6 ms·

This is exactly why I dislike the new MBP touch bar. I spend much of my working day in IntelliJ, debugging Scala code. I so badly want to rest my fingers on t

This is exactly why I dislike the new MBP touch bar. I spend much of my working day in IntelliJ, debugging Scala code. I so badly want to rest my fingers on the function keys while I step in/out/over code, just as I used to in Visual Studio debugging C# and C++. I recently tried the native touch bar support in the Early Access version of IntelliJ and it was really not any better. It's no fault of Jetbrains either, I just don't care if I'm seeing a cute arrow icon instead of F9, as I don't want to have to look at anything at all, I want to rely on muscle memory. Same goes for audio/DAW control surfaces; as much as I'd love to replace all equipment with an iPad, it just doesn't come close to the feel of an Ableton Push (for instance), and I don't see how it ever could.

carlob 8y ago
Why did you buy it then? I think that all the marketing of "touchscreen: oooh shiny!" is working, and there is very little we can do about bad interfaces unless we vote with our feet.
- dbattaglia 8y ago
  It's standard issue at my current job (as well as my previous one). For my personal laptop I actually bought one of the 2015 MBPs Apple is still selling new in the box. The next time I get a laptop refresh I may very well just go with something like an XPS w/ Ubuntu (at least for work, where I don't need things like Ableton Live, Max/MSP and NI Reaktor).
- sumedh 8y ago
  Is there any other non Mac trackpad which just works. Once you use a Mac trackpad, its hard going back to something else.
  - yunyu 8y ago
    Surface trackpads are pretty good (generally, anything with a large area that uses Precision Touchpad instead of Synaptics or other OEM junk is decent).
  - Shikadi 8y ago
    Personally, no laptop I've ever owned had at trackpad that _didn't_ just work. Of course there were a handfull in the store at any given time that were mediocre, but that's why I try before I buy. The Mac trackpad is definitely great, don't get me wrong, but in my experience poor trackpads only appear on certain business models and cheap flimsy models. (Currently using a two or three year old Lenovo thinkpad yoga, the trackpad has always worked great)
- mathw 8y ago
  If one happens to need a new Macbook Pro at the moment, Apple haven't left a lot of options which don't have a Touchbar and a terrible keyboard. One can choose to delay an upgrade in many cases, but it's rather harder to choose to delay replacing a broken machine. It's a shame because at one point the Macbook Pro was a machine almost without flaw. And no, for some people getting a Windows or Linux machine simply isn't an option without a level of investment in new software that simply can't be justified. Apple have people over a barrel. All that vertical integration has led to some of the best computers ever made, but it also gets you in trouble when your chosen walled garden gets burned down.
- jamesrcole 8y ago
  Because there are usually multiple reasons for and against a choice, for a particular person's needs, and the sum of the positives minus the negatives might be the highest for that choice compared to the sums for the other options?

carlob 8y ago

Why did you buy it then? I think that all the marketing of "touchscreen: oooh shiny!" is working, and there is very little we can do about bad interfaces unless we vote with our feet.

dbattaglia 8y ago
It's standard issue at my current job (as well as my previous one). For my personal laptop I actually bought one of the 2015 MBPs Apple is still selling new in the box. The next time I get a laptop refresh I may very well just go with something like an XPS w/ Ubuntu (at least for work, where I don't need things like Ableton Live, Max/MSP and NI Reaktor).
sumedh 8y ago
Is there any other non Mac trackpad which just works. Once you use a Mac trackpad, its hard going back to something else.
- yunyu 8y ago
  Surface trackpads are pretty good (generally, anything with a large area that uses Precision Touchpad instead of Synaptics or other OEM junk is decent).
- Shikadi 8y ago
  Personally, no laptop I've ever owned had at trackpad that _didn't_ just work. Of course there were a handfull in the store at any given time that were mediocre, but that's why I try before I buy. The Mac trackpad is definitely great, don't get me wrong, but in my experience poor trackpads only appear on certain business models and cheap flimsy models. (Currently using a two or three year old Lenovo thinkpad yoga, the trackpad has always worked great)
mathw 8y ago
If one happens to need a new Macbook Pro at the moment, Apple haven't left a lot of options which don't have a Touchbar and a terrible keyboard. One can choose to delay an upgrade in many cases, but it's rather harder to choose to delay replacing a broken machine. It's a shame because at one point the Macbook Pro was a machine almost without flaw. And no, for some people getting a Windows or Linux machine simply isn't an option without a level of investment in new software that simply can't be justified. Apple have people over a barrel. All that vertical integration has led to some of the best computers ever made, but it also gets you in trouble when your chosen walled garden gets burned down.
jamesrcole 8y ago
Because there are usually multiple reasons for and against a choice, for a particular person's needs, and the sum of the positives minus the negatives might be the highest for that choice compared to the sums for the other options?