Apple leaks new MacBook Pro with touch strip

[AlTech]

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

MacBook Pro is aimed, as the name suggest, at least used to be aimed, at professionals. Professionals tend to use complex software that require the usage of F# keys, and usually the user doesn't really look at the keyboard when pressing them. Now, you won't be able to feel the keys, and might hit 2x F# keys or miss the key you wanted to press (hitting another F# key next to it). It will be annoying to use.

 

I wonder if Apple purposefully leaked this image 2 days in advance to get this downside pointing done, so that it is not talked about at or after the reveal, as if it has been forgotten, and allow the people not following such news not know about the design flaw until they already bought the product... and see that they can't get used to it, well after the return period ends.

Now, MacBook Pros are aimed at power users and people who try to get work done. Professionals just buy it anyways.........

[michaelocarroll007]

15 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

If it was 2004-05 it would be shit. 

Yeah but there going to make a YUGE deal about how awesome they are for thinking of putting fingerprints on a laptop when it was done to many over 10 years ago  and many since then has had this 

[Jovidah]

Honestly...which demented monkey thought it was a good idea to get rid of the F-keys?! Why not just get rid of the space bar and enter key while you're at it?

 

Really... years ago I once worked on a Microsoft keyboard that had its F-keys in groups of 3 instead of 4... that already bugged the hell out of me. With this you'll never be able to use them blind. Form over function it is apparently?

Admittedly, I wouldn't be buying this anyway, but a keyboard (or laptop) without F-keys would be a serious dealbreaker to me.

[RedRound2]

17 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

I don't get the utility of this features. I mean it is cool... but it more of a gimmick.

 

How the hell is it a gimmick? There are endless possibilities of what you can do with touch strip like download progress, notifications (It doesnt take up screen anymore), dynamic shortcuts which will be incredibly useful to so many people including professionals

17 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

You'll play for it for a month.. I am sure you'll visualization and such on it, but ultimately it would be distracting.

1

Distracting? Turn on DnD. Hell normal notifications are distracting and you're just pointing out the obvious which can easily be solved

17 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

I guess, it can be made, so that for example, PhotoShop can show you direct access items on it, but I think any professional already knows the keyboard shortcuts.

 

A slider bar to increase brush size, macros for most used functions (with actual names rather than F#)

17 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

It is nice to see Apple implementing TouchID.. finally joining 2004-05? tech. Better late than ever, I guess.

lol, 2005 tech. Fingerprint scanners used to suck so bad until Apple brought out Touch ID in the iPhone (and yes that was innovative). In fact most laptops dropped it around 2008-10 becasue it was bad and today you'll see very little laptops having a fingerprint scanner. But fret not, since Apple's implementing it, Surface 5 (on device) and pretty much every windows laptops should have it next year and then you can go on praising for implementation of Windows Hello

 

And this is innovative (doing something different with a lot of application and usage scenarios) and I'm pretty sure many OEM are going to implement this in some form or the other in their next laptops

5 hours ago, Bsmith said:

For power users it's also nice if the strip changes properly along with the functions of the software, but on the other hand it's something else that is more easily to break.

2

What do you mean by 'break'. Have you ever broken a glass by touching it?

[RedRound2]

7 hours ago, pk-man said:

Didn't lenovo implement something like this?

 

Anyways, never a fan of touch buttons.  The top bar will be great for sending the user ads reminders though lol. 

 

Will it have more than 1 USB port?

 

According to rumors it's going to have four Type-Cs of which two will be thunderbolt enabled

[Nineshadow]

[79wjd]

2 hours ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

Yeah but there going to make a YUGE deal about how awesome they are for thinking of putting fingerprints on a laptop when it was done to many over 10 years ago  and many since then has had this 

Something doesn't need to be new for it to be innovative. If something was shit and then all of a sudden it's good, I'd still call that innovative. 

3 minutes ago, Nineshadow said:

-snip-

Sierra allows the esc key to be remapped in the settings menu. 

[RedRound2]

13 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

I think the reason why Apple is still not releasing a touchscreen Mac is because there's no widespread adoption even with Windows PCs. I mean, most OEMs are still shipping laptops with no touchscreens, not to mention the plummeting PC sales that Windows 10 failed to address so I can see why Apple is not doing the same. 

 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, Muffinator said:

People asked for a touchscreen and they gave us this.

Touchscreen os PCs have been useless IMO. One, there isn't any proper interface which is finger friendly (forget modern UI, its shit) and Apple would have to screw up macOS just like how MS screwed windows.

