I'm debating between keeping my 2017 MBA, upgrading to the 2019, or holding out until the rumoured scissor-style keyboard MBAs that could be landing later this year, next year, or beyond. With the current MBP line up featuring a compulsory touch bar, are we likely to see that become a feature of all macbooks in the future?
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Will the next Macbook Airs come with the touch bar?
- Thread starter applemac25
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If you have to have touch bar functionality then you can download the app Duet and get an iPad to connect to your air. Using Duet you can set your iPad up as an external monitor and have touch bar capabilities while enjoying the second monitor. I use this setup while on travel with my messages app on the iPad and internet surfing/emails on my main screen. Works very well!
Please, no. The tb is an expensive frippery. It should die.
Ditto the butterfly keyboard. It, too, should die.
Ditto the butterfly keyboard. It, too, should die.
I think Apple is best off keeping the price down. I'm not marketing, but if I were I would keep the product simple
It's not strange at all. It's a good business decision. I would have done the same thing if I was Tim Cook. Reason being: there's so much negative press on the current Mac keyboard that although the 2019 version will probably have the lowest failure rate of any of the butterfly keyboards, it still scares people away. So Apple decided to go ahead and extend the four-year warranty to the 2019 model just to give their buying public some peace of mind. That's what a smart company would do and I applaud them. I'm sure Apple's legal team also said to extend the warranty to the 2019 model so that no 2015-2018 butterfly keyboard owners' feel like they own an inferior machine and possibly decide to sue. It's all about keeping your business viable, and nobody knows that better than Apple.
FYI: I happen to love the butterfly keyboard; it's a writers dream.
Apple knows that those who dislike/ do not want the touch bar will still refuse to consider competing products and will keep buying Macs. So they have every incentive to expand Touch Bar to not just amortize their R&D costs, but to improve margins through increased efficiency of volumes.
Since they've expanded it to the (previously) nTB Pro, my assumption would be they ultimately aim to equip all MacBooks with it. For such a feature where developers need to code support into their apps for it to be useful, it makes sense for it to be on as many macs as possible as an incentive for developers to put the effort in to do so.
