12 ms·
Now if only they could also get rid of the TouchBar. Most frustrating "feature" ever as I keep accidentally pressing some parts of it while resting my hands or
by weiming 7y ago
Now if only they could also get rid of the TouchBar. Most frustrating "feature" ever as I keep accidentally pressing some parts of it while resting my hands or typing. Not to mention that I don't look down at the keyboard area as I type.
Keep the TouchID button, get rid of the rest, just like the current Airs.
- everdrive 7y ago"No, I don't want to enable Siri. I never want to enable Siri. I wish I could modify the Touch Bar."
- zeitg3ist 7y agoYou can remove Siri from the touch bar, though!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- everdrive 7y agoI had no idea. The option didn't originally show up in System preferences until I first modified the touch bar preferences via an Apps "view" menu. No idea why this is, but thanks for sending me looking.
- st3fan 7y agoIf you disable Siri in the System Preferences, it will also not show up in the TouchBar.
- everdrive 7y agoThis one didn't work for me either. Siri had been disabled for quite a while. But, I'm on a work laptop, so perhaps IT caused the problem in the first place.
- bitwize 7y agoGo to System Preferences / Extensions / Touch Bar and say "Customize Control Strip...". You will be presented a panel of options for things to drag to your Touch Bar, and your current Touch Bar icons will "wiggle". Use the mouse to drag the Siri icon from the Touch Bar to the panel (yes, this is a thing, try it!) and presto -- you've removed Siri from the Touch Bar.
- damon_c 7y agoYeah. This is so amazingly unintuitive but kind of cool... And it worked! -edit: In Mojave, I found it in prefs/keyboard/Customize Touch bar
- damon_c 7y agoI tried this and now if my pinky accidentally grazes past the Siri button with .0001 micrograms of force, it pops up a box asking me if I want to enable Siri. I guess this is worse.
- yehaaa 7y agoYou rest your hands above the keboard? I don’t get most of the criticism of the touch bar except if someone miss the function keys. While it’s true that you need to take your eyes of the screen to use it, the same is true when using multiple screens, and it’s what it is, an extra screen.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- asark 7y agoI didn't know I did it until I used a touchbar MBP, but it turns out a couple of my right hand fingers drift up to the tops of the number keys when making certain chording presses, which is close enough to barely brush the edge of the touchbar. Took me weeks to figure out what was up—I had no idea I was doing it. iTunes kept opening for no reason, or sometimes other things would happen (but usually it was iTunes). I'm not about to re-train my 25 years of touch typing muscle memory to fit a silly single-vendor feature that's probably not gonna survive in anything like its current form anyway—and besides, I can't make it part of my regular workflow if I use an external keyboard any significant amount of time—so instead I set it to always show the same set of stuff (no per-app changing) and then remove almost everything from it, using spacers to make about 2/3 of it permanently blank. It's the only way to make a new MBP usable for me. I have to all but disable the damn touchbar. I also have to disable force-touch on the trackpad to be able to execute all but the shortest of click-and-drag operations. Disabling two of the headliner "advanced" UI features of new MBPs are now very early initial setup steps for me. Machine's toss-it-out-the-window frustrating if I don't.
- vanilla_nut 7y agoI also have a lot of trouble with the Force Touch trackpad! Everyone else I know seems to have no issue with it, but I'm constantly triggering Force Touch when I don't want to. Add in the fact that Force Touch is pretty useless on the mac (three finger click to define replaces literally my only use case) and it was easy enough to just disable it. I guess the fact that Apple is ditching 3D Touch on the iPhone might mean the end of Force Touch on the Macbook, too.
- empath75 7y agoOne thing I appreciate is that the touchbar forced me to map escape to the caps lock key and I now do that on every computer, touchbar or not -- it's so much nicer for vim.
- gshdg 7y agoBut then your only control key is in an almost unusable location, which is even worse!
- ritz_labringue 7y agoWhat does it have to do with the control key ?
- huseyinkeles 7y agoI have my control key mapped to caps lock and can't go back at this point.
- insaneirish 7y agoBecause control should be where caps lock is on most keyboards. It is the one key re-map I cannot live without. (Anyone who used a Sun keyboard for a considerable period time is familiar with this layout. I do not know if any other systems predated Sun in this regard.)
- RodgerTheGreat 7y agoI always thought the position of the control key on the OLPC keyboard was a cute decision: http://wiki.laptop.org/images/1/1b/Keyboard_english.png http://wiki.laptop.org/images/1/1b/Keyboard_english.png Several extra keys for typing useful symbols and non-english characters, and not a CapsLock in sight!