Second, People who do have touchscreen mainly use it for scrolling and zooming because trackpads in windows devices sucks, which isn't the case with MBs.

The only reason why people like Linus keep believing in touchscreens on PCs is because he is used to his touchscreen laptop for scrolling (even I find myself reaching out the screen when I use non-touch windows devices, but I never have an issue when I use a Mac because trackpad scrolling works same if not better)

People like Linus just need to get used break their 'reaching out to the screen' habit and understand that Apple trackpads aren't as shitty as Windows trackpads 

[Bsmith]

9 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

What do you mean by 'break'. Have you ever broken a glass by touching it?

as restaurant worker I can say yes, but that's another story.
I meant in the direction of software application and developing of programs that make use of this new bar, since they now need to make their own icons for it and apoint space for the icons, but what if space is left blank? or a function overrides other icons? or due to a hardware/software problem the bar doesn't function as intended?
it's a nice thing, but on the development side it can bring alot of headache.

[RedRound2]

2 minutes ago, Bsmith said:

as restaurant worker I can say yes, but that's another story.
I meant in the direction of software application and developing of programs that make use of this new bar, since they now need to make their own icons for it and apoint space for the icons, but what if space is left blank?

4

Pretty sure there will be a default set of customizable shortcuts you can make that'll appear when the program you run doesn't support it

2 minutes ago, Bsmith said:

Or due to a hardware/software problem the bar doesn't function as intended?
it's a nice thing, but on the development side it can bring alot of headache.

3

Again pretty sure Apple just roll out an api with it so developers can easily make use of it. Again since it's Apple, there isn't much variation across devices so everything should mostly work fine

[Bsmith]

Just now, RedRound2 said:

Pretty sure there will be a default set of customizable shortcuts you can make that'll appear when the program you run doesn't support it

Again pretty sure Apple just roll out an api with it so developers can easily make use of it. Again since it's Apple, there isn't much variation across devices so everything should mostly work fine

I don't doubt that, I know how much apple prepares that stuff and takes care of the fact that it won't break easily, but like I said earlier, I won't judge until I see a proper demo or have the possibility to try it myself.

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, Bsmith said:

I don't doubt that, I know how much apple prepares that stuff and takes care of the fact that it won't break easily, but like I said earlier, I won't judge until I see a proper demo or have the possibility to try it myself.

What I'd be more concerned with in the new Macs is cooling/keyboard. Rumors show it being thinner, as it is, the cooling on the Pros is basically at its limits when under heavy load; and butterfly switches are just bad imo.

[Bsmith]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

What I'd be more concerned with in the new Macs is cooling/keyboard. Rumors show it being thinner, and as it is, the cooling on the Pros is basically at its limits.

I'm personally not to worried about that, on my 2014 pro I ran LoL a few times for fun, high settings, constant 60FPS locked, the fans did turn up but couldnt be heard above the sounds of the game.

[79wjd]

8 minutes ago, Bsmith said:

I'm personally not to worried about that, on my 2014 pro I ran LoL a few times for fun, high settings, constant 60FPS locked, the fans did turn up but couldnt be heard above the sounds of the game.

Yeah, but I'm talking about when they slim everything down. I've personally never had my late 2013 rMBP throttle or have heat issues either, but that doesn't mean there's a whole lot of headroom there.

[GoodBytes]

52 minutes ago, RedRound2 said:

How the hell is it a gimmick? There are endless possibilities of what you can do with touch strip like download progress, notifications (It doesnt take up screen anymore),

dynamic shortcuts which will be incredibly useful to so many people including professionals

I guess because I am a Windows user... I have all this on my task bar already. And my keyboard has media keys.

 

Quote

Distracting? Turn on DnD. Hell normal notifications are distracting and you're just pointing out the obvious which can easily be solved

Well, don't turn on notification when a mouse of a friend moves to alert you... that would help things in getting notification that truly matter.

 

Quote

A slider bar to increase brush size, macros for most used functions (with actual names rather than F#)

Software have shortcuts which are usually standard between programs of similar type. Now I am not a PhotoShop expert, or ever really used the software. But a quick Google search shows that indeed there is a shortcut for brush size.

 

Quote

lol, 2005 tech. Fingerprint scanners used to suck so bad until Apple brought out Touch ID in the iPhone (and yes that was innovative). In fact most laptops dropped it around 2008-10 becasue it was bad and today you'll see very little laptops having a fingerprint scanner. But fret not, since Apple's implementing it, Surface 5 (on device) and pretty much every windows laptops should have it next year and then you can go on praising for implementation of Windows Hello

Yes... every month, technology gets better and better. It is always normal that newer technologies are better than older ones (usually).

