Apple swipes left on the last Touch Bar Mac, replaces it with a pricier 14″ model
- Reference: 1698800232
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/01/apple_kills_off_touchpad/
- Source link:
[1]Introduced in 2016 alongside some slimmed down, USB-C-only, MacBook Pros, the Touch Bar – an OLED display strip situated at the top of the keyboard – was Apple’s only attempt at a touch-enabled Mac interface.
The Touch Bar occupied the top-of-keyboard space where a row of Function keys would usually be found. The device could display shortcut keys to control screen brightness, audio volume, and media playback, or be made to display standard Function keys.
[2]
The Touch Bar could also dynamically display controls relevant to whichever application Mac users were working in. When using Adobe Photoshop, for example, the Touch Bar would show useful controls and shortcuts specific to that application.
[3]
[4]
It was a slick idea in concept, but it was far from perfect. In addition to the occasional glitch, and overall lack of consistency from one piece of software to another, the Touch Bar meant Apple made the questionable design decision to omit a physical ESC key. While the hardware escape key was eventually added back in later revisions, Function keys still had to be accessed by holding down the Fn key.
With that said, the Touch Bar may have been the most reliable part of that generation of MacBook's keyboard. The butterfly switches found on most Touch Bar models up until [5]2020 failed with such frequency that it was the subject of a class action lawsuit that eventually netted a [6]$50 million settlement from Cupertino.
[7]
Personally, my biggest gripe with the Touch Bar during the two years I used it was the overall lack of tactility. Because it replaced the top row of keys with an indistinct plate of glass, and its contents changed depending on what you were doing, using it required looking away from the screen and down at the keyboard.
Customers could customize the Touch Bar to behave more like past MacBook keyboards, however doing so kind of defeated the purpose of having a context-aware human interface device attached to your laptop. Apps like BetterTouchTool allowed you to customize the Tool Bar exactly to your liking, and if you really wanted there was even an app to put [8]Nyan Cat on the tiny screen.
[9]Biden's facing the clock to veto Apple Watch import ban after ITC patent ruling
[10]Side channel attacks take bite out of Apple silicon with iLeakage exploit
[11]Apple lifts the sheet on a trio of 'scary fast' M3 SoCs built on a 3nm process
[12]Intel's PC chip ship is sinking with Arm-ada on the horizon
Despite this, the Touch Bar persisted long after Apple abandoned the concept on its flagship MacBook range. The feature's days have been numbered since the [13]launch of Apple's redesigned 14- and 16-inch MacBooks in late 2021, which brought back the physical Function and shortcut keys.
For the past two years, Apple has effectively kept the Touch Bar Mac on life support. The system received its final heart transplant last year with the launch of [14]Apple's M2 SoC.
On Monday, Apple [15]announced its M3 family of processors alongside refreshed iMacs and MacBook Pros. However, the 13-inch MacBook Pro wasn't one of them. Apple's entry level MacBook Pro had been replaced by a stripped down 14-inch model with an M3, 8GB of memory, 256GB of storage, two USB-4 ports, a single cooling fan, and a higher starting price of $1,599.
[16]
Those mourning the demise of the Touch Bar, the feature still technically exists in software, accessible when using Apple's Sidecar [17]feature to turn an iPad into an external display. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2016/10/27/apple_touch_bar_macbook_pro_beckons/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZUHbd@Lfat6RhgW1pljb2gAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZUHbd@Lfat6RhgW1pljb2gAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZUHbd@Lfat6RhgW1pljb2gAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/04/macbook_pro_apple_escape_keyboard/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/04/macbook_pro_apple_escape_keyboard/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZUHbd@Lfat6RhgW1pljb2gAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://github.com/avatsaev/touchbar_nyancat
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/27/apple_watch_import_ban/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/26/ileakage_apple_exploit/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/apple_m3_cpus_macbook_pro_imac/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/30/arm_intel_comment/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/18/apple_macbook_pro/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/10/apples_m2_chip/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/apple_m3_cpus_macbook_pro_imac/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZUHbd@Lfat6RhgW1pljb2gAAAFg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210380
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I actually liked the touch bar...
...when it worked.
I've had half a dozen machines with them now - and for anyone thinking "that's a lot of macs to have in the short space of time since it was introduced" - you're right. Every. Single. One. Developed some sort of keyboard, touchpad, or touchbar related fault and had to be replaced within a year.
When it was working tho, l did like it. Not enough to buy a machine with it, after the experience I've had with the ones work issued me mind you.
Typical apple
It's typical of Apple to add a feature that looks cool but ultimately isn't /that/ useful. I had a Mac with an early touchbar and it looked fancy but I just didn't really find a need for it long term.
btw I believe Apple was using an Imagination PowerVR GPU to display its touchbar and continued to do so even after making a big song and dance about ditching Imagination to use its own home-grown GPUs for its stuff, which would have been a bit infuriating for ImgTech
poor idea, should have never got out of the testing labs
Honestly, this was a terrible idea. With proper wider testing and focus groups they likely never would have introduced this.
A keyboard that has contextual keys that change depending on the app focus. So much for touch typing and not looking at keyboard.
Providing context by a right clicking of a file is a great UI. The context is right next to the file you are looking at so closer to hand.
Having contextual row of non-tactile keys was simply a horrible idea. Made for a cool demo, but that's about it.
Re: poor idea, should have never got out of the testing labs
A keyboard that has contextual keys that change depending on the app focus. So much for touch typing and not looking at the keyboard.
Got news for ya, Bucky: all app-available function keys, Apple's or IBM's, have focus-dependent meanings. You ought to know which app is currently-focused, because you are looking at the screen if you're touch-typing!
Midnight Commander: F10 == Exit. Emacs: F10 == Invoke Menu. Etc. Frequent function-key use develops muscle-memory.
It wasn't a bad idea
But, as the author points out, the execution left a lot to be desired. I've often thought that if someone could combine those braille things where the different bumps can be done dynamically, and scale it up so you could create physical buttons on a touch screen in a dynamic way... then you'd be onto something. Like a plastic layer that sits over the display and you can puff up parts of it with air, or run a small current through it to make it take a specific shape. The tech may not be there yet, but if you could create physical buttons that pop into being as-needed, it'd be like the next best thing to a holographic interface that can be displayed mid-air. Which is the next best thing to focus follows mind.
Also... the butterfly keyboards... I remember starting a new job and being given one of those. The spacebar was broken, so I take it to the helpdesk and they just glance at it and then start into a rehearsed spiel about how the best they can do is try to blow some compressed air under the keycaps. I stopped them and pointed out this was something else entirely. The spacebar went down, it just didn't register when it did. Then suddenly they were interested in my situation again. Can't really blame them though, if I heard people coming in with the same complaint day in and day out like they did, I'd probably just mentally check out and repeat some rehearsed line too.