A Touch ID sensor to the right of the Touch Bar supports fingerprint authentication for logging into the computer and approving App Store and Apple Pay purchases. On devices that include the Touch Bar (2nd generation), a physical Esc (Escape) key appears to the left of the Touch Bar.

Additionally, it provides a responsive and user-friendly interface with plenty of options when it comes to programs and applications. Therefore, for those who need an intuitive and efficient way to interact with their laptop, the Touch Bar is definitely worth investing in.

It would have taken a lot of effort to fit the Touch Bar into the new laptops that have a new form factor and were different in size from the old ones. Thus, Apple simply decided that enough is enough, and it was time to call the Touch Bar a failed project.

October 2016 The Touch Bar MacBook Pro, released in October 2016, adopted USB-C for all data ports and power and included a shallower "butterfly"-mechanism keyboard. On all but the base model, the function keys were replaced with a touchscreen strip called the Touch Bar with a Touch ID sensor integrated into the power button.

If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use familiar gestures - like tap, swipe, or slide - directly on the Touch Bar to adjust settings, use Siri, access function keys, and do tasks in different apps.

The 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air only come equipped with Apple's base M2 chip, but that doesn't mean the Air is a less-than-capable computer. The MacBook Air is thinner and lighter than the Pro because it has less internal hardware, dismissing for-work ports like HDMI and an SD card slot.

The narrow touch-sensitive display along the top of the keyboard certainly offered a surprising new user interface option. And I needed a new computer. It was a chance to try something new. Alas, after months of daily use, I concluded that for me, the Touch Bar is far worse than the function keys it replaced.

Both lines have multiple screen sizes. And all use Apple's own silicon, which is fast, power-efficient and delivers excellent battery life. But then there are the differences. The Air is more affordable, thinner and lighter, but the Pro has a processor that's as fast or quite a lot faster, depending on the model.

The Touch Bar seemed more like a gimmick than a useful tool when it first appeared in MacBook Pros in 2016. Apple did little to address this hardware oddity until it finally removed it from all models starting with the 2021 MacBook Pros.

As mentioned before, Macs are built to last - an average lifespan of a MacBook Pro, some experts say, might exceed a decade. So, there's definitely no need to think about buying a new one every couple of years. At the same time, you'd still want to watch out for signals that it's time to think about a newer model.

The A1278 is still very usable, even as a daily. It is super easy to upgrade RAM (takes up to 16GB) and installing a new SSD is simple, too. I have four of them, including my music workstation. Just make sure it is a mid 2012 and definitely install SSD.