Finger print reader got better over time, in both hardware and software (including security).

 

Finger print reader were always on laptops. You have to look at business class systems, and OEMs thinks that common user would not be interested in such feature, especially in a market, where, at the time, it was all about highest specs for the lowest price, ignoring build quality, cooling engineering, none mentioned specs (ahem: HDD speed, RAM speed and timing, etc), LCD panel type and resolution.Ultimately, this lead consumers have what they wanted, but shortly discover how they hated not only their laptop or desktop, but also the brand. The market did change, and still changing, where people are now seeking premium laptops for build quality, features, speed, high responsiveness, and overall great experience. Not to mention, then and light, over price. But that is a different topic.

 

You could argue that Apple showing that finger print reader has a place on the consumer hands and not just business, Granted... but..the Surface Pro 4 keyboard cover has a finger print reader. It is integrated with Windows Hello, which is integrated everywhere. So, you can do online purchases with Edge, you can do Store purchases from Windows, login to your system and have it decrypt files, and offers a full set of APIs to allow other software to use it. And so far, Windows Hello is very secure.

 

Quote

And this is innovative (doing something different with a lot of application and usage scenarios) and I'm pretty sure many OEM are going to implement this in some form or the other in their next laptops

Well.. this was experimented before:

• Logitech had a keyboard with a screen (from CES 2009... they had older models without a color screen)
  
   
• Microsoft had the same idea as Apple in prototype form, years ago:

 

• Microsoft had, even before the above picture, a keyboard with a touch screen on top (in color too).
  

The common issue... well, beside battery life, but as technology advances they are going with OLED, while before, pictured above was LCD IPS panel (which were expensive at the time, and like now, consumed a lot of power), or eink (which only existed in shades of gray), to save power, is app support. It will take a long time before apps grows to fully support it, and actually provide something significant. Having a web browser tool bar on it, is silly.. you can be back action with your touchpad, or mouse, or backspace. It needs to bring something new to the table. If not... it is a gimmick.. no one will use it after playing with it after a month or so.

 

 

[Bouzoo]

7 hours ago, Bsmith said:

For consumers it's good since those pesky F-butons are gone that they probably never touch.

Good thing? For consumers? Fn+FXY buttons? Volume control, brightness, keyboard illumination, screen switching and so on? You an use all of them via software but it's a pain to get many of them. 

 

Can't wait for them to remove the screen and the keyboard.

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

Good thing? For consumers? Fn+FXY buttons? Volume control, brightness, keyboard illumination, screen switching and so on? You an use all of them via software but it's a pain to get many of them. 

 

Can't wait for them to remove the screen and the keyboard.

I would assume that brightness and audio will ALWAYS be pinned to the OLED bar -- unless people go out of their way to remove them. And so, no, it won't be any worse for users in terms of the few function keys they currently use, but it will just add functionality that they're more likely to use. 

[Bsmith]

Just now, Bouzoo said:

Good thing? For consumers? Fn+FXY buttons? Volume control, brightness, keyboard illumination, screen switching and so on? You an use all of them via software but it's a pain to get many of them. 

yes and guess what, that aren't the "normal" functions of the F keys, all I know is that F5 refreshes a web page and F11 enables full screen and F12 the developer console inside web browsers. combined with the FN key it depends on your keyboard manufacturer what it does, for my keyboard that is LED modes, macro's and something else. at apple systems the FN key is already useless since replay, screen dimming etc are given priority over the F-key functions, so pressing FN enables their normal functions, something I actually never did on it.

So in that regard the bar is better, since it's only 1 icon that changes with different software or when pressing the FN button, easier to keep track of the current function of the button.

[michaelocarroll007]

53 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Something doesn't need to be new for it to be innovative. If something was shit and then all of a sudden it's good, I'd still call that innovative. 

Sierra allows the esc key to be remapped in the settings menu. 

 

Yes they can improve this but there are a few laptops and devices that have good implementation of fingerprint scanners no one was interested in them. i would say its more you dont or back 10 years ago you dont login a laptop 50 times a day like a phone so its not that usefull of a feature.

and yes many other products have tried second screen notifcations  Doesnt razer have a laptop like this many keyboards built in screens and many diffrent trys at it.