- hprotagonist 7y agoI believe the old space cadet keyboards did, and also that that is why emacs prioritizes the C- prefix for major chords.
- jackpeterfletch 7y agoI can understand why they felt the need to change up how the function row worked. From a UX perspective what they do is opaque and application dependent. To learn what they do in each context you do have to go out of your way. Though I wonder if it'd have worked better if they were still tactile buttons individual panels on them, so the application can reprint them with their actual function name.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- kgwgk 7y agoI remember when some software came with stickers or cutouts to put on/around function keys. Keys-with-panels may be too difficult/expensive and the single row is also more flexible (allows for sliders, for example). But I’ve not really used these keyboards, I don’t know how well do they work.
- a2tech 7y agoI think the TouchBar is here to stay. Non-programmers LOVE IT. Its crazy how many people come up and ask me about it at presentations. I was running a presentation the other day and had PowerPoint full screen and someone walked by and saw the mini slide previews and all the presenter controls on it and was absolutely blown away by it. They called over a few other people and they all left wanting a Mac. For some its an irritation. For others its a revelation.
- weiming 7y agoMight be one of those "designed to look good and sell more units, not for actual users" Apple ideas. There was a post about it on HN a few weeks ago. Edit: linked below
- waterhouse 7y agoPerhaps something like this? https://asktog.com/atc/the-third-user/ https://asktog.com/atc/the-third-user/
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- chrischen 7y agoYou’re making big assumptions about programmers. I’d rather have the touch bar and I’m a programmer. One of the reasons is that, well, it’s programmable.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoI also keep touching the TouchBar a lot by accident and it can drive me crazy. It may actually be not that bad if it behaved more like keyboard key so you had to apply a little pressure before it gets triggered. Especially when web browsing with the MacBook on my lap I constantly touch some part of the touchbar a little and trigger some random function.
- foxyv 7y agoYeah it would have been cool if they were buttons but with LCD or E-ink programmable functions and displays. Kind of like a stream deck. Personally though I would have been happy with the touch bar AND a row of function keys. If you look at the Macbook there is a ton of space above the keyboard for this...
- sound1 7y agoI came here to say exactly this. And I don't even own an MBP.
- drevil-v2 7y agoI find the Touch Bar extremely useful when the app supports it. JetBrains IDE’s have excellent touchbar support. Very easy to configure. All my most used shortcuts and macros are mapped, big productivity gains I feel. haptic feedback would be even better
- Cthulhu_ 7y agoHow about buttons with miniature displays? Like that one attempt at making one with oled displays all these years ago by a design bureau.
- crazygringo 7y agoI've posted before, but the touch bar is not for the HN crowd. It's for graphics/video/audio professionals, the original Mac "pro" market, where it's a super-useful ultra-flexible slider/picker that works far better than a trackpad or mouse for that purpose. And the ones I know love it. I get most HN'ers don't like it (and I personally have no use for it), but Apple didn't build it because they're dumb or are going for style over substance. It's just a different target market.
- jbob2000 7y agoThose professionals use desktops, not the fanless, battery powered, port-less, glue and solder mess that is the current Macbook lineup.
- casion 7y agoNo? Most all of my friends are graphics pros, and they largely prefer working on their laptop when possible. My little hobby circle is audio, and the touchbar is almost universally loved there too.
- jbob2000 7y agoInteresting! I have a friend who does audio engineering and soundtracks for film studios here in Toronto. Him and his coworkers swear by the old cheese graters. They're all contractors so they're responsible for maintaining their own equipment. And since their work is very seasonal, purchasing new equipment is not always an option when you don't know when your next contract is coming. Edit: asked him about the touch bar, he says he doesn't want to change his workflow to use something new when he's got all this audio equipment that works fine.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- shakna 7y agoI probably shouldn't name names without consulting them, but two of the bigger graphic design firms in Australia (bigger by half the products you see in a day are done by them) that I know fairly well are pretty much all Macbooks. The CEO and team leads also get iMacs for the office, but extensively use the laptops. There is exactly one tower in each office - the render farm.
- 1137 7y agoMy mid-2012 MBP is holding up just fine so I'll keep waiting and hoping. 7 years old, not a single flaw or hick-up. (Have two, one at work, one at home).
