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'Touch Bar' Trending on Twitter Following Rumors It'll Be Removed on 2021 MacBook Pro
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And I guess they've noticed software companies all of a sudden going for the lover speced, non-tb models en-masse. That probably hurt their bottom line.
Finally. This gimmick won't be missed at all. If Apple wants a successful laptop, just upgrade de 2015 version.
Would have been very strange for them to discontinue the touch bar after they have just added it to the two-port 13" MBP, but who knows. I don't have strong feelings on the matter, except that I don't see the return of the function keys — those are beyond obsolete and have no place in the Mac HID world . Maybe we will see some different multimedia control solution.
Why not have both? Surely there is room for the touchbar and physical function keys on the laptop.
The touchbar itself isn’t the problem. Its Apples half baked implementation. There is a reason why more and more non streamers are buying streamdecks and there is an increased number of stream deck alternatives coming on the market. Out of the box it should have the kind of customisation that you have on a stream deck and Suddenly you have a massivily useful tool. Right now the issue with it is you are too reliant on what Apple want you to do or what the app makers can be bothered adding
Why? A touchscreen doesn’t give you shortcuts to certain functions. And seriously not only is having to touch the screen to change volume or brightness not ergonomic but who wants finger print smeers all over their screen simply for adjusting volume and brightness
If it were an optional upgrade, the same people complaining about how useless it is would be complaining that it costs too much for such an 'essential tool.'
I use the Touch Bar on my MB Pro way more than I use the function keys on my keyboard when in clamshell mode with an external monitor.
For those that really need the F-keys more than the Touch Bar, why don't you make it DEFAULT to the F-Keys in the Apps you need. That is an option you know. It's right they in preferences. You don't have to download anything. Just go to Settings, keyboard (or cmd-space and type keyboard if that Apple logo is toooooo far for you to click all the way up there).
It is under shortcuts.
It doesn't work if you have a bluetooth keyboard on, but if you are doing that, you already have function keys. What are you worried about.
The problem with macros is remembering what the key you added it to was. It was the main reason I got a streamdeck for my pc as you can either use images or text to get the right key without having to memorise them for every possible app.
Thats the thing, Function Keys are a legacy feature that while you can obviously use them still now don’t have the usefulness they used to, hence why half of them were removed (yes there used to be two rows of them, operating systems actually still support all 24 as well even though keyboards only have 12 now). Anything the function keys are used for now could be done just as well with dynamic keys like on a touchbar
That is a very good point. Apple neutered the Touch Bar from the start. And because of that, many, if not most developers decided their time was better spent elsewhere in the app.
What would be the point? The function keys on Mac platforms are primarily used to control multimedia functions multimedia (plus, a handful — mostly non-native — apps that violate Mac human interface guidelines and use them as shortcuts). You don't need two multimedia control strips.
In 2015, I was a technologically unaware student who scrounged up a hefty sum to buy a fully spec’d out 13” MacBook Pro as I began to create movies & videos...and I remember cursing myself to no end when I saw the all-new sleek 2016 update with the thinner, dark Space Grey chassis & the fancy new Touch Bar.
Almost 5 years and a lot of tech learning later, it really seems Lady Luck was on my side. Can’t believe I pulled the trigger at the last moment of the MacBook Pro being a true, uncompromising professional machine that is still serving me well to this day!
And if new rumors are to be believed, then it seems we are finally getting a return to form in 2021-2022.
Just in time for me to upgrade again to a laptop that’s actually worth it 😃
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Valid argument. I'm not a huge fan of the touchbar, and the only thing I use it for is locking the screen on my laptop when I step away from my desk (when I was not working from home). I guess I was thinking about some of those non-native apps that utilize the touchbar in some way. It could be done, but that might just be an idea coming from the Department of Redundancy Department
It's a distraction and it adds key strokes. What normally takes one press of a key takes a few taps and slides with the Touch Bar.
I am enjoying my first MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar (the new M1) and honestly I was surprised I found the Touch Bar useful. I like it. I hate the fact that they throw away the magsafe (and also that they are going to reintroduce it now that I bought the computer without it). I will miss the Touch Bar in future laptops, I think.
| TouchBar | Physical keys |
| You can't feel it | You can feel them |
| You can't see it after 1 minute | You can see them even after weeks, months, or even decades |
| It freezes | They never freeze |
| It introduces the concept of bugs into a whole new area of computing | No bugs |
| It certainly adds extra cost to the machine | No extra cost |
| It's contextual, so there is no way to know what to expect, every app is a new mystery | You know exactly which key does what, all the time |
| There are menus, and scrollable submenus, within a thin, long strip of blurry, low resolution touchscreen | Seriously WTF? |
Y’know, I have fond memories of using the old rotary phones as a kid. I thought they were pretty cool at the time, used to love playing around with the wheel and dialing random numbers.
I bet kids these days would have no idea to use one lol 😝
The touchbar excels at modeling gradual controls: volume, brightness, stuff like that. It can also be quite neat for selecting colors and shapes, tasks like that. Overall, it’s utility is limited, since most things can be done faster with key shortcuts and on-screen menus.
But on the other hand... Touch Bar might be of limited use, but it’s definitely more useful than real function keys. For multimedia control, it’s excellent. I really have difficulty understanding the point of the touchbar “haters”.
What a strange thing to say. Touch Bar 13" were faster, had better screens, better connectivity, better battery life and were more portable than their predecessors.
Just a bit of a pain when stepping through code — the lightest of touches results in a key press, producing unwanted results when it happens. Also, since there are no physical button edges, you need to keep an eye on where your finger is, rather than just feel your way. This is made worse by the first point as you can’t just rest your finger in position.
It’s not unmanageable, but I see it as okay for debugging when in a pinch, i.e., when not not docked to my TB display with external keyboard. It could become quite frustrating working with it full-time, but that’s just me.
It’s not unmanageable, but I see it as okay for debugging when in a pinch, i.e., when not not docked to my TB display with external keyboard. It could become quite frustrating working with it full-time, but that’s just me.