First Look: Touch Bar Features on 2016 MacBook Pro

Video Transcript Below

Hey guy's, Dan here from CLE Tech and today we're going to focus in on the new MacBook Pro, more specifically the new TouchBar.

Apple decided to replace the traditional function key row with this new touch bar panel that can change keys and add new shortcuts to different apps. Since I just recieved this MacBook Pro today, I wanted to focus in on some of the new features that the touchbar offers within a few apps.

Starting off with the main app that I am very excited about and that is Final Cut Pro. Now if utilized correctly, this could certainly speed up the process of editing videos. Some of the features like switching between different tools might still be faster using keyboard commands but being able to scrub through your entire timeline is pretty great. I absolutely love this considering that I have had to scroll with the trackpad a ton to either zoom out or move on down lengthy timelines.

There are also options to trim at different spots of your clip, either at the beginning or end of the selected clip or right at the playhead. You can also circle back to the previous clip if you needed to do a quick scrub back. Adjusting audio and adding fade ins and outs has also never been easier with the toucbar and is something that will be much easier for me as opposed to using the inspector for these tasks.

It’s early, but the touchbar is already proving to be super useful for one of my most used applications in Final Cut Pro. I hope they are able to add in features for color correcting but as of right now, I did not see such options available.

Creating documents in Pages also has it's fair share of easy shortcuts like being able to change the header type, font color, font type, indentiation, etc. Of course, whenever you're typing text, you will have predictive text options just like you would on an iPhone or iPad. Now I do find it to be a bit slow when typing. Most of the time, I can type out the word faster or have already moved on to the next word but it's a start.

Everyone's favorite part of the new touchbar, emojis, can play a prominent role when messaging your friends and it's now easier than ever to scroll throughout all emojis and choose your favorite one.

Using QuickTime to record your screen brings you controls to stop recording and even see the file size in real time of your recording. Within Safari, you can easily select from your bookmarks and favorites by clicking the icons on the touchbar.

If you have multiple tabs open, you can easily switch between windows by tapping on the corresponding windown icon in the center of the touchbar. It's kind of cool to see realtime window previews of your tabs when browsing the web.

Another VERY useful feature comes for videos in YouTube and that is the ability to scrub between each video using the toolbar. Now I have noticed some early bugs with this as it's kind of difficult to have multiple tabs with different videos open and working with touchbar properly at the same time. It doesn't recognize which tab you are on and is still scrubbing through a video open in a different tab. Regardless, this part of safari and touchbar will be utilized a lot by me.

Finally, you still have all your standard function keys, yes the ESC key is still there, along with brightness settings for your display and keyboard. It's important to note that when you are within an app, you do get a constant set of function keys like your volume keys and siri pretty much constantly posted in the right side of the bar. When you use the volume key, you can actually just drag your finger right from there either left or right to change volume. This is a nice touch as you don't actually have to tap or even move your finger to the actual slider itself.

There are tons of features throughout each app like Mail and Notes, or iTunes and if you would like to see more features or specific apps using touchbar, please leave a comment letting me know what you wanna see down below.

Thanks for watching guys and I will see you in the next one.

For a full look at the new 2016 MacBook Pro, check out our cinematic unboxing: