[skeptic2718]

I have my eyes focused on the screen, now I have to look down, understand what's on the touch bar, then look back up. It sucks.

[lojack]

I noticed the presenter doing this a few times. It definitely doesn't seem like a power-user thing to me. That said, I'll be holding off on a strong opinion on this until I get to use it. I could see it being either a usability nightmare or something super useful.

[derefr]

Don't think of it as part of the keyboard; think of it as more screen, that happens to be touchable. Like the bottom half of a Nintendo DS.