I have done this, and I find my self activating caps-lock on other peoples computers all the time, it has become second nature in just a few weeks.

The only people who realistically need caps-lock are people writing software licenses and youtube video titles, everyone should be able to get by with the shift-key otherwise.

Is the whole escape key thing a joke that I'm not in on? Why don't you just use the part of the touchbar that is exactly the same as an escape key all the way down to saying "esc"? I don't get it man.

It's not the same. If you're used to typing without looking at your keyboard, a fake key on the touchbar does not compare to an actual key where you can feel without looking that your finger is in the right place, and can know by the key travel that you've actually pressed it.

It's pretty much the same as the difference between a car where the air conditioner and radio knobs are a touch screen vs. being real knobs that you can safely adjust while driving.

I thought that too, then I got one of the new MacBooks and used it for about a week. I stopped noticing that the escape key wasn’t a key somewhere between day 5 and 7. It’s very easy to hit, as you can trigger it by tapping anywhere on the edge of the touchbar (not just the graphical button), and thus I think it becomes very easy for your muscle memory to adjust.

I would still prefer a physical function row, but it’s not that big of a deal. And actually some of the controls on the touchbar are really nice, for example the volume and brightness controls for changing all your connected displays at once.

Exactly. You can just swipe the corner of it like you're brushing off dust or something, and it will register as a click. It's probably less effort than having to mash down a button that far to the edge of the keyboard.

While I'd normally agree, in this case, I have to disagree. Because the position of the button (proximity to the edge of the case and top-left corner of the keyboard), I have no trouble hitting it accurately without looking.

I'm an avid vim user, and the touchbar escape key gives me no trouble whatsoever. Since it's a single button on a far end with space between it and the other buttons, it's hard to miscalculate the position of the tap even without looking. There was no learning curve; it didn't take time to get used to it.

I suppose it's just a matter of personal preference and habit, though. Maybe some people have trouble aiming? I really thought I'd miss the tactile feedback (as has been the case with similar touch devices for me in the past), but in this case, I don't really notice it.

i'm a regular vim user and my muscle-memory still tells my finger to "press" the ESC button. without that tactile response something just feels a little off. i frequently find myself hitting it a second time while logged into remote terminals over poor connections, as i don't get the immediate visual cue that my ESC has registered. not only that but last week my touchbar became unresponsive (and after various attempts to fix it, is now completely blank), so now i don't even have an ESC button :( so now i've been using Ctrl[ until i get around to remapping ESC. i can't believe the touchbar doesn't drive apple engineers/devs crazy.. regretting replacing my 2014 mbp

It's like a car moving A/C controls to a touchscreen. Yeah, it's "the same"... but the lost of tactile feedback is a pretty dramatic thing. You really notice it when you use one.

The biggest thing for me: travel

* Distance to caps is 1-key

* Distance to touch bar ESC is ~3-4 keys, which is quite a bit to travel for a pinky and for me even requires forearm movement. But this is the same, touch-bar or not, so I've been remapping since before the physical ESC disappeared anyway.

This is a bigger deal for me because I use vi mode on my terminal and so I hit ESC all the time in the terminal.

Also I use Dvorak, so 70% of my keystrokes are already on the home row, so moving off the home row for something so common as ESC is much more noticeable.

Lastly - who the hell uses caps lock anyway? For short words like ESC, holding shift has now become second nature. For longer things I often type it in lowercase, select in vim, then use `U` to convert to uppercase. For not-in-vim uppercase on the internet: I just don't shout. :P

Why don't people just use Ctrl-[ instead? You don't have to remap anything, and your hands stay on the home row.

It's not even remotely a replacement: there is zero tactile/haptic response indicating you've pressed the key.

Caps lock is superior to the original escape key location, though, IMO.

Thanks but that's my ComposeKey.