RE: this freaking touch bar is the worse gimmick I have come across

[Merv Keck]

Unless I am mistaken, there are two different subjects being discussed on the 
same thread. The Touch Bar which is on my MacBook Pro and the Touch Pad which 
is also on my MacBook Pro but down in front of the keyboard. I have not had the 
opportunity yet to become familiar with the trackpad or touch pad and the rotor 
commands. I am still becoming familiar with my transition from Jaws 2021 to 
voiceover and big sur. 
I do use the Touch bar, however, and I for the most part have little difficulty 
understanding why people take such issue with this feature of their Mac. I do 
occasionally bump it when using the number keys. But that is because I am 
moving from a Corsair mechanical keyboard with a numeric keypad and large 
spread out keys. And I still am adjusting to the smaller 13 inch MacBook with 
no numeric keypad and keys that are closer together.
I like the functionality of the touch bar. And I take advantage of it. With the 
FN key I can easily switch between the Function keys and other specific 
attributes at will. 
For anyone who has Apple News Plus there is an interesting article in the March 
2021 issue of Mac Format on the relevance of the Touch Bar.
Merv


-Original Message-
From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com  On 
Behalf Of Brad Snyder
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 9:24 AM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: this freaking touchbar is the worse gimmick I have come across

All this does is turn off the trackpad commander. Trackpad is still active.

- Brad -

On Feb 12, 2021, at 02:38, Nebojsa Tasic  wrote:


Press and hold VO and rotate two fingers to the left.


On 12.2.2021. 08:52, 'Janina Sajka' via MacVisionaries wrote:
> I have a touchpad on my Macbook Air, and I hate it. It causes me to 
> hold my hands in an awkward elevated position when typing just to make 
> sure I don't brush across it.
> 
> On Windows 10 the touchpad can be turned off, but not on Mac. Very, 
> very annoying.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Janina
> 
> Brandon Olivares writes:
>> Honestly I enjoy the TouchBar. I don’t use it a lot but I do find it helpful 
>> occasionally.
>> 
>> Just a tip, if it stops responding, restarting VoiceOver can sometimes help, 
>> or switching out of and back into the application you’re in.
>> 
>> Also, I thought I heard Touch Bar is being discontinued, so you may not have 
>> to deal with it for long.
>> 
>> Brandon
>> 
>> “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven” – Satan, from 
>> Milton’s Paradise Lost
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Feb 3, 2021, at 8:04 PM, Yuma Decaux  wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi everyone,
>>> 
>>> After a few months of my macbook 16 inch in heavy rotation, I have to be 
>>> frank with the touch bar. It's an utterly useless, cluttery, annoying piece 
>>> of tech which has no place where it sits. Everything else is world class, 
>>> as expected from Apple. I just don't know why they tried squeezing this 
>>> useless touchscreen, with my 2 cents on why below:
>>> 
>>> 1-It's not reactive at all. Sometimes, it does not react or speak anything 
>>> nno matter what I do. To solve this, sometimes I just keep moving my finger 
>>> across left to right until hopefully something occurs. By that time, it 
>>> really doesn't matter whether a touchbar is there or not.
>>> 2-It always gets in the way when I type. Keeps announcing f12 as my finger 
>>> barely even brushes (or does my finger brush that area?). Just like cabs, 
>>> the touch screen is never there when needed, always there when not.
>>> 3-The haptic part, obviously, is pretty much a foregone design flaw for 
>>> blind users like myself.
>>> 
>>> The reason I did not upgrade from an older macbook was because of the 
>>> keyboards they had for a while, and the touchbar. Once my macbook was 
>>> pretty much beyond retirement, my only choice was to have the greatest of 
>>> the portable. I feel a bit cheated here, particularly knowing that the 
>>> intel chip inside might actually not have the capacity to wake the touchbar 
>>> up in a reactive way.
>>> 
>>> That's it, now I'm happy to get back to work.
>>> 
>>> Yuma
>>> 
>>> 
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RE: New Mac.

[Merv Keck]

I just bought the MacBook Pro M1. It also has 2 USB C ports and one headphone 
jack. I was hoping for more ports. But it sure is fast. If I need more I can 
always get a hub or dock it. I have no need of a screen myself. I’m 
transitioning from Jaws to Voiceover. More of a learning curve than I 
anticipated. But something to do on the winter of my discontent. Beats 
shoveling snow anyway.

Merv

 

 

From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com  On 
Behalf Of Brad Snyder
Sent: Saturday, February 6, 2021 10:45 AM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: New Mac.

 

The M1 MacBook Air has only 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, and a 3.5 mm headphone 
jack.  No USB-A ports on the MacBook Air.

 

The M1 Mac mini has 2 USB-A ports, in addition to 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, a 
HDMI port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.  The mini also includes an Ethernet 
port.

 

Apple does still offer the Mac mini with both the Intel i5 and i7 processors.  
Those machines have 4 USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, in addition to the 2 USB-A 
ports, and the HDMI and 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as an Ethernet port.

 


- Brad -

 

On Feb 6, 2021, at 09:15, 'Stur It Up Productions' via MacVisionaries 
mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> > 
wrote:

 

They both have 2 uSB-a ports, 2 uSB-c thunderbolt ports, HDMI and headphone 
jack on the Mac mini.  Also for the record, you can by any external drive, and 
format it for the Mac.  I have a 4TB USB-C drive that I got for only 120 bucks 
on amazon, I use iCloud for everything, so it really wasn’t necessary, but I do 
keep important stuff backed up

 

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On Feb 6, 2021, at 9:07 AM, Anders Holmberg mailto:and...@pipkrokodil.se> > wrote:

 

Hi!
I am thinking of upgrading to the one of the M1 Macs.
So i am comparing the Mac mini with the MacBook Air.
These are the ones I  want.
The Mac Pro has a Touch Bar so that’s not something I never going to use.
But that’s just me.
aTHey’re a bit to expensive also which is something I have to consider but I am 
a bit wondering.
If I get me a Mac  I would like to have as much storage as possible.
Its going to be quite expensive which is strange as you can by a 2 tb ssd for 
less money if you have a pc.
Anyway I wonder how many USB ports and thunderbolt ports there are on the 
respective Mac mini or MacBook Air.
And if I get a Mac mini I would like to have a good camera so I can use 
together with zoom.
All the best from a cold Sweden.
/A

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