The hardware on all Macs are updated on a very infrequent basis as mentioned in the article. GPUs sold with machines today are often the same as ones sold years ago.
Apple killed their external monitor option.
I don't know that I really need any of the things TouchBar offers, but it seems to be unreasonably vilified without no one actually using it.
For me the key issue is the performance, which no amount of key remapping can solve.
Boot Camp drivers are also terribly out of date.
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/using-touch-bar-with-boo...
I do this because all of Apple's material has focused on it's context-sensitivity and configurability. Here's a screenshot of function keys: http://images.apple.com/v/macbook-pro/j/images/overview/touc...
Yes, I'm sure the Touch Bar will useful for the consumer demographic. However, there are many of us who are much more effective with the keyboard rather than using a touchscreen or a mouse.
1. The Esc key isn't butted against the edge of the touch bar. Because it's not always in the same place means it's hard to press without looking down.
2. The same is true for the run tests shortcuts. I'll miss the f keys less than Esc but things like test shortcuts, I find, are best committed to muscle memory.
You can drive two 5k displays with the new MacBooks, and they ask me to tell you they're fine. The just need a bit of time to think things through.
Sure you can argue about the tactile nature of the escape key being important, but the soft versions are still available.
The hardware update statement is simply not true of all Macs. The iMac has been regularly kept up to date. It is true of the MacBook Pro, but they have just released a new design, and we can expect them to incrementally improve it as they have done in the past after a new design is released.
Who cares about Apple not selling an external monitor when they are readily available from other vendors?
From the screenshots released, the Esc and other keys have been centred in the middle of the bar. This means that the Esc "key" now moves depending on context.
That might still be fine for "hunt n' peck" typists but it's a real pain for touch typists as it will kill our muscle memory.
If the screenshots and product videos are to be believed it means Apple either didn't consider heavy console users or considered them but deprioitised their needs. Neither of these is a good thing for me. :(
Also it's rumours that Apple killed their external monitor option.
I might be an outlier, but I don't care too much about the Escape key - I think the on screen one will probably work just as well for me - I am annoyed however at the net removal of two ports, inclusion of just one USB A port would have been enough to make me happy - that one USB A port would be enough to make up for the loss of Magsafe and HDMI. I also don't like that I now need a bevy of adapters to do everything I did before without any adapters at all.
I was considering switching from years of buying Thinkpads to getting some Apple hardware. One of my big beefs with Lenovo is that they keep redesigning the keyboards, steadily making them worse from my perspective. But the Esc key thing kills it for me. Partly because the escape key location is baked into my brain, and I want it to be a physical key with tactile response. And partly because this is a sign to me that they are likely to keep screwing with the keyboard in a way that makes it better for whomever they're targeting but worse for programmers.