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Apple Reportedly Working on Touchscreen Macs, Including MacBook Pro

sherwinzadeh said:
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That’s just Apple marketing to not reveal future roadmap. Imagine if he said “Yes”, people would quote history. Now imagine when a detachable display on a laptop will be released and he says “Yes” and this is the benefits and reasons why. Apple has been known to play this marketing ploy when some ideas and products are not ready for release.
 
tubular said:
LET'S MAKE THE TOUCHBAR THE WHOLE SCREEN
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Ha. Even if you're joking, I've thought the same. Always thought Apple was headed toward laptops that were all glass: glass lid (screen) and glass base (keys) - think two iPads making the laptop. And that Touch Bar was their very intentional toe-dip into an all-glass, touch-enabled laptop. You know, to start training their oft-slow to adopt, and wildly passionate, user-base. But it never made it that far. Said passionate user-base won out. For now. The concept was dead before it could even take hold. The anti-TB movement always struck me as weirdly short-sighted. Typing on a 15" Touch Bar MBP now, I'm one that finds TB pretty awesome. Guess I'm not as dependent on function keys as some clearly are. But I love how TB isn't stagnant: can flex to fit the needs of whatever app I'm using. I was excited to see that concept evolve and mature to a more user-customizable Setting-based option (in the Apple way, of course) and an eventual all-glass laptop. Alas...

All the arguments, rigidity and impassioned vitriol aside... Whether or not you, me, others happen to want/need/see a reason for touch-enabled laptops, whether German is right, or other, is irrelevant: a touch-enabled MacBook (Pro) kind of seems inevitable. At some point. Anyone that has kids 12 and under, knows that, to them, screens = touch. Period. Seeing kids' disappointment when touching a screen that doesn't react, is pretty interesting - and kind of great. So I guess if anything, a touch-enabled MacBook would be catering the eventual expectations of a future market?

My 12 yo has a school-issued Chromebook that is touch-enabled. The majority of time, he uses it just like a "regular" laptop: navigating the screen with a trackpad, typing with the keyboard. The little bit of screen touching I have witnessed, tends to be things like switching/closing Chrome tabs. And that seems just as natural to reach and do that as it does to trackpad over to the tab to do so. Point being: touch-enabled doesn't necessarily mean "only touch." It could just offer more options. Which, to me, seems perfectly fine and, again, inevitable.
 
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Problem with the Touch Bar is if you use warm water or isopropyl alcohol to clean the deck of the keyboard, the Touch Bar starts to go crazy with random false touches. Often requires the laptop to be rebooted to resolve. I can’t imagine having to obsessively clean a full touch screen and have the same thing occur.
 
elvisimprsntr said:
Problem with the Touch Bar is if you use warm water or isopropyl alcohol to clean the deck of the keyboard, the Touch Bar starts to go crazy with random false touches. Often requires the laptop to be rebooted to resolve. I can’t imagine having to obsessively clean a full touch screen and have the same thing occur.
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I don't know about you but I found a way around this through deep meditation, intense years of studying, then realizing I could just turn it off....
 
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klasma said:
No, just like Mac and MacBook are still different products. Merely the OS might become basically the same (a convergence of iPadOS and macOS).
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Actually I think Apple will merge and split the iPad Pro and MacBook line. Want an M# computer for light work get a tablet/display, want to do more purchase the base/dock. Boom you have the entry consumer, prosumer and pros covered by providing modular options.

Similar to MacStudio, this will be MacBook Studio.
 
Please don't :(
The convergence of iOS and macOS is starting to look bad imho.
Speaking of, does anyone else despise the new System Settings?
 
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code-m said:
Windows is a mess regardless of input options, remember Zune. This is Microsoft we are talking here it’s not a surprise.
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Microsoft used to be quite good in desktop UI usability. Windows 2000 was about the peak. Nevertheless, there are inherent issues in making a UI usable for both mouse/keyboard and touch, and it is close to impossible for it to not be detrimental to either mode of operation.
 
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Rookbird¥ said:
Tim Cook is just a money guy. He is not a visionary. Apples desktop line is all convoluted. Heading down the same road they did when they kicked Steve Jobs out. The question is who is going to rescue they this time. Things are going to continue to get worse with Tim Cook at the helm.
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He’s not all bad but he is definitely more of a numbers guy and he has excelled at that. I do wonder about the future. I’m not so entrenched that I couldn’t move on down the road. Done that a few times over the many years. I have always been a fan of the Mac and iPhone but I’m starting to wonder once again where I need to look in a few years.
 
We have so many touch screen Windows laptops rolled out at work and users don't know even know they are touch screen devices. But, Apple is likely future proofing this to get it right for the generation that will expect their computer devices to be touch screen enabled.
 
anshuvorty said:
That would increase the workload tremendously. They are already adding desktop UI elements to iPadOS, they should just work on that.
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The workload would stay the same. Still have to develop iPadOS for other product line such as mini and macOS for desktop. All this does is similar to having a dedicated chip to run the touch bar.

Display/ tablet mode = iPadOS
Base/dock mode = macOS
 
Not a fan of this idea, but considering they're also interested in "all screen laptops", I do think this is the direction mobile tech is heading in.

I prefer a non-touch-based OS as my primary OS. Seems like the iPad is geared toward those who want touch input.
 
klasma said:
Microsoft used to be quite good in desktop UI usability. Windows 2000 was about the peak. Nevertheless, there are inherent issues in making a UI usable for both mouse/keyboard and touch, and it is close to impossible for it to not be detrimental to either mode of operation.
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So Microsoft’s implementation was not well received that does not mean others cannot build upon elements that did not work. Prime examples are iPod, iPhone, iTunes (not the evolved mess), iPad, iMac, etc. These products were not first to market but built upon what was and was not successful. Microsoft also had failed in Zune, Windows Phone, Windows CE, tablets and AIO. But hey Microsofts products have promise but half baked delivered products.
 
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I want pen input, not touch, but if getting touch means I get pen too, then SWEET!!! I just hope Apple does something smart with the form factor (I’m a fan of something like the Surface Laptop Studio), and allows me to turn off touch but keep pen.

I actually had to buy a Surface Laptop Studio because of the pen input and form factor. If Apple makes something similar, I’ll pretty much certainly switch back to Mac.
 
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Jobs was right on this.

I have touchscreen Windows devices and never want to touch them in traditional laptop mode. If you fold them and make them table-like it is different. But the weight increase means you rarely want to fold them.

Adding this isnt going to be some magical fix. Perhaps a few will use it fully. For the odd task.
It's an addition, not a replacement to regular input.

The person whinging about the notch needing to go needs to try TopNotch to "hide" it. You gain screen for menus and doesnt look notchy ;)
 
Tagbert said:
I don't think that the OS would need a full top to bottom redesign to allow touch. Touch would not be the primary interaction mode. Most of us use multiple interaction modes now with keyboard and mouse or trackpad. When the mouse came along, we didn't stop using the keyboard and only use the mouse. It expanded our options for how to interact with the device. When I have used a touchscreen laptop, some things made sense with a touchpad, somethings with touch, and many things with they keyboard. I would dynamically switch modes to fit the action and interface. Touch is good for tapping buttons, scrolling and pushing things around. Any of you who have used an iPad with a touchpad or mouse and keyboard will understand that you can switch between the three at any time.
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App developers will optimize their UI for either touch or keyboard/mouse, or for some compromise in between, which means it will not be optimal for either touch or mouse/keyboard. This is what has been happening on Windows and on the web. It will mean a degradation in usability for mouse/keyboard users, and will only be a compromised UI for touch users.
 
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