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> but I disagree on the touchbar. It’s one of the better things Apple has added recently. Strongly disagree, and I can not conceive of how it could be viewed a

> but I disagree on the touchbar. It’s one of the better things Apple has added recently. Strongly disagree, and I can not conceive of how it could be viewed as "better" than hardware keys. Maybe if they moved it above the FN row and we regained the hardware escape key, while making it a build to order option. Even then, I personally would have no interest in it, and neither would anyone else I know. I do not want to look at my hands while I type, ever.

brazzledazzle 9y ago
I don't know how far out it would be but with the changes to their keyboard and the addition of their touchbar I wonder if their long term plan is a touch screen in the bottom half to replace the keyboard and pad. Without some kind of tactile interface I hope I'm wrong about my suspicions.
- DigitalJack 9y ago
  dear God I hope not. I wouldn't mind if they made the touch pad into a screen. Probably not that useful, but it wouldn't bother me.
  - kogepathic 9y ago
    > I wouldn't mind if they made the touch pad into a screen. You mean like making the laptop LCD a touchscreen? Like other PC manufacturers have been doing for years?
    - zeveb 9y ago
      Ah, but you see when Apple release the iTouch it'll be a whole new paradigm of human-computer interaction! Never before have people been able to control their computers by touching the screens! … or that's what the fanboys will think.
eridius 9y ago
> Strongly disagree, and I can not conceive of how it could be viewed as "better" than hardware keys. I hope this is hyperbole, because it shouldn't be hard to understand. The TouchBar is absolutely an improvement. I can't remember the last time I actually used a laptop keyboard's F-keys for anything, but the TouchBar makes that space useful.
- zeveb 9y ago
  > I can't remember the last time I actually used a laptop keyboard's F-keys for anything I use them regularly to switch consoles. MacOS supports multiple consoles, right?
  - eridius 9y ago
    By consoles do you mean terminals? Terminal.app uses ⌘⌥1–9 to switch windows and ⌘1–9 to switch tabs. The F-keys aren't used by Terminal.app at all (well, they're sent to the terminal as an escape sequence).
    - zeveb 9y ago
      No, I mean complete GUI heads: completely separate GUI login sessions which use the same screen and can be switched between. Also called 'virtual framebuffers,' I think. Very awesome. I'm sure that Macs support something similar.
      - eridius 9y ago
        macOS has something called Fast User Switching, which is completely separate login sessions, but you access it through a menu on the right side of the menubar, not with keys. macOS also has Spaces, which is just virtual desktops, but again, it doesn't use the F-keys to switch between them.
        quesera 9y ago
        I'm strongly reading GP comments as trolling, given indirect context, but I respect your approach of taking the high road by assuming simple ignorance.

brazzledazzle 9y ago

I don't know how far out it would be but with the changes to their keyboard and the addition of their touchbar I wonder if their long term plan is a touch screen in the bottom half to replace the keyboard and pad. Without some kind of tactile interface I hope I'm wrong about my suspicions.

DigitalJack 9y ago
dear God I hope not. I wouldn't mind if they made the touch pad into a screen. Probably not that useful, but it wouldn't bother me.
- kogepathic 9y ago
  > I wouldn't mind if they made the touch pad into a screen. You mean like making the laptop LCD a touchscreen? Like other PC manufacturers have been doing for years?
  - zeveb 9y ago
    Ah, but you see when Apple release the iTouch it'll be a whole new paradigm of human-computer interaction! Never before have people been able to control their computers by touching the screens! … or that's what the fanboys will think.

eridius 9y ago

> Strongly disagree, and I can not conceive of how it could be viewed as "better" than hardware keys. I hope this is hyperbole, because it shouldn't be hard to understand. The TouchBar is absolutely an improvement. I can't remember the last time I actually used a laptop keyboard's F-keys for anything, but the TouchBar makes that space useful.

zeveb 9y ago
> I can't remember the last time I actually used a laptop keyboard's F-keys for anything I use them regularly to switch consoles. MacOS supports multiple consoles, right?
- eridius 9y ago
  By consoles do you mean terminals? Terminal.app uses ⌘⌥1–9 to switch windows and ⌘1–9 to switch tabs. The F-keys aren't used by Terminal.app at all (well, they're sent to the terminal as an escape sequence).
  - zeveb 9y ago
    No, I mean complete GUI heads: completely separate GUI login sessions which use the same screen and can be switched between. Also called 'virtual framebuffers,' I think. Very awesome. I'm sure that Macs support something similar.
    - eridius 9y ago
      macOS has something called Fast User Switching, which is completely separate login sessions, but you access it through a menu on the right side of the menubar, not with keys. macOS also has Spaces, which is just virtual desktops, but again, it doesn't use the F-keys to switch between them.
      - quesera 9y ago
        I'm strongly reading GP comments as trolling, given indirect context, but I respect your approach of taking the high road by assuming simple ignorance.