I love how they boasted about bringing back the regular keyboard. Even though they're solving a problem them created.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't? Sounds to me like they listened and changed course.

I think the parent comment is taking issue with how they frame it, not with the actual decision

What are they supposed to say? "We're sorry we tried something new and it didn't work out?"

"We listened to you and brought back the functions keys–and made them full size!"

That's just my half-assed stab at it. Presumably someone whose job is to write these things for a living can improve it meaningfully while maintaining the essence.

They said pretty much this minus the "we listened to you" part. I don't know why you need a pat on the back. Are you going to send them a thank you card for every thing they do right?

It's a company dude, Apple is not your buddy. They're not listening to you, they're listening to market research and usage analytics.

Listening to market research = listening to users.

They are trying to sell Me a product though

Yes?

Why?

Because it's the truth?

Yes, but instead of acting like bringing back the regular keyboard is an amazing achievement, they could instead just admit that the touch bar wasn't a good idea. But admitting errors is not the Apple Way.

It was a fine idea, just like 3D Touch on iPhones, that just didn't get enough use for the complexity. It was a gamble and didn't pay off.

The difference to 3D touch is that they removed existing features. I wonder what if they keep physical F keys along with Touch Bar.

Still have not solved the tinytiny inverted Tee arrow keys arrangement. Need to improve on the former IBM's 6-key cluster below the right shift key, or arrange full keysized arrows in a cross pattern breaking out of the rectangle at the lower right corner.

How are they supposed to frame it? “Sorry we messed up the keyboard. We’re putting a regular one back in.” Doesn’t seem like great phrasing for launching a new product.

I'd prefer that. But I guess that's why I'm not an apple customer

Seems fine to me.

They didn't boast. Saying many people prefer hardware keys is closer to admitting a mistake than boasting.

They were "boasting" about making the function keys taller.

Which makes sense because some of the earlier MacBook keyboards with physical keys, like the one I'm using right now, had half-height keys.

If you listen closely you can hear the IT procurement IOs being opened up en masse.

Looks like they only “got rid” of the Touch Bar for the more expensive model. Really trolling their customers now

Well, the 13" Pro already has the M1 chip and will probably be gradually replaced by the 14", so there's no reason to update it. Where's the trolling?

No they didn't? The 14 and 16 inch don't have the touchbar.

Exactly. No touch bar and cost more money

The Air doesn't have a touch bar and costs less money. It's also a perfectly good -- no, sorry: an excellent laptop for most applications, including development.

I suspect the 13" M1 Pro was probably just something to cater for those who were skeptical about a fanless laptop since no one really knew back then how well these machines would perform. Now that the M1s have been out for a while and no one seems to be complaining about the Air, they can drop the M1 Pro.