If you’re looking for a 13 inch MacBook Pro, you may have asked yourself, “Is it worth to pay more for the Touch Bar?”
This is my review after about 2 weeks of using the 2017 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
Functions (that I frequently use)
The Touch Bar replaces the standard row of function keys to give you shortcuts that are different for every app that you use and it is great that you can customise them too. Here are some of the things I use on the Touch Bar frequently that can be useful.
Typing on Pages (Text Style)
The Touch Bar has a row of functions that allows you to change the paragraph style or the text alignment and you can also choose the colour that you want for your text directly on the Touch Bar.
Messaging (Emoji)
Yes, I do find it useful! 😀 Really
Final Cut Pro (Timeline navigation)
Safari (Video timeline navigation)
Watching movies? We don’t need the cursor and timeline show up on the screen.
iTunes (Music timeline)
Touch ID
Well something that comes with the Touch Bar that you don’t get on the regular MacBook and MacBook Pro is Touch ID. Touch ID is useful on the Mac where you do not have to enter your password every time your MacBook goes to sleep. You can also use Touch ID to lock your important notes and of course, use it for online payments with Apple Pay.
Unlocking secured notes
Logging in after Mac goes to Sleep
Authenticating App Store Purchases
My Conclusion
Most of the functions that I have listed, you can still have them without the Touch Bar. But after using those functions on the Touch Bar, you find that is very convenient because these functions are visible and you just tap on it. This is also great thing for new Mac users who are not familiar with the Mac keyboard shortcuts. Well, maybe its not necessary to have a Touch Bar, but it is useful, and helps you to get things done with just a touch.
However…
The Touch Bar and Touch ID are not the only things you get for paying a few hundreds extra. You might want to consider the specs as well!
Spec differences
To make it a fair comparison, while the Regular 13 inch MacBook Pro starts with a 128GB Storage capacity, the table below is a comparison between the Regular and Touch Bar models of the 2017 13 inch MacBook Pro at 256GB for each of them. These are the basic specs without custom spec upgrades.
| Regular 13 inch | 13 inch with Touch Bar | |
| Storage | 256GB SSD | 256GB SSD |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Intel 7th gen Core i5 | 3.1GHz Intel 7th Gen Core i5 |
| Memory (RAM) | 8GB | 8GB |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Plus 640 | Intel Iris Plus 650 |
| I/O Ports | 2 Thunderbolt 3 (USB C) | 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB C) |
| Price | S$2188 | S$2588 |
So there you have it, the Touch Bar isn’t necessary for everyone, but it sure is useful and convenient especially with Touch ID along with it. The specs are something to consider depending on what you intend to use your MacBook for. The MacBook Pro with Touch Bar would definitely give a better performance with the better specs especially if you use your MacBook Pro for things like video editing.
25TechGeek 