 

Now apple might do a better job but there have been decently done products with same ideas already im just saying the hype somehow will be big when apple took an idea and just made it a little better if any  and this i would not personally call innovative  if people were intrested in thoses products when other companies made them they would of improved and improved but no one cared. Luckily theres not much apple can do that many will bash and there marketing is great

Definition of innovative

• : introducing or using new ideas or methods

• : having new ideas about how something can be done

 

[79wjd]

7 minutes ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

 

Yes they can improve this but there are a few laptops and devices that have good implementation of fingerprint scanners no one was interested in them. i would say its more you dont or back 10 years ago you dont login a laptop 50 times a day like a phone so its not that usefull of a feature.

and yes many other products have tried second screen notifcations  Doesnt razer have a laptop like this many keyboards built in screens and many diffrent trys at it.

 

Now apple might do a better job but there have been decently done products with same ideas already im just saying the hype somehow will be big when apple took an idea and just made it a little better if any  and this i would not personally call innovative  if people were intrested in thoses products when other companies made them they would of improved and improved but no one cared. Luckily theres not much apple can do that many will bash and there marketing is great

Definition of innovative

• : introducing or using new ideas or methods

• : having new ideas about how something can be done

 

There really weren't any good implemntations of fingerprint authentication in the past. The SP4's implementation is pretty good though. Yes, TouchID is far more useful on a phone, but it can still be useful on a laptop -- espsecially since Apple is trying to push Apple Pay in Safari (which is good since there are certain sites where you really may not want to enter your information -- either because you'll never use it again or because you don't know how safe it is).

 

It's all about how well the software handles things and how much third parties take advantage of it. Razer's keyboard-display doesn't work all too well because it doesn't have great support. 

 

Except still no. People had no interest in fingerprint scanners because there experience with them was that they were atrociously awful, and Razer's keyboard-screen hasn't caught on because people don't find it all that useful -- because it doesn't have great software support. 

 

Literally by defintion, TouchID was innovative. (touchID on a mac less so since the SP4 has a good fingerprint scanner)

[NumLock21]

There was that oled concept keyboard, optimus maximus, where the keyboard layout will change, based on the program or game thats running. 

[michaelocarroll007]

1 hour ago, RedRound2 said:

 

Touchscreen os PCs have been useless IMO. One, there isn't any proper interface which is finger friendly (forget modern UI, its shit) and Apple would have to screw up macOS just like how MS screwed windows.

Second, People who do have touchscreen mainly use it for scrolling and zooming because trackpads in windows devices sucks, which isn't the case with MBs.

The only reason why people like Linus keep believing in touchscreens on PCs is because he is used to his touchscreen laptop for scrolling (even I find myself reaching out the screen when I use non-touch windows devices, but I never have an issue when I use a Mac because trackpad scrolling works same if not better)

People like Linus just need to get used break their 'reaching out to the screen' habit and understand that Apple trackpads aren't as shitty as Windows trackpads 

there isnt anything major touchscreen windows is great for but Its nice to have for the little things. Once you get use to the small gestures you use for it its annoying to not have. youll get use to not having it but i think it is a nice feature to have on some laptops regardless if the TP is good or bad 

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

there isnt anything major touchscreen windows is great for but Its nice to have for the little things. Once you get use to the small gestures you use for it its annoying to not have. youll get use to not having it but i think it is a nice feature to have on some laptops regardless if the TP is good or bad 

Having both a SP3, rMBP, and a desktop I have to disagree. I only ever use the touch screen for handwriting notes or for avoiding the shit trackpad. I've never once had an urge/desire to use the touchscreen on my desktop/mac. 

[michaelocarroll007]

 

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

Having both a SP3, rMBP, and a desktop I have to disagree. I only ever use the touch screen for handwriting notes or for avoiding the shit trackpad. I've never once had an urge/desire to use the touchscreen on my desktop/mac. 

Desktop never have i tried to touch my screen ever But usually you don't sit at one where touching the screen is natural and close. With laptops where i position my self and sitting much closer to it i have touched many non touchscreen laptops after being use to using one. especially if the keyboard is far foward towards the screen Its not a make it or break it and i dont blame mac for not having one but its a nice feature that theres not much reason to leave out anymore not like they add some crazy cost

[79wjd]

5 minutes ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

 

Desktop never have i tried to touch my screen ever But usually you don't sit at one where touching the screen is natural and close. With laptops where i position my self and sitting much closer to it i have touched many non touchscreen laptops after being use to using one. especially if the keyboard is far foward towards the screen Its not a make it or break it and i dont blame mac for not having one but its a nice feature that theres not much reason to leave out anymore not like they add some crazy cost

What is it that you used touch for? Touch doesn't really offer much when you have a good trackpad (which again, most windows laptops don't have -- and hence why touch is important).