Chuq Von Rospach, a writer and former Apple employee, has penned a blog post in which he opines that customers shouldn't be forced to pay extra for the Touch Bar in order to have the highest-end MacBook Pro currently available.
After purchasing a new 5K iMac and migrating away from his late 2016 MacBook Pro, Rospach said he didn't miss the Touch Bar at all and missed the Touch ID fingerprint sensor only "a little bit," but "a lot less" than he expected to.
Via: The Loop and Techmeme
The current [MacBook Pro] line forces users to pay for the Touch Bar on the higher end devices whether they want it or not, and that's a cost users shouldn't need to pay for a niche technology without a future. So Apple needs to either roll the Touch Bar out to the entire line and convince us we want it, or roll it back and offer more laptop options without it.In other words, Rospach believes Apple should sell a 15-inch MacBook Pro configuration without a Touch Bar, and he isn't the only one with that opinion. A quick check of Twitter reveals dozens of users who believe the Touch Bar is a gimmick.
After purchasing a new 5K iMac and migrating away from his late 2016 MacBook Pro, Rospach said he didn't miss the Touch Bar at all and missed the Touch ID fingerprint sensor only "a little bit," but "a lot less" than he expected to.
Much as I love the Touch ID sensor, what keeps me from missing it much is 1Password. It's marginally more work for me to type in my password to open 1Password than use my fingerprint, but not much. My Apple Watch unlocks the Mac, and so I don't need the Touch ID sensor for that, and when I use Apple Pay on the iMac, the Watch makes that quite painless, too.Rospach thinks Apple needs to either expand Touch Bar and Touch ID to its entire Mac lineup with a new standalone keyboard, which would be compatible with iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini desktops, or expand its notebook lineup to include more models without the Touch Bar going forward.
So what's the future of the Touch Bar? I don't know. I'm not sure Apple does, either. I was fascinated that when Apple released the iMacs earlier this year not one word was mentioned about the Touch Bar or Touch ID and support for them via an updated keyboard or trackpad was nowhere to be found. I'm taking that as an indication that after the lackluster response to this with the laptop releases, they've gone back to the drawing board a bit before rolling it out further.Beyond old models, the lowest-end 13-inch model is currently the only MacBook Pro with a standard row of function keys. It starts at $1,299.
Via: The Loop and Techmeme
Tag: Touch Bar
236 comments
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
18 months ago
Incorrect. 13" non TocuhBar has been discontinued and now there is only a 15" MacBook Pro Mid 2015 without the touch bar from $1999
Nope. You are incorrect. the 13" non-touchbar Macbook Pro is definately not discountinued: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro?product=MPXT2LL/A&step=config#
Apple spent $6.6 million on lobbying the U.S. government in 2018, after spending a record $7.1 million in 2017, according to disclosure forms (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) filed with the Office of the...
DigiTimes reports today that Apple will release next-generation AirPods that include "health monitoring features" in the first half of 2019.
In terms of wireless headsets, Apple is...
Amidst increasing hype about foldable displays, Xiaomi has revealed that it is also working on its own flexible phone.
The Chinese mobile maker broke the news with a teaser video posted on...
Apple CEO Tim Cook is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, meeting with world leaders, mingling with other CEOs of major companies, attending dinners, and doing interviews.
...
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month approved for publication a trademark application from Apple for the term "iPod touch" that would extend protection to cover...
Honor, a smartphone brand owned by Huawei, today unveiled its newest device, the Honor View 20. The device launched at an event in Paris, and several tech publications were able to go hands-on with...
A U.K.-based non-profit organization, CDP, recently asked major companies to provide reports on their environmental impact with details on the risks and opportunities that climate change might...
Apple is hosting a "Shot on iPhone" photography challenge, and is asking iPhone users to submit outstanding photographs that were captured on an iPhone.
Entries are being collected...
