Never thought much about it before because I never had a computer that had a touchbar, but just thinking about using it on my computer, maybe it would have been more usefull if placed between the keys and the trackpad or even on either side of the keyboard than the top.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Touch Bar should have been ADDED, not REPLACED
- Thread starter Joe's kitchen
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I own an M1 MacBook Pro that still has the Touch Bar.
I don't hate it, but I don't like it either. And I don't need it.
The only thing I do with it is change the display brightness by accident, when typing.
I'd very much prefer the new old function key layout, but I don't have a reason to upgrade my MacBook yet.
I don't hate it, but I don't like it either. And I don't need it.
The only thing I do with it is change the display brightness by accident, when typing.
I'd very much prefer the new old function key layout, but I don't have a reason to upgrade my MacBook yet.
Touch Bar sucked 🫏 🥎 🥎 . I only used it when I needed to change volume, press esc or use F keys.
On the software side of things, it’s still a mess, too.I so miss being able to properly Peek and Pop links in Safari with 3D Touch.
As for the Touch Bar, it just never really gained critical mass. I think if the original laptops had come out with the 2019+ version (that still had a physical Esc key and separated the TID button out a bit) it might have had a slightly better chance, but it ultimately built up too much enthusiast resentment and general user apathy for it to be worth continuing from an engineering standpoint.
Some TB MacBook users report a blank/black TB after waking their Mac from sleep, including me.
This has been a known issue for years and is still not fixed.
It REQUIRES a system restart and may happen after each and any system sleep longer than an hour, it seem.
No ESC, no volume and brightness controls (although the Control Center made the Mac not fatally useless in that case).
I reported that issue in Feedback and got a response, they want to know if my issue has been resolved in the latest build of Sequoia…
If you care to tell me how to run that on a Mac that doesn’t support Sequoia, sure.
The touch bar was obsolete. As are the function keys. They never should come back either.
I definitely agree with this. I liked the touch bar, and found it useful.
That would be excessive.
Having owned a Touch Bar 2016 Mac, I really didn’t like it. The notes I had, and stand by, were keep a physical escape key (which they did later)— and the touchbar needed 1. Higher resolution 2. Feedback — HAPTIC! Or sound! Or both!
It was always in the way, except when it wasn’t, and then it just felt dead or clumsy.
If they had invested in properly fleshing out the idea, it could have been something. Alas, I’m sure cost came into play along with a poor critical review. So it goes.
a row of function customizable individual keys, even if "modern" because it was an electronic representation, was a feature that was introduced way past the time for when that kind of thing was interesting.
and, it was too early and never gained traction to catch the next wave when it might be interesting.
i think such a row, rather than individual keys type of representations, would be more interesting it if it becomes a mini strip of a continuous information display that somehow is useful in the exciting new world of AI. /s
and, it was too early and never gained traction to catch the next wave when it might be interesting.
i think such a row, rather than individual keys type of representations, would be more interesting it if it becomes a mini strip of a continuous information display that somehow is useful in the exciting new world of AI. /s
I've had it on two machines, both with and without the physical ESC key. Always used it in F-key mode and I hope my telemetry data sent to Apple helped them remove it. Still use my MBP (Intel 16" late-2019) on a semi-daily basis due to need of Parallels for Windows use.
Compared to my daily MBP 16" M3 the most annoying feature is the poor precision of the Touch ID - it sucks (too small sensor?). I've re-added my finger multiple times but still it's slow and misreads multiple times.
I'm also constantly remembered why I hated it - it's way too sensitive to activation! It's so easy to accidentally trigger it when trying to type any shifted symbol from the number keys. F-key configuration are the safe bet then. As a programmer using a Swedish keyboard (where we don't have keys for [ { } ], but they are on 8 and 9 together with the normal parentesis, needed to be typed using option or shift-option modifier keys), almost all of the top-row keys are used shifted and reaching for the number key while holding down shift-key means less precision - queue a erroneous Touch Bar touch. I'm also coming from PCs where the AltGr key was only to the right of the space key. So typing a $ symbol, I still press right option with right thumb and reaching for the 4 key with my left index finger I'm vey close with my middle finger to touch F2 or F1. It may sound like I have gorilla paws but I don't - thank you very much!
I was so happy when I got the machine with physical ESC-key at least, accidentally clicking ESC is bad in most contexts...
Compared to my daily MBP 16" M3 the most annoying feature is the poor precision of the Touch ID - it sucks (too small sensor?). I've re-added my finger multiple times but still it's slow and misreads multiple times.
I'm also constantly remembered why I hated it - it's way too sensitive to activation! It's so easy to accidentally trigger it when trying to type any shifted symbol from the number keys. F-key configuration are the safe bet then. As a programmer using a Swedish keyboard (where we don't have keys for [ { } ], but they are on 8 and 9 together with the normal parentesis, needed to be typed using option or shift-option modifier keys), almost all of the top-row keys are used shifted and reaching for the number key while holding down shift-key means less precision - queue a erroneous Touch Bar touch. I'm also coming from PCs where the AltGr key was only to the right of the space key. So typing a $ symbol, I still press right option with right thumb and reaching for the 4 key with my left index finger I'm vey close with my middle finger to touch F2 or F1. It may sound like I have gorilla paws but I don't - thank you very much!
I was so happy when I got the machine with physical ESC-key at least, accidentally clicking ESC is bad in most contexts...
