The company fixed that problem with its 2019-era MacBook Pro models, which also ejected the despised "butterfly" keyboard. Turns out that escape key is usefulĪnother widespread Touch Bar complaint, particularly among programmers, was the sacrifice of a physical escape key for the first three years of the Touch Bar's existence. The Touch Bar handles this function just fine, though it's hardly revolutionary. The only bright spot for me is occasionally scrubbing through video.
Still, I find it harder than ever to get the volume and brightness controls to respond quickly on the latest Macs. To its credit, Apple updates eased these problems. When typing numbers into a web form, my fingertips sometimes overshot and brushed against some Touch Bar button to launch some disastrous process like reloading the page. Even ardent fans would be dispirited to learn how much the Touch Bar shortens battery life and increases the MacBook Pro's already considerable cost.Įspecially in its early years, the Touch Bar was prone to false positives. My colleague Dan Ackerman isn't a big fan, but prefers the Touch Bar controls for controlling volume and brightness. I applaud Apple for experimenting, and not everyone shares my dislike. Controlling screen brightness and speaker volume is far slower with the Touch Bar than a conventional keyboard, requiring me to look down so I can jab the correct spot.Īpple promised the Touch Bar would unleash creativity with visual controls for DJs, a cornucopia of emoji choices and adaptive command menus for Photoshop. I'm a touch typist but, despite its name, you can't navigate the Touch Bar by touch. Read more: How to buy Apple's new MacBook, but it may cost you a lot So yes, I'm delighted that Apple ditched the Touch Bar in the new MacBook Pro 16-inch and 14-inch laptops with upgraded Apple silicon, which it announced at an October product event where it also unveiled the AirPods 3 and new HomePod Mini colors. When Apple announced it, then-design leader Jony Ive told CNET the Touch Bar is "the beginning of a very interesting direction." Now it's the merciful end. It's an overengineered doodad that caused problems I never had with keyboards, and it offered features I never used. It was a chance to try something new.Īlas, after months of daily use, I concluded that for me, the Touch Bar is far worse than the function keys it replaced. The narrow touch-sensitive display along the top of the keyboard certainly offered a surprising new user interface option. When Apple debuted the Touch Bar on its new MacBook Pro laptops five years ago, I was willing to give the technology giant the benefit of the doubt. The MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, introduced in 2016.
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