I have a MBP M1 which has been my main laptop since it came out. I never really understood why so many people complained about the Touch Bar. In fact, I will kind of miss the Touch Bar when I eventually replace the MBP M1 with something else a few more years down the line.
I didn't like it for the same reasons people dislike touch controls in cars. The selection and placement of buttons is constantly changing, and I have to take my eyes off the screen to see what I can do on the TB at the time. I had an MBP with one for 5 years and barely ever used any of the features. The only thing I really found useful was the scroll bar for videos, which is useful on abysmal video players like Instagram which otherwise don't have that function.
The main complaint was not about the touchbar itself, but about removal of F-keys to accommodate it.
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The first iteration of the touch bar didn't have a physical escape key. I'm not even a VI user but that was my main complaint. I barely use function keys so I was ok with them being virtual (they showed up when I was in the terminal). But I did love adding a custom screenshot button to it and I loved the way the volume and brightness controls worked.
I tend to rest my left hand on the keyboard while reading, etc. Sometimes my fingers move up to the touch bar and that causes some sort of action I didn't intend. That's very annoying. All the other buttons on the keyboard act buttons you have to press.
The top of the keyboard is literally the worst location I can think there to be a short, long touchscreen.
Maybe it's not a problem for people with tiny hands but I'm bordering on, "palm a basketball" size.
I'm seconding this. I am on my M2, and the lack of the touch bar is one of the reasons I am holding off on upgrading it. The keyboard goes the path of all apple keyboards, but right now I prefer it to no touchbar.