I think it looks kind of cool seeing the various things flying across it, but ultimately it's just a cool looking distraction, and the lack of escape key for an emacs user is death.
Oh goodness, it's wonderful. I have a Quake-style "visor" Terminal available everywhere at a touch, mapped difficult to remember key combinations (ctrl-opt-command-D for responsive design mode? really?), a button to turn toggle javascript in the browser, 1Password everywhere… frankly it's a drag going home to the external keyboard.
It gives you a limited amount of control of a second app while you have another one one fullscreen.
For example: You can use Quicktime to record yourself speaking to a set of PowerPoint slides, and then use the touchbar to end the recording without needing to exit the slideshow (leaving an ugly view of your desktop that you'd have to edit out with postprocessing afterwards).
After remapping my caps key to be both control and escape I honestly don’t know how I used to work with the real escape key. If anything, Apple should build this mapping into macOS so I don’t have to use some third-party app to do it.
- It does everything the function keys do (volume, brightness) but more. It lets you turn the volume/brightness key into a slider, or you can flick it left and right to quickly adjust.
- Replaces otherwise mostly unused row of F-keys. Let's be honest, most people never used these (at best 1-2 of the F keys).
- You can add your own buttons for quick actions
- Context sensitive touch controls based on app. Few apps support it but it's only a plus here.
- Escape key has a bigger hit box now. Granted it no longer has "physical feedback", but as someone who codes day and night on it I can assure you that you will get used to it if you simply keep an open mind.
People just hate on it as they always do with new things they are not used to. Change always comes with resistance.
It bothers me when people say this because it's just not true. And what's worse is it's just true enough that someone can argue "well you know what I meant" while still saying something entirely untrue.
The touchbar Macbook has no physical Esc key but it does still exist and works just like any other button. Nearly every image of a touchbar Macbook on Apple's website shows an Esc key plain as day on the touchbar: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/
The only people who say "touchbar Macbook doesn't have an Esc key" are either people who have never used it and have been misled by others on the Internet, or are the people who did the misleading in the first place.
You might as well criticize a smartphone keyboard because it doesn't have an Enter key or an "e" key. How can you type on a smartphone when it doesn't even have a spacebar!? A touchbar Macbook doesn't have an Esc key in the exact same way your smartphone doesn't have a spacebar. As in: it entirely does have a spacebar and anyone who says it doesn't is deliberately misleading you.
A button on a screen is still a button. The “reply” button I’m clicking on right now does not cease to exist just because it doesn’t have a physical switch under it. It’s functionality still works the same.
A context based escape touchscreen is not a fucking escape key.
I'm a daily driver of one of these crapboxes for work. IT DOES NOT HAVE AN ESC KEY. I am not misled. I am not someone who has never used it.
>You might as well criticize a smartphone keyboard because it doesn't have an Enter key or an "e" key
Yes, because everyone knows that touchscreen typing on a smartphone is the paragon experience for typing. The experience that beats all else. Clearly, I want this experience on my development machine. THANKS APPLE!
Oh wait, touchscreen typing fucking sucks. It sucks everywhere. It sucks SO badly that the ONLY place it ever became acceptable was a form factor so small that they were forced to compromise the experience to fit in screen real-estate.
Why I'd want that experience front and center on a macbook is fucking unfathomable.
So there's your criticism. "The touchbar Macbook Pro has an awful Esc key". That's true and is something worth mentioning. "The touchbar Macbook Pro does not have an escape key" is being so deliberately misleading that you might even call it a lie.
The iPad Pro does not have an escape key on the keyboard. This makes it impossible to use vim without remapping the keys. This is a fact and is a serious problem if you want to use vim on an iPad Pro smart keyboard.
The touchbar Mac does have an escape key, even if it's not one you enjoy using. It is possible to use vim with the default configuration of a touchbar Macbook Pro without remapping keys.
Again, there is no reason to lie and say "the touchbar Macbook Pro doesn't have an Esc key". You don't like it. That's fine. But if it actually doesn't exist, you should sue Apple for including it in almost all of their press pictures.
I think it looks kind of cool seeing the various things flying across it, but ultimately it's just a cool looking distraction, and the lack of escape key for an emacs user is death.