However, it's quite handy when doing multimedia work with applications that integrate with the touchbar (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop)

Many times more useful are tactile programmable keys like what I get on an Elgato Stream Deck, or other dedicated hardware. The touch bar is useless since it's one solid strip. Creatives don't like staring at their keyboards either.

I was personally very excited when they announced the touchbar but having lived with it for 5 years now, I hate it. And I do a lot of media work, mostly in Ableton Live but also Adobe Lightroom and others.

I just bought a new Macbook Air and I was very happy that the feature of not having the bar was cheaper as it was something I would have gladly paid money for.

I also use Ableton and Lightroom a reasonable amount (neither are my day job though), and am constantly left wishing that they integrated with the touchbar. I have a midi controller that I use for sliding controls in both when at my desk, but I don't take it when I'm out and about, which is where having the ability to adjust analog controls (sliders/dials) with the touchbar would be incredibly useful.

I personally never used the F keys for anything so don't really care if they are there or not (I use them just for brightness and mute) but the Touch Bar was too sensitive. And while I initially thought it would be cool to have an extra status display, a display someplace nobody ever looks is pretty useless.

Computers are for more than essays and coding.

So the touch bar might be great for SOME purposes in multimedia, not for others; but a variety of VERY CHEAP peripherals are available for these purposes - no need for a one-size-fits-all integrated approach.

That's a pretty narrow view.

I've been a touch typer for many decades now (had to pass a minimum WPM score on an IBM Selectric to get my journalism degree), and I find the touchbar quite useful.

The problem is that you have to customize it. And the tools Apple supplies are inadequate.

In my case, I have a bunch of "keys" on the touchbar that trigger various macros.

Building a major change for one small set of users ("people who look at the keyboard") isn't how Apple does things.

Zoom, for instance, puts the mic, camera, and share desktop buttons right where f1-f3 should go. If they were actual keys it wouldn't matter, but since they're touch sensitive, I have to suddenly be very conscious of where I rest my hands or else risk sending content I do not want to a meeting.

The hypothetical advantages of that usecase are negated by the lack of physical F-keys, which are critical to start/stop/step through code.

Personally I think key with screens on them sounds interesting / novel / fun, at least for a week or two, maybe longer.

And these computers are not purely for power users.