Super happy to see this rumor confirmed. Apple is at its best when it pioneers new interface paradigms.
I spend my day in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign. I can imagine this interface could be leveraged by Adobe to continuously control things like Opacity, Color, Smoothing, Hardness, etc of tools in these artistic applications. Lets get this tech built inn to the Bluetooth Keyboard. Maybe it will be driven by open APIs, allowing 3rd party touch screen controllers without having to roll their own engines (Like AirDisplay or AstroPad)
My companion hope here is that the new trackpads are Pencil-compatible. Right hand with Pencil/Trackpad, left hand on the touch bar and keyboard for zoom/rotate/brush size or whatever, and I'd sell both of my Intuous Pros.
13inch slightly wider for speakers, possibly narrow bezel, leading to maybe closer to 14inch screen. Plus touch bar driven by Apple Ax that will also drive low power cloud sync and maybe eSIM cellular. Hopefully dedicated GPU.
Looks like I might be upgrading slightly sooner than I thought.
I am weirdly excited by this touch bar thingy. In a very vague way it reminds me of the old Moog Ribbon Controller that they sold for their modular synths. Keith Emerson was a user.
Believe it or not Moog makes an excellent reproduction of this in an app they sell and it includes the ribbon controller. And it's a fantastic sounding app to boot.
Oh, and regarding Touch ID on a computer, under current law it would be foolish to use this as one can be legally compelled to use their fingerprint to unlock a phone or computer, but one cannot be compelled to provide a password.
Oh, and regarding Touch ID on a computer, under current law it would be foolish to use this as one can be legally compelled to use their fingerprint to unlock a phone or computer, but one cannot be compelled to provide a password.
1) OK, when you go to use it then hold down the button and it will like turn off after a few seconds. Then, a password will be required after a restart.
2) I've long since wished Apple would include a poison-finger option with Touch ID.
Here's a possibly dumb question... where's the power button? Is it the touch ID that acts as power button too? If so, it's (necessarily) unmarked, so that might be confusing for noobs. Hmm...
Here's a possibly dumb question... where's the power button? Is it the touch ID that acts as power button too? If so, it's (necessarily) unmarked, so that might be confusing for noobs. Hmm…
1) Since Apple's On buttons have been in the upper-right corner for who knows how long, and it's 4(?) years since Apple moved the power button to the keyboard, I'm assuming that the right corner of the OLED display strip works as a physical button, too. If that's not feasible, they'll move it to the case like it was before. Either way, this is something you learn and remember immediately.
2) For me, the bigger question since I hoped for and tried to figure out the logistics of getting Touch ID (and then Apple Pay) on a Mac notebook is how you carry this(these) feature(s) over to Mac desktops with BT connected keybaords. With the iPhone and iPad the Secure Enclave for Touch ID and Secure Element for Apple Pay, it's built into the device proper. This makes it easily transferable to a Mac notebook. With the iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro do you put Touch ID with the Secure Enclave and Secure Element for Apple Pay on the Mac itself so that the "chain of data" can be maintained, or do you add a lot of complexity to your BT keyboard? With the OLED display, we know they have to use at least one ARM chip to drive the display element of the BT keyboard. If they are going to do that, they could add the aforementioned features, but I wonder about price, battery life, and security now that your Touch ID and Apple Pay usage will need to be transmitted via BT to the Mac. Apple could devise a trusted system and potentially have a stripped down version of watchOS in the keyboard just to deal with this. We know that watchOS 3 can already be used with Apple Pay on current Macs in Safari running Sierra, so Apple does have a wireless method for at least one of those.
Super happy to see this rumor confirmed. Apple is at its best when it pioneers new interface paradigms.
I spend my day in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign. I can imagine this interface could be leveraged by Adobe to continuously control things like Opacity, Color, Smoothing, Hardness, etc of tools in these artistic applications. Lets get this tech built inn to the Bluetooth Keyboard. Maybe it will be driven by open APIs, allowing 3rd party touch screen controllers without having to roll their own engines (Like AirDisplay or AstroPad)
My companion hope here is that the new trackpads are Pencil-compatible. Right hand with Pencil/Trackpad, left hand on the touch bar and keyboard for zoom/rotate/brush size or whatever, and I'd sell both of my Intuous Pros.
