Macbook Pro Touch Bar: Is it just a gimmick or a useful feature?

[Baltiervaan]

Your answer is based on your preference. so let's help undecided soon-to-be mac user find which macbook pro version suits them.

 

[anon(9952201)]

not many app support touch bar yet so it might not be worth it but
it can be useful for some of the app that support it

 

[kirankannan8]

It will be useful, definitely. But it is not a game changer!

 

[Ganesh Vu]

It will revolutionary if released for usb keyboars

 

[hinesmj]

I can maybe see how it might be marginally useful, but I can't imagine it being a game changer. And I definitely don't think it's worth the price.

 

[OZsMac]

After 24 hours, I've used it a few times, but not sure it will really be that useful (time will tell), and I believe the key use case will come from mapping custom keys to the touchbar, things that you need/use regularly.

One odd use case could be is my spelling will get better, due to the auto correct inclusion, that I'm using for words that I often misspell.

TouchID on the other hand is fantastic.

 

[Baltiervaan]

yes i like the touchid even if other laptops now have fingerprint scanner before this new macbook. it is cool..

 

[RBNetEngr]

I spent some time with it at Best Buy, on two different occasions over the past three days. It's definitely a feature that has lots of potential, and makes more efficient use of the keyboard space on the laptop. The 'F' keys, with their static function assignments (and confusing mix of alternate functions on them) was a real place for improvement, and Apple came up with a great idea.

For example, when using Safari, the center of the Touch Bar becomes a soft key to enter a URL or search term. Then, after you've opened several web pages, that same section becomes a short cut way to jump between tabs, with small images of the current open tabs.

It takes a little bit of time to re-train yourself from using the mouse (or touchpad) to click on something on the screen, but once you get used to doing the same operation on the Touch Bar, it becomes very intuitive and logical to have the functions there.

One of the biggest features that I like about it is the TouchID switch to read your fingerprint, and enable the use of Apple Pay for online shopping. No longer a need to use two devices to shop online with Apple Pay.

There is also a Siri button on the Touch Bar, and Siri works very well on the new MacBook Pro. You can use your voice to open applications, perform searches, change the volume of the sound, etc. If it works that well in a loud Best Buy store, imagine how well it works in a quieter home or office setting!

 

[angusmatheson]

It will revolutionary if released for usb keyboars

I love the idea of a touchbar equipped external keyboard! (Although the I bet it would cost a couple of 100 dollars!)