Wow so this isn't even 'new' on the Macbook... I had no idea the gen 2 carbon did this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ5rX6WpxTk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimus_Maximus_keyboard
https://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/maximus/
They were pretty expensive, and looks like they've all been sold-out and are no longer manufactured.
(Because your USB-C headset can't be used on an iPhone, and iPhone doesn't have a headphone jack that MacBook still has, either -- so much for sacrificing the regular USB ports so that we can all quickly switch to USB-C!)
P.S. Yes, I can use the same headset on MacBook and Android -- either the headphone jack or USB-C work great on both.
I really hope they release an Apple Silicon MacBook still without Touch Bar.
A lot of people use MacBook Pros for software development and Terminal access, and F1-F12 keys are often mapped to specific functions, from console software in Terminal, to cross-platform web browsers, to VirtualBox and such. It's not that difficult to remember which Fn key stands for which functions if you're a professional, it's easier to document Fn than the special case of a pictogram that's only available on select hardware, and Fn is 100% backwards-compatible, cross-platform and supported through Terminal OSS applications, plus much faster to use if you're a professional.
If you're a non-professional user who's never used F1-F12? Yes, sure, the TouchBar might be distractingly enjoyable to look at.
See here for the whiny text file I've been keeping notes in: https://gist.github.com/Efreak/d0d327517ab806e2abc9f193ad5ea...
The fact that Touch Bar is a "premium" feature, yet many folks would pay MORE to NOT have it, shows you that Apple merely doesn't want to admit the defeat, because there'd be plenty of people who'd pay more just to get the newer hardware without giving up the physical keys.
P.S. The same actually goes for the oversized Trackpad on the latest 2019 MacBook Pro 16" as well: I've enabled Tap to click on MBP16 as on all my prior MacBook laptops for years, and I'm getting phantom clicks everywhere all the time now; it's really annoying, and one of the reasons why 16GB Quad-Core 2020 MacBook Air 13" is on the only decent MacBook out there, even if you have an unlimited budget to spend -- I wish they'd at least offer more RAM on it, if that's their only actual professional machine at the end of the day!
If people want the touch bar, fine, have a separate SKU for that, but at least give those of us who want a real keyboard the option to have one.
It feels to me like Apple should have taken an "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" approach. There was, and is, nothing wrong with a traditional keyboard, yet for some reason they decided that changing something so fundamental was a good idea. In fact I would probably be less miffed if their systems came setup with Dvorak, at least it's possible to argue reasons why it was a good decision.
I wish Lenovo would follow suit. Currently, Lenovo doesn't even sell separate SKUs for non-en-US keyboard layout even on external keyboards, not to mention keyboards already integrated into the laptops. But in any case, I'd rather have the physical keys than the TouchBar strip, even if accompanied by a laser-etched keyboard layout of my choice.
From your link:
> I'd recommend BetterTouchTool and things like finger swipes for volume up/down and brightness up/down and showing things like Spotify.
That sounds less good than function keys. If that's the best pitch for the touch bar, that is the very definition of damning with faint praise.