3 ms·

I'm somewhat surprised by the whole touch bar thing, other manufacturers (e.g. Lenovo on the X1) tried it before and use acceptance was miserable.

by dom0 10y ago

Caballera 10y ago
It's actually a nice to have feature, but at least not yet, not a must have. Just having Touch ID makes it worth it to me.
nilkn 10y ago
I picked up a new MBP and I have to say I do like the Touch Bar. It's certainly not a must-have, but Apple's implementation is pretty polished. My favorite use is music/volume control. I can control music from both iTunes and a buried YouTube Safari tab at the same time through the Touch Bar.
- izacus 10y ago
  How is that different from pressing Fn + F keys before?
  - nilkn 10y ago
    I'm not sure which key combinations specifically you're referring to. How would I use the old function keys to switch music playing from iTunes to a paused YouTube tab in a Safari window on another desktop? And how would I use the function keys to scrub through a song to find a specific part all without giving focus to the music playing app? Maybe all this was possible before but I never knew about any of it. If that's the case that's another strength of the touch bar -- I had no issue discovering this functionality this time.
  - merb 10y ago
    Not sure why you were downvoted. Actually it works with Fn + F, too.
    - freehunter 10y ago
      Can you control two separate volume dials with the normal function keys?
      - merb 10y ago
        same as touch bar, if you switch the window they have the functionality of the new window. (actually depends if the software supports it, else it will use the old window)
wlesieutre 10y ago
Other manufacturers launched it on a single product that accounts for what, 0.1% of the Windows laptop market? Wide usage with customized support from practically every Mac app is what will make it useful, and Lenovo wasn't in a position to make that happen with theirs. Lenovo did name it "Adaptive Keyboard" and obviously wanted it to change depending on context, but without 3rd party software support it's not going to offer much. You get layouts for F-keys, home, web browsing, and Skype: http://www.thinkwiki.org/w/images/4/47/LAdapKey-001.png http://www.thinkwiki.org/w/images/4/47/LAdapKey-001.png And as far as I can tell, it's just "buttons that move around," without any more flexible UIs like the sliders/scrubbers that Apple is pitching. You're making the "no tactile feedback" compromise that everyone hates, and not actually getting much for it. Use acceptance was miserable because it wasn't actually useful.
st3v3r 10y ago
Lenovo's attempt was pure crap, though. And other manufacturers had attempted things like fingerprint sensors on smartphones before that had flopped, but then worked well when Apple did it.

I'm somewhat surprised by the whole touch bar thing, other manufacturers (e.g. Lenovo on the X1) tried it before and use acceptance was miserable.

by dom0 10y ago

I'm somewhat surprised by the whole touch bar thing, other manufacturers (e.g. Lenovo on the X1) tried it before and use acceptance was miserable.

Caballera 10y ago

It's actually a nice to have feature, but at least not yet, not a must have. Just having Touch ID makes it worth it to me.

nilkn 10y ago

I picked up a new MBP and I have to say I do like the Touch Bar. It's certainly not a must-have, but Apple's implementation is pretty polished. My favorite use is music/volume control. I can control music from both iTunes and a buried YouTube Safari tab at the same time through the Touch Bar.

izacus 10y ago
How is that different from pressing Fn + F keys before?
- nilkn 10y ago
  I'm not sure which key combinations specifically you're referring to. How would I use the old function keys to switch music playing from iTunes to a paused YouTube tab in a Safari window on another desktop? And how would I use the function keys to scrub through a song to find a specific part all without giving focus to the music playing app? Maybe all this was possible before but I never knew about any of it. If that's the case that's another strength of the touch bar -- I had no issue discovering this functionality this time.
- merb 10y ago
  Not sure why you were downvoted. Actually it works with Fn + F, too.
  - freehunter 10y ago
    Can you control two separate volume dials with the normal function keys?
    - merb 10y ago
      same as touch bar, if you switch the window they have the functionality of the new window. (actually depends if the software supports it, else it will use the old window)

wlesieutre 10y ago

Other manufacturers launched it on a single product that accounts for what, 0.1% of the Windows laptop market? Wide usage with customized support from practically every Mac app is what will make it useful, and Lenovo wasn't in a position to make that happen with theirs. Lenovo did name it "Adaptive Keyboard" and obviously wanted it to change depending on context, but without 3rd party software support it's not going to offer much. You get layouts for F-keys, home, web browsing, and Skype: http://www.thinkwiki.org/w/images/4/47/LAdapKey-001.png http://www.thinkwiki.org/w/images/4/47/LAdapKey-001.png And as far as I can tell, it's just "buttons that move around," without any more flexible UIs like the sliders/scrubbers that Apple is pitching. You're making the "no tactile feedback" compromise that everyone hates, and not actually getting much for it. Use acceptance was miserable because it wasn't actually useful.

st3v3r 10y ago

Lenovo's attempt was pure crap, though. And other manufacturers had attempted things like fingerprint sensors on smartphones before that had flopped, but then worked well when Apple did it.