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Re:New MacBook Pro models to feature magsafe, no touch bar a... by gumby on Friday January 15, 2021 @10:24AM (#25791959)
It's for people who look at the keyboard when they type. I think it would be a godsend for the low end machines. Instead they put it on the high end machines and left it off the entry level ones -- completely backwards.

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.

Re:New MacBook Pro models to feature magsafe, no touch bar a... by unethical_ban on Friday January 15, 2021 @11:38AM (#25792737)
It's for people who use the keyboard for more then typing! That's the point of the OP you responded to.

Computers are for more than essays and coding.

Re:New MacBook Pro models to feature magsafe, no touch bar a... by Pokepokalypse on Friday January 15, 2021 @01:28PM (#25794248)
True - but multimedia folks can buy separate controls for their specific needs; (for example, I use a separate volume control knob; just to have a handy way to control volume; mainly because my external keyboard's volume buttons require fn-key which is annoying when I need to respond quickly to change volume or mute.

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.

Re:New MacBook Pro models to feature magsafe, no touch bar a... by reaperducer on Friday January 15, 2021 @12:46PM (#25793650)
It's for people who look at the keyboard when they type.

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.