Interesting. Every other laptop has one these days, but I haven't really seen people using it much. It seems more like a gimmick.
Fingerprint scanner on a phone makes more sense, because it lets you to unlock it almost as quickly as if you didn't have any lockscreen security, which is a big convenience.
TouchID (at least on my iPhone) is 100% more usable and I would love to have it on my laptop as well.
Don't you use a password manager? Aren't you tired of constantly typing your master password in to unlock your keys?
That's the goal - I provide my TouchID + maybe a PIN (or if for added security, combined with separate channel factor).
I've never had a single problem plugging in HDMI directly.
Such is the disposable culture.
I think security minded folks in IT are not going to be thrilled with these. A fingerprint being an identifier, not a authenticator and all that.
NOW I HAVE LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD.
For example, as a developer I press the ESC button zillion times a day. I'm used to "upper-left corner is cancel/close/undo".
Now with the new touchbar it can have an "OK" there. Or "Done". Or "edit". It's up to a developer now.
Photographers. Photographers were still using that.
You know what my mid 2009 MBP can still do? Pull images from my DSLR while charging while plugged into a wired network, transferring them to an external hard drive under the command of an external mouse and keyboard, using an external display. No daisy chaining required, and the cabling is only a minor disaster!
(If I bought a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, I'd be using zero USB ports for any of this. External disk is Firewire.)
In particular it's nice when my computer is useful without a bunch of extra crap plugged in, and mostly progressively enhanced by new attachments.
I can do light photo work on site with a 2009 MBP and no peripherals at all.
1Password is going to rock on this machine.
Here are my thoughts:
Removing the function keys and replacing them with the touch bar is a step up. The function keys have been annoyingly inconsistent on macOS for a few years now, most programs don't make use of them like they could because by default you need to use an awkward chord with the fn key.
The addition of the fingerprint scanner alone is a win, but having proper context sensitive keys will be huge for discoverability and ease of use.
RIP MagSafe - it was such a great design. I would have kept it and ditched a thunderbolt port, but that's just me.
Having HDMI built-in was pretty good for connecting to projectors, but HDMI doesn't support many screen modes and is pretty out-dated these days. Buy a $10 adaptor if you need it.
SD Card readers are also not used much these days. Buy a $10 adaptor if you need it.
Lots of people are moaning about the escape key like it is their favorite member of One Direction. My guess is that the escape key will be available (as a touch bar icon) in any application that actually needs it.
I am not in the market for a new MacBook Pro, but I can see the appeal.