[mstade]

I'm one of those (there are dozens of us!) who actually liked the Touch Bar and not only that, deeply regret Apple giving up on it. I found it eminently useful to have contextual controls I could use rather than those non-descript Fn keys I don't really ever use.

It wasn't perfect, for example the fact that it was just a single bar meant it was hard (but not impossible) to use accurately without looking, but to me it really was a step in the right direction.

I hope they bring it back at some point, maybe in a way that appeases the Fn crowd as well so we can all be happy. Maybe a few physical buttons with an embedded screen a la stream decks, and a smaller bar in the center for more fluid things? I don't know. All I know is I miss it dearly.

[rjsw]

The Apricot PC from 1983 had function keys with an LCD display above them that applications could use to label the functions.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot_PC

[mstade]

Neat, today I learned! Sadly no photos on that article, but I did find one here: http://www.computersammler.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG...

Ahead of its time, clearly!

[ShamelessC]

It’s still available on certain models, right?

[mstade]

I don't think so, at least not in the Pro line up and while I do very much like the Touch Bar, I like M3 Max a lot more. :o)

[goosedragons]

No, it died when they discontinued the 13" MBP with the launch of M3.