Touch Bar

Jony Ive speaks on MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, touchscreen Macs & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 31, 2016

Jony Ive, Apple's Chief Design Officer, sat for a Q&A with CNET's News Editor in Chief Connie Guglielmo following last week's “Hello again” Mac event. Ive talked about various topics, including design considerations behind the creation of the Touch Bar, a marquee new feature of the new notebook, saying it's “just the beginning of a very interesting direction”. He explained why Apple'd rejected a touchscreen iMac “many, many years ago” and more.

1Password confirms that Touch ID support for the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar is in the works

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

As we were watching a live-stream of yesterday's “Hello again” Mac event, our own Sébastien told the rest of the team via Slack that, in his mind, the 1Password + Touch ID + MacBook Pro combination would make a lot of sense. And indeed it would.

Less than 24 hours later, 1Password developer AgileBits has officially confirmed in a blog post that they're hard at work implementing support for Touch ID via the new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar to let users protect the app with their fingerprint.

Apple’s new T1 chip that drives MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar runs “eOS”, a variant of watchOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 27, 2023

If early impressions are an indication, the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro is definitely not a gimmick. The time-saving feature lets you accomplish common tasks faster without needing to memorize a bunch of app-specific keyboard shortcuts.

Instead or remembering a shortcut or wasting time finding it in the menus, you just touch one of the system-wide or app-specific icons that are displayed on the Touch Bar.

For the hardware geeks among us, the more interesting aspect of the Touch Bar is the Apple-designed silicon behind it, dubbed the T1. As developer Steven Troughton-Smith has discovered, the Touch Bar is actually a mini Apple Watch.

Touch Bar on new MacBook Pro will show function keys when using Windows via Bootcamp

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 28, 2016

Apple yesterday unveiled the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a completely redesigned, thinner machine that shifts away from traditional computer ports in place of Thunderbolt 3 and replaces the function key row of the keyboard with a new versatile Touch Bar that dynamically changes based on the app you're in.

So that might raise the question: what happens when you boot into Windows on your MacBook Pro with Bootcamp?

20 cool things you can do with the new MacBook Pro Touch Bar

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 27, 2016

One of the new flagship features on the 2016 MacBook Pro is the new Touch Bar. This is essentially a versatile OLED bar at the top of your keyboard that replaces the function keys with software-based buttons that change based on what app you're in and what you're doing.

In this post, we'll mention 20 awesome things you can do with the Touch Bar on your new MacBook Pro.

First impressions of MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2016

The newly launched MacBook Pros include a marquee new feature in the form of the Touch Bar, which is a marketing name for a wide, touch-enabled OLED display that runs alongside the top of the keyboard where the function keys row used to be located. Touch Bar is customizable, with shortcuts that change from one app to another, and developers can take full advantage of it with a set of new APIs.

Journalists in attendance at today's event had a chance to play with the new machines in the demo area. Here are some of their first impressions of the new Touch Bar.

2016 MacBook Pro tech specs

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 27, 2016

Apple's new line of MacBook Pros was finally revealed at the 'hello again' presentation on Thursday, October 27th, and the initial first impressions with smaller form factor, new Touch Bar, and upgraded specs are stunning.

Apple is sticking to its gun with both the 13-inch and 15-inch sizes in its lineup, and in this post, we'll outline the spec differences between each of them for you.

This is how you turn the new MacBook Pro on and off

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 27, 2016

Apple today refreshed its Mac notebook lineup with all-new 13 and 15-inch models that have Touch Bar and Touch ID in place of the hardware function keys row, among other new features. It's a stellar feature that I can't wait to use.

According to Apple, the Touch Bar is meant to replace the function keys “that have long occupied the top of your keyboard with something much more versatile and capable.” I'm sold on the new Touch Bar, but where did the dedicated Power button go and how exactly do you turn this thing on now?