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Comment by sundvor | Hacker News Reader

The keyboard replacement was the biggest improvement to me in the latest MacBooks.

I'm not an Apple person but I do like to keep tabs. Tried the butterfly keyboard and hated it so, so much - and that's not even touching on the function key row.

(As a Streamdeck user it would have been awesome if they had kept the touch screen strip _and_ restored the missing row of keys. Missed opportunity there.)

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The touch strip turns off if you don't use the keys for a few seconds. So if you are programming and thinking during debugging, you might want to press a function key to step into/over/continue. But the touchbar has turned off, so you need to press another key on the keyboard to wake it up (fn perhaps) and then look down at the touchbar to find the F key because it is impossible to locate as there's no tactile sensation of which key you're pressing.

And then repeat the process a thousand times per day. It's very wearying. And the keyboard is deafeningly loud. A typewriter would probably be quieter.

I say this using a 2016 Macbook for work. Apple replaced the touchbar a few weeks outside the return window that was the result of the class-action lawsuit on the keyboard, which I am very grateful for. The keyboard had numerous keys not working properly (left shift most noticeably) and the touchbar had developed a fault where it would flash a white block next to the power button, constantly.

Apple had to replace the keyboard, the battery, the touchbar and entire top level of the Macbook as part of the repair on the keyboard.

I have a 2012 Macbook as my main machine and that is infinitely better - battery was less dead even though it had more recharges than the 2016; it has ports I can actually use; it has a SD card slot so I can get photos off my camera; the keyboard backlight is actually visible; the keyboard is actually nice to use etc. etc. The only drawback is the speakers on the 2012 aren't great compared to the bass-heavy 2016.

But anyway all is solved on the new Macbooks but I need to sell a kidney to afford one...

A few grand is nothing to scoff at, but if you use it for half as long as your older one then a reasonably kitted-out 14" would work out to ~$80/month.

I didn't know that about the touchbar, that's pretty awful. It's also a shame they couldn't manage to integrate their fancy taptic engine stuff.

Ports are back on the new machines tho--removing them seemed so braindead, but then again I'm not an industrial design machina so what do I know.

Yes the lifetime out of my old one has been great, so I am pretty confident I'll get the same lifespan out of my other 2016 one no problem.

I'll ponder what device to get next since I might just get a Mac Mini at home. I already have a gaming/development PC and a Linux Pi so I can keep up to date on each OS/system and just use a very cheap "stealable" laptop for out-and-about but can connect home.

Just use an external keyboard

Thanks for those insights! Having the display time out just adds insult to injury. I saw someone made a script to send commands to it every 60 seconds, essentially keeping it on, but that also would then disable normal power saving functions.

I've got my Streamdeck hard mounted in an enclosure on my rig underneath my monitors, and the commands are always accessible. Absolutely love it; I'm guessing the touch bar wouldn't come close in functionality for my purposes. They are also physical buttons.

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