- robbyking 7y agoI really thought the Touch Bar would grow on me, and now a year or so later it's just as frustrating and unintuitive as it was on day one. My wife and I rarely watch television, but when we do it's on our MBP. There literally isn't a way to adjust the volume on full screen video using just the keyboard; you have to exit full screen mode (to revert the Touch Bar to its default set of buttons), and then adjust the volume slider (which is still another screen deep). It's infuriating.
- Fnoord 7y ago(Disclaimer: I never owned a TouchBar Mac.) There are a few applications which enhance the TouchBar in one way or another. Perhaps the best idea I've seen is the one where it put the Dock in the TouchBar.
- IggleSniggle 7y agoHave only and exactly the controls you want on your touchbar: https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-touch-bar-ui-replacement-preset/1281 https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-t...
- factotvm 7y agoA solution to a problem that shouldn't exist, in my opinion. That's fine if you want to try and sell TouchBars, but still give me the option to buy a laptop without one. I'm still holding out hope for a good keyboard and a proper row of keys along the top. In the meantime, I'm typing this on a 2012 MacBook Pro.
- dkthehuman 7y agoIf you go to System Preferences > Keyboard, you can change the "Touch Bar shows" option from "App Controls" to "Expanded Control Strip" to have the default set of buttons showing all the time.
- the_watcher 7y agoIf you set the default to function keys, you can also set the fn key to show the expanded control strip too.
- Apocryphon 7y agoAt this point Apple should just release a mid-2015 MBPr with modern hardware and call it the "MacBook Pro Classic".
- RobertDeNiro 7y agoThat's definitely when they peaked.
- valiant-comma 7y agoOr the “MacBook SE”.
- deepspace 7y agoI had to replace a very old MBP recently and couldn't stomach the keyboard, touch bar and lack of ports on the new models, so I bought a used Mid 2015r in mint condition. Best computer I ever owned. If Apple were to re-release that machine with upgraded CPU, graphics card, memory and storage, I would buy one in an instant.
- ransom1538 7y agoJust bought one on amazon refurbished. Best. Laptop. Ever.
- aduitsis 7y agoThe battery on my 13" MBPr, which I bought on 2015, recently begun to swell. Apple support said that a swollen battery is very dangerous, then proceeded to confirm out that its warranty was expired and there was no replacement program for the 13", contrary to the 15" MBPr from 2015. Battery replacement 300€, which is frankly preposterous. I shortly contemplated getting a new MBPr, but with all the stories circulating about the butterfly keyboards and the touch bar, went with an ifixit battery replacement kit, about 100€. I'm generally very reluctant to carry out these types of sensitive repairs myself, but opted to do it with help from a friend. If, instead of buying a new one, the customer prefers to keep a 2015 MBPr and is even willing to run the gauntlet of carrying out a difficult repair themselves, something's seriously wrong. And Apple should take notice.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
- rajacombinator 7y agoI’d finally upgrade my 2013 model if they do this.
- sdan 7y agoI'm glad I got the heap MBP in 2016 (with function keys).
- z6 7y agoKeep going. - Fix keyboard [check] - Remove touchbar (or keep touchbar but also add back original function keys) - Add MagSafe - Add useful ports (USB-A, SD, HDMI) - Add sufficient cooling - Shrink touchpad to 2015 size In other words, add TouchID to 2015 model, add some USB-C ports and upgrade internals. It's pretty astonishing how a company like this can go backwards in so many ways.
- PunksATawnyFill 7y agoThe oversized touchpad blows... especially when they inexplicably didn’t make the Pencil work on it. WTF? Now THAT would be way more useful than the emoji bar.
- mitchellgoffpc 7y agoYep, same exact thing keeps happening to me. I kinda can’t believe it never occurred to Apple to put haptic feedback in the touchbar, at least then you’d feel it when you accidentally press a button instead of wondering if you’re going insane because you keep unintentionally lowering the screen brightness
- PunksATawnyFill 7y agoThe sheer stupidity of forcing an emoji bar on all users of their “pro” product should earn Apple unending and unrelenting scorn. And you STILL can’t configure it to at least have a real Delete key. WTF is Apple’s peculiar ignorance on this issue. Everyone else manages to provide a Delete key, but not Apple; they only have a Backspace key that’s mislabeled “delete.” This despite the Eject key being freed up years ago. Apple’s detachment from the real world continues. We can only hope for 8mprovement now that Ive the pompous hack is gone.
- ble378 7y agoThis. Especially frustrating when accidentally hitting Mission Control or Expose. Would love to see the touch bar removed (keeping TouchID). Or at the very least, add haptic feedback like 3D Touch to stop gliding fingers from triggering the buttons.