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I was looking forward to buying the new MacBook Pro, but now I'm not so sure. Lenovo replaced the top row on their Carbon X1 laptop with digital keys a couple o

by Yabood 10y ago

I was looking forward to buying the new MacBook Pro, but now I'm not so sure. Lenovo replaced the top row on their Carbon X1 laptop with digital keys a couple of years ago, and the results weren't that good. They were hard to use and unpractical. Hopefully Apple's implementation will work better.

Synaesthesia 10y ago
Honestly bough how often do you hit escape on a mac? So having it as a digital key won't be the end of the world.
- egwor 10y ago
  1/ Cancelling a dialogue box 2/ vi 3/ Force Quit
- maratd 10y ago
  > So having it as a digital key won't be the end of the world. That's quite an assumption. What makes you think that'll be an option?
- xj9 10y ago
  >50x a day, probably. I practically live in Vim.
  - etatoby 10y ago
    maybe you mean 50k (not x) because in Vim it's used every 10 seconds, which makes it several thousands times a day
    - xj9 10y ago
      yes
- jacobolus 10y ago
  Dozens if not hundreds of times every day. And that’s just in the GUI. I’m not even a Vim user or anything.
mandudebruh 10y ago
You also need drivers for those touch keys which makes installing any OS more difficult
viraptor 10y ago
That was in gen 2. They reverted to normal keys in gen 3, 4. So I guess they learned their lesson.
wlesieutre 10y ago
Lenovo didn't have enough influence over their platform to shove software keys down the market's throat and get any 3rd party software adopt them in a useful manner. If you're developing software for Windows, that particular version of the Thinkpad is a vanishingly small portion of your target market. With Mac software and the MBP, it's a substantial one. Apple's positioning here is fairly unique. They can add this feature and expect a significant number of developers to actually implement it. Software keys on their own to just control the computer's built-in functions don't strike me as particularly useful. The strength in this is like Steve Jobs' original pitch with the iPhone's touchscreen versus a fixed hardware keyboard. It can adapt to new uses and functionality as needed.
- LaSombra 10y ago
  That is if the API is open to all applications and not restricted to App Store ones.

by Yabood 10y ago

Synaesthesia 10y ago

Honestly bough how often do you hit escape on a mac? So having it as a digital key won't be the end of the world.

egwor 10y ago
1/ Cancelling a dialogue box 2/ vi 3/ Force Quit
maratd 10y ago
> So having it as a digital key won't be the end of the world. That's quite an assumption. What makes you think that'll be an option?
xj9 10y ago
>50x a day, probably. I practically live in Vim.
- etatoby 10y ago
  maybe you mean 50k (not x) because in Vim it's used every 10 seconds, which makes it several thousands times a day
  - xj9 10y ago
    yes
jacobolus 10y ago
Dozens if not hundreds of times every day. And that’s just in the GUI. I’m not even a Vim user or anything.

mandudebruh 10y ago

You also need drivers for those touch keys which makes installing any OS more difficult

viraptor 10y ago

That was in gen 2. They reverted to normal keys in gen 3, 4. So I guess they learned their lesson.

wlesieutre 10y ago

Lenovo didn't have enough influence over their platform to shove software keys down the market's throat and get any 3rd party software adopt them in a useful manner. If you're developing software for Windows, that particular version of the Thinkpad is a vanishingly small portion of your target market. With Mac software and the MBP, it's a substantial one. Apple's positioning here is fairly unique. They can add this feature and expect a significant number of developers to actually implement it. Software keys on their own to just control the computer's built-in functions don't strike me as particularly useful. The strength in this is like Steve Jobs' original pitch with the iPhone's touchscreen versus a fixed hardware keyboard. It can adapt to new uses and functionality as needed.

LaSombra 10y ago
That is if the API is open to all applications and not restricted to App Store ones.