How people will use this thing, and what the right features and mechanisms will be, will take some time to sort out.

A bunch of demos on stage at Apple’s event featured a number of people doing a sort of two-handed dance, one twiddling on the my-god-it’s-huge touchpad and one on the Touch Bar. In Photos, you can use the Touch Bar to quickly scrub through a bunch of images, and it’s a really nifty way to move through a timeline in Final Cut. In Mail, you can quickly tap on the Touch Bar to compose a message in Pages, it’s a super-fast way to access a bunch of formatting options. The whole idea is going to take some getting used to: each app does different things, in different ways, to different effect. There’s a Touch ID fingerprint reader on the right side of the strip, too right above the Delete key. Speaking of on-screen keyboards! Instead of function keys, the row of F1-F12s, you don’t care about and media controls you do, the new MacBook Pro has a small touch-friendly strip that apps can use to display quick controls and information. Those shallow butterfly keys feel somewhere between the traditional mechanical keyboard and the on-screen keys on your iPhone. The new Pro has the same keyboard as the super-thin MacBook, though it’s been tweaked a bit from the smaller model, and has a surprisingly satisfying amount of travel, but there’s no doubt your fingers are going to have to get used to a little less clack. Actually, you’ll figure it out before even that, as soon as you see that massive new trackpad. But as soon as you open the thing up, crack your knuckles, and put fingers to keys, you won’t be confused anymore. Which is to say, it still looks like a laptop. The new Pro, which comes with either a 13- or 15-inch screen, does look like the last model.

The reason for the two 13-inch versions is that Apple is using one of them (the one without a Touch Bar – more on that later) to replace the MacBook Air.īut other two models have a new Force Touch trackpad and feature Touch ID – the fingerprint reader also used on iPhones – meaning you can sign into websites and pay for items with Apple Pay. It will also suggest words when you’re typing out messages and flash up some emoji suggestions. The Touch Bar replaces the traditional function keys, so can be used to adjust volume and brightness. The extraordinary feature is a new OLED touchpad above the keyboard that Apple is calling a “Touch Bar”, which can be can be customised depending on how you want to use it. The new Touch ID feature on the MacBook Pro allows users to quickly unlock the Mac and use Apple Pay on the web. The new MacBook Pro also sees the integration of a larger Force Touch trackpad. The new MacBook Pro has seen the exit of the function key on the keyboard, which is replaced by a new ‘Retina-quality’ multi-touch display – known as the Touch Bar.

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