apple Fashion? Surely there would be nothing to complain about in this instance?
 
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Sanpete

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2016
3,695
1,665
Utah
I imagine it would have been costly to maintain it as an option. Would need to include some of the infrastructure to use it, which would affect the design of both options.
 

Dovahkiing

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2013
483
473
I think you don't realize how much work and expense a manufacturer has to go through to provide an option like this for you. If the TB was still available as an option, you're talking about supply chain sourcing, motherboard variants, manufacturing process development, additional manufacturing equipment and steps, continued software support, etc. The overwhelming majority of people used TB to adjust volume and brightness as their almost exclusive interaction with it. It's easy to say "oh, Apple should have left this in - how hard is that?". But the reality is that it just doesn't make sense. Apple originally positioned the TB as this new way to interact with the machine like it was a feature that would ship units and that just never came to pass I think.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,697
I hated the touch bar in place of the function keys, but having both sounds like a good idea to me, and not as an option either, it should have been on all Macbooks.
 
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Patchwork

macrumors 6502
Jan 6, 2008
343
494
Near Preston, UK
I think the Touch Bar was a nice idea poorly implemented as you have to look at the bar to know where the virtual key/areas are. This isn’t great if you can touch type and neither is the lack of physical keys. It also wasn’t widely supported by non-Apple software. I can’t help feeling something along the lines of Elgato’s stream deck, where you have physical keys but with OLED panel in each and the ability to assign anything including short cuts, macros or function keys would have been a better option.
 

shenfrey

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 23, 2010
2,506
778
I think I know what you mean but I would rather have it both ways because I think that would make it much easier don't you?
I think the Touch Bar was a nice idea poorly implemented as you have to look at the bar to know where the virtual key/areas are. This isn’t great if you can touch type and neither is the lack of physical keys. It also wasn’t widely supported by non-Apple software. I can’t help feeling something along the lines of Elgato’s stream deck, where you have physical keys but with OLED panel in each and the ability to assign anything including short cuts, macros or function keys would have been a better option.
I don't think I came across an app in my experience where the touch bar wasn't supported. Though to be honest I am not a professional and used the laptop as a simple browsing machine, with some media consumption thrown in. Twitter, Bear, Fantastical etc were all supported for the TouchBar and is one of the reasons why I found it so useful.
 

lambertjohn

macrumors 68000
Jun 17, 2012
1,653
1,719
I think the bigger problem was that more people hated the Touch Bar than liked it. It just got a lot of bad press because a majority of people thought it was cheesy, and so, Apple did some damage control and dumped it. Kind of like they did with the butterfly keyboard. Personally, I'm glad it's gone. But some people still like it, and I get that. But in business, you have to choose your battles wisely or your profits will nosedive and your company will end up six feet under. Basic Business 101.
 
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Hunter5117

macrumors 6502a
Mar 17, 2010
569
401
I like the touchbar, one reason I bought a 13" M1 MBP. For those who can touch type the function keys, more power to you. I learned to touch type 50 years ago and can not reliably hit the function keys. I agree there could have been more support for the touch bar but even in its current state I would have liked to see it carried on.
 
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