Your finger never slipped and hit the "play" button by mistake, blasting the last song you played at max volume directly into your ear. Happened dozens of times in the first year of having a touchbar (work laptop, not my decision), super jarring every time. Decades of having a physical "play" function button hooked up to do the same thing and it didn't happen once.

I can't say this has ever happened, but I have fairly skinny fingers. I can see how it would though.

Same. I had to remove all of the volume and media buttons and Siri from my Touch Bar prior to upgrading to M1. Interesting idea, poor execution, and no followup.

My work machine has one, and I use it to display status information, give me a proper Rub Out key, and for soft keys to insert certain Unicode and macros that I need occasionally, but not often enough to remember.

I think it would have been better accepted if Apple make it more customizable right out of the box, instead of relying on half-baked solutions from tinkerers to program it.

In my opinion, it should also have been in addition to the function keys, not a replacement.

The problem I have with the touchbar isn't the existence of it, it's that apparently my keyboard posture is terrible and I float fingers up their periodically. Because there's no force requirement for activation, I would keep triggering buttons. I could turn it off, but there are a few of the command/f buttons I use regularly, and so am stuck with it.

Hence, it's a nuisance. Not something I go insane about like some do, but it is a very definite day-to-day annoyance.

> apparently my keyboard posture is terrible and I float fingers up their periodically

Same. The short time I was exposed to the touchbar it felt like I was constantly being berated for my keyboard posture. Apparently the "at rest" position of my left hand leaves my middle/ring fingers hovering over the escape key (I had the earlier model that didn't have a physical escape key).

Not to mention losing access to the physical f-keys decimated my custom hotkey usage for certain software.

For me it’s my little fingers :D

The internet disproportionally reflects the most extreme views.

I think it's mildly disappointing and I won't miss it.

Oh yeah I won't miss it either but some people seem to hold rather extreme emotion over a touchbar :) . That said it is easy to be hyperbolic on the internet.

False dichotomy; I alternate between ignoring it AND being annoyed by it

I've had a touchbar on my work macbook for ~3 years and can't say I care at all. I use the touchbar controls without issue, the non-physical escape key is irrelevant to me (actually I find press-and-hold on the virtual escape key to be in some ways more pleasant). I use the touchbar zoom controls pretty regularly to leave meetings, I use the touchbar screen lock button probably 8x per day, its completely fine.

Genuinely curious, how did you avoid using it ?

I'd imagine changing brightness or sound volume + mute/unmute only with on screen controls and/or keyboards shortcuts could work, but that's a lot of shortcuts to remember for stuff that are only done a few times a day.

If it was an addition it would have been fine. Instead it replaced the escape key and all the function keys.