As a non-native English speaker, I actually learned the word "gimmick" by reading about the Touch Bar during the years when it was a thing…
OK, back to the Touch Bar. For many years, I believed it had a major design flaw—it worked great for casual users due to its intuitive interface but poorly for pro users because of the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the commands that might appear on it, which made it impossible to touch type on. However, the Touch Bar wasn’t cheap. Adding it to pro laptops for users who didn’t need it and leaving it out for non-pros who were arguably the target audience just didn’t make sense.
That said, my opinion has gradually shifted over the years. I realized that not all pro users are touch-typists. There are people I admire and consider real pros in their fields but who don’t touch-type. For them, the Touch Bar might actually be a good thing.
OK, back to the Touch Bar. For many years, I believed it had a major design flaw—it worked great for casual users due to its intuitive interface but poorly for pro users because of the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the commands that might appear on it, which made it impossible to touch type on. However, the Touch Bar wasn’t cheap. Adding it to pro laptops for users who didn’t need it and leaving it out for non-pros who were arguably the target audience just didn’t make sense.
That said, my opinion has gradually shifted over the years. I realized that not all pro users are touch-typists. There are people I admire and consider real pros in their fields but who don’t touch-type. For them, the Touch Bar might actually be a good thing.
If I remember right it would have you choose your pressure setting on major updates or new iOS release while showing how to use it. I vaguely remember a flower, peek and pop, and a few other gif like examples shown. It’s been so long I can’t remember for sure. I think it just came down to it being an obscure feature. Unlike a power button or a touch screen it existed without any outward indication of it being there. So basic users (average iPhone owners) didn’t remember it was there and everything was accessible without it. So when it came down to it only power users (most MacRumors readers) incorporated it into their usage habits. Just another feature with a cult following that got cut. But like I said, if we don’t all use it we all lose it. I doubt it’ll make a return and if it does it’ll be probably a decade or more from now. Plus I don’t think it’d work on foldables and I don’t know what else Apple can do at their pace of release other than go to a foldable. They’re moving faster than new tech can be perfected and Apple is rarely first to anything.
Function keys are essential.
I still have an office full of TouchBar mbp's for the architects & engineers to run Revit & Solidworks in the field, our final Macs. Everyone has tried different ways of using the Touch Bar, but over time every one of them is set to the Brightness, Play/Pause & Volume controls. Annoyingly, controls you have to tap to turn back on in order to tap to use.
Nice powerful laptops, but peak Ive lunacy.
Nice powerful laptops, but peak Ive lunacy.
No they’re not. Keep the escape key and dump the rest. I’d bet for 99% of people, they aren’t used 99.999% of the time.
That’s quite a claim!
Feels like a case of “I don’t use something so obviously no one else does.”
I liked it and miss it. Agree it should have been an addition not replacement (at least initially).
When applications supported it, it was a great asset for scrubbing through videos, selecting custom buttons / controls or actions that just can't be duplicated with physical buttons.
Sadly earned the same fate as 3D touch on phones due to poor adoption by Devs, and Apple not keeping it relevant themselves.
When applications supported it, it was a great asset for scrubbing through videos, selecting custom buttons / controls or actions that just can't be duplicated with physical buttons.
Sadly earned the same fate as 3D touch on phones due to poor adoption by Devs, and Apple not keeping it relevant themselves.
Hi, I'm that .001 percent you're enjoying denegrating. I also use my Macs for my business, to make money, and have dozens of chords, all memorized, assigned to my F keys, generally to control actions in Creative Suite applications, but also to control window placement and sizing, among other system tasks. You can leave my standard keyboards alone, kthnx.
Here's an idea: You could always get a hot swappable mechanical keyboard, pop the function row mechanisms out, and fill the spaces with deadhead caps if you're so married to the idea of taking things away. Why don't you go ahead and do that and let us know how it goes. Money meets mouth, as they say.
The forced approach was the best chance at this succeeding, but tbh I am glad it failed for several reasons.
1 - It made it harder to type without looking down on the keyboard if you need to get to that specific area.
2 - If it malfunctioned you are screwed and beholden to how long Apple can get a replacement out to you if you are living in a remote area.
3 - Small touchscreens have never taken off unless it provides a very specific and in mostly critical use cases.
We all understand why Apple tried this. It was yet another differentiator and added 'touch' without possibly hurting the iPad. My guess is that by year three of the Touch Bar era it was clear that it was just never going to be that popular with their customers and apple would eventually move away from it.
In hindsight it's remarkable it was around for SEVEN years!
1 - It made it harder to type without looking down on the keyboard if you need to get to that specific area.
2 - If it malfunctioned you are screwed and beholden to how long Apple can get a replacement out to you if you are living in a remote area.
3 - Small touchscreens have never taken off unless it provides a very specific and in mostly critical use cases.
We all understand why Apple tried this. It was yet another differentiator and added 'touch' without possibly hurting the iPad. My guess is that by year three of the Touch Bar era it was clear that it was just never going to be that popular with their customers and apple would eventually move away from it.
In hindsight it's remarkable it was around for SEVEN years!
Do you want to cry about it any harder? I was just saying that the function keys are used no more than the Touch Bar was. I use adobe apps too as well as fusion 360 and guess what, function keys aren’t necessary.
Think beyond the defaults and you'll discover new, more efficient ways to do things. Or be basic. Whatever you're comfortable with.