Some dials would be pretty cool on a laptop, though... it just makes the lid harder to close.

Some dials would be good everywhere, I've considered buying some expensive keyboards (https://www.daskeyboard.com/) purely for a volume control knob.

A common complaint around here is about how touch screens have taken away better tactile controls, but so have our keyboards.

I also liked the dedicated scroll wheel on MS Office-themed keyboards. They might have gone overboard with the clipboard control buttons, but the wheel felt reasonable.

Ergo the Mac Touchbar.