Sunday, October 30, 2016

Touch Bar on a new MacBook Pro

The Touch Bar is a clever piece of hardware which changes the options it presents based on the context of whatever process is currently active.  They call the surface sapphire glass or some such an it permits offering varying options and all in glowing colors.  Even if nothing else, it looks cool.

The new feature seems it will smooth the use of various applications and it's kind of slinky in that Apple way.  Probably no-one will upgrade a MacBook just for that but it does look like a Nice to Have.


So we wonder when that Nice to Have will come to other Apple keyboards.  The Touch Bar is there for MacBooks except the base model and it should go to the iMac keyboard as well.  That's the same keyboard as is used for the Desktop Pro so it's got a wide audience but, regrettably, that's the Low Profile Snakebite Keyboard which I won't use.  It creates an increased tendency toward carpal tunnel which is largely eliminated by using the classic full-size keyboard.

And that's the problem since the probability is near zero Apple will upgrade the classic keyboard to a newer version of the same thing which replaces the Function keys with a Touch Bar.


While it's just a Nice to Have, at least one aspect is quite nice since it can be used to scrub through video in Final Cut by swiping the Touch Bar.  That's more effective than the current in finding a tiny menu since there's much less eye distraction in finding the place to swipe the Touch Bar so the process is smoothened.  It's not a gigantic thing but it's something you would do many times in a video edit session so it could reduce the overall computer annoyance while it permits more effective work.  Quite nice.


There's no intention to pretend clairvoyance for Apple's next moves since it seems an obvious thing the Touch Bar will be extended to the iMac keyboard.  It also seems an obvious thing it won't be extended to the classic keyboard so I'm a bit snarked about that.  I've been a fast touch typist all my life and the classic keyboard has, to my taste, the best action so I want one with a Touch Bar.


Quite a few Macs can support MacOS Sierra and all are using some form of keyboard which does not have Touch Bar capability.  It's not a tragedy when the keyboard goes obsolete for one of these Macs since it's just one of the components and can be easily replaced ... so long as a keyboard with a Touch Bar exists.  See above.

Apple keeps pushing the Low-Profile Snakebite Keyboard as a standard and it's closest to a MacBook keyboard but laptops have always had the worst keyboards of all.

Pfft.

I want the damn classic keyboard upgraded.  Arrrggghhhh.

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