If you look at product forums in general you usually will see a lot more complaints than praise, because most people don't write about their positive experiences. I think here on HN these kind of posts get a lot of attention because it is somehow popular to hate on Apple right now, but i believe it's not a major part of the demographic.
I just got my 13" MBP with Touchbar and actually love it. The overall experience is not that different anyway, but i actually really like the keyboard, despite trying it in a store and being not really convinced. I also love the display, compact size/weight and TouchId is pretty cool as well. The thing i find a bit annoying is the touch-ESC button and the Spotify stuff you already mentioned but it's not a major dealbreaker for me.
Likewise i know two other devs who recently got one and they all seem really happy.
In general, it is the best laptop Apple has made yet (sans Touch Bar)—that's why I'm still willing to pay the money for a Function Key model.
But I'm annoyed Apple is forcing users to get the Touch Bar model if they want Touch ID, four TB3 ports, slightly faster RAM, and slightly faster WiFi.
Yeah, but Apple was never about choice and if the Touchbar was optional it would never find meaningful adoption. I still believe Touchbar can be very useful in the future.
I just got my 13" MBP with Touchbar and actually love it. The overall experience is not that different anyway, but i actually really like the keyboard, despite trying it in a store and being not really convinced. I also love the display, compact size/weight and TouchId is pretty cool as well. The thing i find a bit annoying is the touch-ESC button and the Spotify stuff you already mentioned but it's not a major dealbreaker for me.
Likewise i know two other devs who recently got one and they all seem really happy.