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New 13" Macbook w/ Touchbar or Old 15" Macbook Retina for Designing?

over 6 years ago from Sandeep Sharma, Full-TIme User-Interface Designer

  • Matt RintoulMatt Rintoul, over 6 years ago

    I bought a 15" with the touch bar to replace my 2011 MBP. In my opinion the touch bar is a significant blunder on Apple's part.

    In practice, I almost never look down at my keyboard, so I never look at the touch bar. Since there is no physical feel to the buttons, it's very hard to find the right button to press, and most of the time I end up hunting with my finger hovered over the touch bar, because the slightest touch will activate some other button by mistake.

    The most frustrating use cases include how easy it is to accidentally tap brightness down when trying to find the escape key, and accidentally holding down the escape key while resting my hand near the edge of the computer when it's on my lap.

    7 points
    • Sean LesterSean Lester, over 6 years ago

      Yeah... I had/have the sense that I would never get use out of the touch bar. The only time I've seen the new macbook in person was when a guy brought one in to show his work for an interview and... it's pretty comically small.

      1 point
    • Ben Digman, over 6 years ago

      I find the touchbar crazy useful and way more helpful than the function keys were but I definitely don't think it should be considered a reason to pick up the laptop.

      1 point
      • Matt RintoulMatt Rintoul, over 6 years ago

        If it had force touch like the iPhone, I'd find it significantly more useful.

        0 points
      • Mario RocchiMario Rocchi, over 6 years ago

        I'm using an iMac now, and use a lot the F3 and CMD+F3. Can you do that with the touch bar? or any other alternative to do it?

        1 point
        • Ben Digman, over 6 years ago

          I imagine so. The function keys haven't gone anywhere, you simply press the fn key to display them.

          0 points
    • Powers Gray, over 6 years ago

      I don't understand why the touch bar isn't blank and just simply a sensor. In my mind you'd hover your finger over the bar and a UI would pop up on the screen...that way you wouldn't have to look down.

      0 points