Actually, I do agree with you with some of those observations. Apple's been trying to fix their terrible T2 issue and I suspect some of the problems lately have

Actually, I do agree with you with some of those observations. Apple's been trying to fix their terrible T2 issue and I suspect some of the problems lately have been them trying to prevent the T2 reboot crash, while ruining other parts of the experience in the process as a necessary compromise. It may get worse (or better) as they move to all-Arm architecture. I also am sick of the touch bar now - after 2 years living with it. I have to press it twice to actually pause my media, because it's an LCD screen and it has to auto turn off to prevent burn-in. That's a regression from the old hard media button in the Fn row which was both instant and far easier to press. At least we got 'Esc' back. But man, their trackpad...nothing beats it. Still.