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touchbar (& happy it's not on my MB)...

fisherking

fisherking

macrumors G4
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
11,336
5,656
ny somewhere
i (almost) always appreciate what apple brings to the table; the changes in OSes, designs in the mac. i really love the 12" MB, and look forward to the day when this size, and weight, can handle real power.

meanwhile, i went to the apple store for the second time to explore the touchbar. and just sharing my thoughts:

i want to like it. aesthetically, it's pretty nice, feels good, works well. and, since over the next few years, am sure it will become a default feature on all macs... i'll adapt.

but here's my problem; when i work, i look at the screen, not at the keyboard. seems easy to navigate, between the keys, and the trackpad.

but with the touchbar, i have to look at it before i use it. so my visual focus leaves the screen, i look at the touchbar, then interact with it... then back to the screen & keyboard.

seems... counterproductive. now maybe, over time, i will adapt, and know instinctively where things are in each app (on the touchbar). but still feels like i could be working the keyboard/trackpad instead.

so... am not giving up my MB (and/or my late-2015 13" macbook pro) just yet. and hope that, with time, the touchpad stands out less, and integrates well, for users; then i'll become one as well.

just rambling... :rolleyes:
 
Interesting take. I purchased a 13" MacBook Pro to check out the Touch Bar. So far, I like it and think it will be useful as other developers take advantage of it. What I'm not sure is whether it is worth the extra weight. The keyboard feels better, and the screen is a bit nicer, but I agree so far with the reviewers who have noted that battery life isn't quite up to Apple standards (hopefully some of this gets addressed in a Sierra or firmware update). I wonder if we'll see the Touch Bar make its way to the 12" MacBook, perhaps in 2018 or 2019 when it would be "due" for a more radical update (rather than just a spec bump).
 
KPOM said:
Interesting take. I purchased a 13" MacBook Pro to check out the Touch Bar. So far, I like it and think it will be useful as other developers take advantage of it. What I'm not sure is whether it is worth the extra weight. The keyboard feels better, and the screen is a bit nicer, but I agree so far with the reviewers who have noted that battery life isn't quite up to Apple standards (hopefully some of this gets addressed in a Sierra or firmware update). I wonder if we'll see the Touch Bar make its way to the 12" MacBook, perhaps in 2018 or 2019 when it would be "due" for a more radical update (rather than just a spec bump).
Click to expand...

do you find the touchbar becoming an intuitive tool, ie such that you're not looking at it, considering options, then using it? my feeling is that, with time, it will become less of an interruption to a workflow. testing it out briefly in the apple store is (as i know) not the same as living with it...
 
Since the Touch Bar is interactive I think it will always require looking at, but in the same way as the predictive text bar on an iOS device.
 
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