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Apple Says It Has No Plans for Solely ARM-Based or Touchscreen Macs

I now own a touchscreen PC laptop in addition to my old MBP and Schiller is flat out wrong. While I don't use the touchscreen feature every day, it's very nice to fold the keyboard back (it's a convertable) and scroll through webpages, facebook and other programs as a giant 4K tablet.

By contrast, the touchbar has very limited usefulness in my opinion and seems to be a poor substitute for a touch screen.
 
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jrswizzle said:
People misappropriate this quote all the time.

Jobs was referring to a stylus as the primary means of navigation on a mobile device.

The Apple Pencil is not that. It is a specific note-taking/graphic art tool. Not designed to be a navigation stylus.

The primary navigator on all iOS devices is still one's own fingers.
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I really think Steve would've loved the Pencil. He probably would have spent hours just doodling with it, or using it to sign stuff, or even saying it'll revolutionize calligraphy.
 
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Zaft said:
I use a Dell all-in-one at work that has a touchscreen. I dont use it much but its nice to have as I sometimes use it when scrolling a PDF or doing pinch to zoom. Its not catastrophically bad as apple makes it out to be...

Its not something you will use often but its nice to have an option.
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Ive yet to see any use like that that doesn't work easier with Apple's giant, best in industry trackpads.

The "kneeling" screen to draw on is a good use for touch, but still a pretty tiny % of the market. And things like the Surface Studio can cost more than a 5K iMac plus a companion 13" iPad.
 
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zilba25 said:
"If you see a stylus, they blew it.” -Steve Jobs, 2010
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he meant that, if you NEED to use a stylus to control your phone they blew it - and he was correct. having to yank out a stylus to use the most basic features of my windows phone, back in the day, was a royal pain in the butt. Using a stylus for certain applications/tasks is a very useful tool, drawing markup etc...
 
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lkrupp said:
The only reason MacRumors trolls tout touchscreen is because it’s something Apple doesn’t do. I bought my wife a top end HP laptop for her Bernina sewing machine embroidery design software. Neither of us use the touchscreen... ever. And care to provide any evidence that touchscreens are ubiquitous? It’s a gimmick... and so is the touch bar on the Mac Pros.
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Emphatic opinion. Check
Unnecessarily demeaning slur. One that we're not supposed to be using on this site. ;) Check
Personal anecdote used in generally sweeping manner as if it applies to anyone but you. Check
Entire quote giving off that negatively aggressive scent. <sniffs>
/quickly recoils
/sprays Febreze

As for touchscreen ubiquity... I can't think of one major PC maker that doesn't have multiple touchscreen machines in their line up. So there is that. :cool: It's a choice, not a requirement. Those who want to use it, can. Those who don't want to, don't have to do so.
 
barkomatic said:
I now own a touchscreen PC laptop in addition to my old MBP and Schiller is flat out wrong. While I don't use the touchscreen feature every day, it's very nice to fold the keyboard back (it's a convertable) and scroll through webpages, facebook and other programs as a giant 4K tablet.

By contrast, the touchbar has very limited usefulness in my opinion and seems to be a poor substitute for a touch screen.
Click to expand...
Think about what you're saying here....a touchscreen laptop works!....when I turn it into a tablet.

A convertible mac vs. a touchscreen macbook would be two entirely different things, yet this conflation is what I always see users cite here when attesting to the usefulness of a touchscreen.
 
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I *hate* fingerprints on a screen. I'm surprised so many people are unconcerned about that. Once the finger oils are on a monitor they never fully come off. When touch becomes unavoidable as a primary modality of a desktop OS, that is the day the sky is falling and the end is upon us.
 
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topmounter said:
It's hard to believe that Joni Ive hasn't whipped up a magical and revolutionary touch screen MacBook / Yoga-killa.
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Why kill a line that doesn't even come close to macbook sales?

Rule number one in comedy (and corporate PR), you don't punch down.
 
MacRumors said:
Apple design chief Jony Ive has likewise said that a touchscreen Mac would "not be a particularly useful or appropriate application of Multi-Touch."
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Not treating the Surface Pro form factor as a hobby project just-in-case could be a mistake even bigger than the mP 6,1. Time will tell. Of course, I’d rather not touch (or talk to!) a desktop screen.
 
Dave245 said:
I agree with Schiller and Apple on this one, touch screen on a desktop or laptop isn't good at all, they are far more better off sticking with the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro and even bringing it to the iMac.
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Why not let the users decide on the touch screen part. If you can disable the touch screen that should be fine. The touchbar is pointless if you have to look down at the keyboard which consumes time.
 
ventricle said:
Not treating the Surface Pro form factor as a hobby project just-in-case could be a mistake even bigger than the mP 6,1. Time will tell. Of course, I’d rather not touch (or talk to!) a desktop screen.
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Well, it's been 4 or 5 years since the "convertible" form factor was pushed heavily...how long is long enough to make a decision?
 
MartinAppleGuy said:
Surprised on the no ARM macs bit, I always dreamt of an ARM based fanless macbook air with amazing battery life and a cheaper entry price.
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Just because Apple said no to ARM, doesn't mean yes to Intel. Apple could put their own chip in the Mac and not call it ARM.
 
Any ARM based Macs had better be as powerful and fast as current Macs or their share will decline.
 
NT1440 said:
Think about what you're saying here....a touchscreen laptop works!....when I turn it into a tablet.

A convertible mac vs. a touchscreen macbook would be two entirely different things, yet this conflation is what I always see users cite here when attesting to the usefulness of a touchscreen.
Click to expand...

In laptop mode, I've also used the touchscreen and it's still useful -- but fine, making a MBP a touchscreen and convertable would likely be a wise choice. A PC convertable is still also a laptop PC so I'm not conflating anything.

I suspect that one of the real concerns is that if Apple did so, it would undermine their efforts to develop the iPad as a low powered alternative.
 
ARM processors are as good as they are because there's a sh*t ton of iphone sales funding development. Apple sells very few computers and in house development of a processor class is pointless. Apple will do better with Intel who have other customers to sell to.

Havent we been down this road before with the Power PC chips?
 
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Ursadorable said:
No, I dislike touchscreens because of fingerprints that invariably accumulate. My iPad I can quickly wipe on my shirt.. a laptop or desktop monitor, not so much. You shouldn't have to keep a spritzer of screen cleaner and a rag next to your monitor for day to day stuff.
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Sounds like a hardware flaw to me... which does backup my point of there is no great software / hardware solution for a desktop touch screen environment yet.

The finger print issue would bug a lot of people...
 
barkomatic said:
In laptop mode, I've also used the touchscreen and it's still useful -- but fine, making a MBP a touchscreen and convertable would likely be a wise choice. A PC convertable is still also a laptop PC so I'm not conflating anything.

I suspect that one of the real concerns is that if Apple did so, it would undermine their efforts to develop the iPad as a low powered alternative.
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Apple's own history has shown they don't care about cannibalizing their own products.

Why would making a convertible be a wise choice? I'll never understand the notion that looking around at a floundering PC market and doing a "me too" form factor is wise. Frankly I think convertibles are garbage...I can't tell you how many idiot users at work I have to support that stick their keyboard face down in some goop (usually food) because it's downward facing (and most computer users are idiots).
 
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