So I finally decided between the two and cracked open the 2016 MacBook Pro for myself. I did so right after the most recent update that was supposed to address all the battery and graphic issues so I wouldn't have any bad taste in my mouth from the initial teething issues.
I set the touch bar to basically be the old style bar and if I hit function then it will show me the app specific features for the touch bar. I suspect I'll switch this around as time moves on and the bar gets more features. For now though it is interesting and not much else.
I LOVE the new speakers. They are really great. I usually have to wear headphones to enjoy my music but I don't mind just letting it play through these because they sound pretty amazing for laptop speakers.
Battery life has been fine for me. I don't drive external monitors nor do I normally use Chrome or Safari. I'm a Firefox guy for my private browsing on my own computer. Chrome gets partial duty often when at work and mix of home stuff. Firefox doesn't activate the dGPU at all except for when playing certain videos.
The new keyboard does take some getting used to but I've been using a small bluetooth keyboard with my iPad mini for quite a while anyway. I think this keyboard issue is just generational. I see younger kids just type on iPads like they were regular keyboards. Also they've all been using Chromebooks and the like for school so I am not certain they've ever gotten to adapt to real keyboards that ever hard a lot of travel. I love look of the new keyboard but I'm adjusting to the feel. The old keyboard is already starting to feel mushy in comparison and when I'm "on" with the new keyboard it seems like I type faster and with less effort.
I've bumped escape an brightness down a few times. I've had no issues with the new trackpad at all. I love space gray for the color. This is my first force touch trackpad so that has taken some time to adjust to but I am one of those that loved the new home button on the iPhone 7 so I'm adjusting pretty quickly so far.
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