[dwaite]

I have never got into macros, so missing a row of function keys didn't impact me. A row of system integration actions (like dynamic volume and brightness controls) was nice.

However, a capacitive touch surface should not be so close to tactile buttons. This made it way more likely to falsely register actions.

Move it a half key width farther up and make it taller to have greater flexibility on how it uses the space and I think it would have been a much better feature.

IMHO the big problem is that the five year hardware cycle of the MBP is not conducive for revolutionary improvements. They had the MacBook back then, which would have been a great platform for faster design iterations.