I'm currently a Windows user and have been waiting to buy a new laptop to develop on for a while now. I liked the look of the Surface Book but I've been holding off as I've been waiting for the new MacBook Pro's as I've heard such good things about the product line. Whilst I love the idea of this magic touch bar, I have a serious concern with it for my needs. I'm not sure if any of you are developers but the function keys are a very important part, especially when it comes to debugging. Most of the time you automatically move your hand to the F5-F8 range to step over, step into etc. Now though, you'll have to look down at the bar to figure out where you're supposed to be touching. Also, stepping through lots of lines of code and tapping the flat surface over and over must get very tiring on the fingers? I guess you could say the same thing for lots of tapping when playing games on your phone, but I don't play games for 8 hours a day whereas I do this all day.
It's not even been officially announced yet so I guess I'll wait and see and have a play before making my final decision, but I think I'll have a difficult decision considering comfort and ease-of-use when it comes time to choosing one now this is all but confirmed. I almost wish they'd chosen a half-way house (whatever that would have been!)
Super happy to see this rumor confirmed. Apple is at its best when it pioneers new interface paradigms.
I spend my day in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign. I can imagine this interface could be leveraged by Adobe to continuously control things like Opacity, Color, Smoothing, Hardness, etc of tools in these artistic applications. Lets get this tech built inn to the Bluetooth Keyboard. Maybe it will be driven by open APIs, allowing 3rd party touch screen controllers without having to roll their own engines (Like AirDisplay or AstroPad)
My companion hope here is that the new trackpads are Pencil-compatible. Right hand with Pencil/Trackpad, left hand on the touch bar and keyboard for zoom/rotate/brush size or whatever, and I'd sell both of my Intuous Pros.
I can definitely see a LOT of cool functionality added to that bar. There's something to be said for certain physical controls, though, and I don't understand why we can't have it both ways.
Who says there can't be more controls in that control bar than you would have in a conventional keyboard? Or fewer, that are wider/more clearly denoted?
How about never having to deal with app-specific "helper" skins, or onscreen keyboard legends, ever again?
I, too, cannot wait!
Like I said, I can definitely see a LOT of functionality added to that bar, but there is something to be said both for physical buttons and as I also said, multiple ports and MagSafe, especially for pro users. I'm sure a third party will come up with a solution, the same as third parties came up with fixing some of the previous gesture changes on the Mac (shame they can't fix the iOS 10 gesture and interface blunders, as I'm sure anyone using the new version of control panel on an iPad Pro 12 can attest to). No fix to the growing dongle issue, though, unfortunately.
Again, it's still very exciting, and I can begin to imagine the "row" of possibilities. (GarageBand's iPad controllers come to mind, along with all sorts of programmable options). We'll see soon enough.
I'm currently a Windows user and have been waiting to buy a new laptop to develop on for a while now. I liked the look of the Surface Book but I've been holding off as I've been waiting for the new MacBook Pro's as I've heard such good things about the product line. Whilst I love the idea of this magic touch bar, I have a serious concern with it for my needs. I'm not sure if any of you are developers but the function keys are a very important part, especially when it comes to debugging. Most of the time you automatically move your hand to the F5-F8 range to step over, step into etc. Now though, you'll have to look down at the bar to figure out where you're supposed to be touching. Also, stepping through lots of lines of code and tapping the flat surface over and over must get very tiring on the fingers? I guess you could say the same thing for lots of tapping when playing games on your phone, but I don't play games for 8 hours a day whereas I do this all day.
It's not even been officially announced yet so I guess I'll wait and see and have a play before making my final decision, but I think I'll have a difficult decision considering comfort and ease-of-use when it comes time to choosing one now this is all but confirmed. I almost wish they'd chosen a half-way house (whatever that would have been!)
Some good points.
The problem with function keys is that they're fixed. In the bad old days, newbies had to remember that F5 stepped forward, and F6 stepped into a function. Now when you start your debugger, the OLED bar can actually say 'step forward' and 'step into'. Secondly, the debugger can make the buttons larger than function keys (and function keys are tiny these days), which makes them easier to hit.
I personally don't find typing on a flat surface tiring as I tend to just tap the screen, instead of trying to drive my finger through it. If there is some kind of feedback when a key is tapped then I think folk will get used to it fairly quickly.
I agree, that bevel is shockingly thick and looks so outdated now... really spoils the look of the MacBook. i love my MacBook but have to say that companies like HP are producing far more beautiful laptops and desktops than Apple. Apple are loosing the edge in design/aesthetics and as time passes by, they seem to be getting worse sadly...
Why does it say MacBook Pro under the screen? They haven't had that on there for about four years.
They should put it back otherwise the MacBook just looks like any other laptop in the market from a distance. Was really surprised when they removed it. I always really liked it
This shiz looks hideous!! All I have to say is Apple better bring it, no holding back. If the damn thing is actually going to look this ugly, it better have PHENOMENAL, i mean PHENOMENAL sound, and touch id control, extremely fast cpu, maybe even some specially developed A-series rather than kabby junk intel chip. Wifi better be next generation CD, and sorry but if there is only one, nay, even if there is 2 usb c ports, it's not enough. Actually Apple simply doesn't have the clout anymore to push consumers around with this "leaving stuff out" attitude. They need to go all out. Now or never.
Comments
Steve Ballmer?
I can't fucking wait to get rid of my Dashboard key.
Plus touch bar driven by Apple Ax that will also drive low power cloud sync and maybe eSIM cellular.
Hopefully dedicated GPU.
Looks like I might be upgrading slightly sooner than I thought.
2) I've long since wished Apple would include a poison-finger option with Touch ID.
2) For me, the bigger question since I hoped for and tried to figure out the logistics of getting Touch ID (and then Apple Pay) on a Mac notebook is how you carry this(these) feature(s) over to Mac desktops with BT connected keybaords. With the iPhone and iPad the Secure Enclave for Touch ID and Secure Element for Apple Pay, it's built into the device proper. This makes it easily transferable to a Mac notebook. With the iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro do you put Touch ID with the Secure Enclave and Secure Element for Apple Pay on the Mac itself so that the "chain of data" can be maintained, or do you add a lot of complexity to your BT keyboard? With the OLED display, we know they have to use at least one ARM chip to drive the display element of the BT keyboard. If they are going to do that, they could add the aforementioned features, but I wonder about price, battery life, and security now that your Touch ID and Apple Pay usage will need to be transmitted via BT to the Mac. Apple could devise a trusted system and potentially have a stripped down version of watchOS in the keyboard just to deal with this. We know that watchOS 3 can already be used with Apple Pay on current Macs in Safari running Sierra, so Apple does have a wireless method for at least one of those.
It's not even been officially announced yet so I guess I'll wait and see and have a play before making my final decision, but I think I'll have a difficult decision considering comfort and ease-of-use when it comes time to choosing one now this is all but confirmed. I almost wish they'd chosen a half-way house (whatever that would have been!)
>:x
It looks like is going to give us a trick and a treat
>:x
Like I said, I can definitely see a LOT of functionality added to that bar, but there is something to be said both for physical buttons and as I also said, multiple ports and MagSafe, especially for pro users. I'm sure a third party will come up with a solution, the same as third parties came up with fixing some of the previous gesture changes on the Mac (shame they can't fix the iOS 10 gesture and interface blunders, as I'm sure anyone using the new version of control panel on an iPad Pro 12 can attest to). No fix to the growing dongle issue, though, unfortunately.
Again, it's still very exciting, and I can begin to imagine the "row" of possibilities. (GarageBand's iPad controllers come to mind, along with all sorts of programmable options). We'll see soon enough.
Just pondering...
The problem with function keys is that they're fixed. In the bad old days, newbies had to remember that F5 stepped forward, and F6 stepped into a function. Now when you start your debugger, the OLED bar can actually say 'step forward' and 'step into'. Secondly, the debugger can make the buttons larger than function keys (and function keys are tiny these days), which makes them easier to hit.
I personally don't find typing on a flat surface tiring as I tend to just tap the screen, instead of trying to drive my finger through it. If there is some kind of feedback when a key is tapped then I think folk will get used to it fairly quickly.