Apple Says Touchscreen Macs 'Not a Particularly Useful or Appropriate Application of Multi-Touch'

[brianvictor7]

You keep your hands and eyes on the F Keys?

It is a matter of having more useful key features within finger's reach, not arm's reach like on a touch-enabled screen. That's why the Touchbar is a great innovation. Come to think of it though, anytime I use a function key I usually have to look down.

 

[hogo]

lol, until you make it "Magically" Apple?

 

[Jsameds]

Does the trackpad support Apple Pencil? That would be a nice compromise I guess.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I fully agree with Jony and Apple on this. Adding to what others have said about the OS not being designed for touch and screen cleanliness etc. Having to stretch over the keyboard (surely this would still be there on a touch screen Mac) and hover your arm in the air, whilst touching the screen, would eventually cause discomfort and pain too.

You don't HAVE to. You are given the option to.

 

[DanielDD]

Apple begs to differ...did you see the keynote??

Apple can say whatever it wants. It does not make it true. It is a keyboard replacement. It's basically a strip with a bunch of custom keys and some sliders. You cannot browser the UI with it.

 

[ebatalha]

I personally hate when someone touch my iMac and MacBook Pro's display… Apple has reasons to don't do it and Apple is the one who knows how to design properly computers, interfaces and everything in their ecosystem.

 

[fatalogic]

This thread just shows that people want Apple to make a 2 in 1. Touch screen on a typical laptop isn't particularly useful but in a 2 in 1 it is a god sent. If the new 13 inch macbook had a detachable touch screen with ipad battery life would people be complaining about how useless the touchscreen is? No they would be praising apple for innovating and creating amazing products.

 

[BeSweeet]

I'm afraid I am giving away my age here, but in answer to your question.

The first screen input computer I actually used was a Compaq TC1000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_TC1000) and I knew back then that this felt wrong on a notebook.

The detail here is actually that the TC1000 was not finger touch input, but digitizer. Never the less, wobbly screen, especially on a lap or when being used while led flat on a couch or bed.

Well, modern solutions are quite sturdy.

 

[8692574]

Apple can say whatever it wants. It does not make it true. It is a keyboard replacement. It's basically a strip with a bunch of custom keys and some sliders. You cannot browser the UI with it.

Well they can say what they designed it for... and it is designed as a mouse / keyboard enhancement..... or if you will ... a small touchscreen!!

YES you can use the UI with it.. if you just took the time to watch the keynote

Bu bye mr attitude!

 

[Jsameds]

You don't HAVE to. You are given the option to.

Even without using it it will have had an effect. If they ever do it then OSX will have to have been fundamentally re-designed for touch input, so it affects everyone who will use it or not.

That's not something I want just so some designers can scribble on their laptop screens.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Even without using it it will have had an effect. If they ever do it then OSX will have to have been re-designed for touch input, so it affects everyone.

What's wrong in re-designing an OS that was originally released in 2001?

 

[wizard]

I'd like to see these prototypes.

The touch bar seems like it's a bit of a gimmick. I can't see it increasing workflows.

Actually i see a lot of potential here but it will take time for software to catch up. Mainly because there are apps where you want 100% screen coverage and the track pad doesn't cut the mustard.

 

[Jsameds]

What's wrong in re-designing an OS that was originally released in 2001?

See: Windows 10.

Nothing wrong with re-designing something, but to re-design the whole OS for the sake of (and being centered around) graphic designers is some high level BS.

 

[Dave245]

lol? wut?

The only thing Surface Studio and the iMac have in common is that they are both all-in-one PCs.

To say that Surface Studio is a copy of iMac is laughable.

Have you not seen how it looks? it looks like an iMac! i'm not the only one saying it, just look at some of the memes on twitter.

 

[NT1440]

Question for you guys. When the massive new trackpads do get pencil/stylus support (and they clearly will given apple's patent activity in the last couple of years), are we still going going to insist on the screen being touch sensitive?

Is there something, aside from stylus support, in anyone's workflow that requires the ability to poke at your vertical screen?

 

[8692574]

Have you not seen how it looks? it looks like an iMac! i'm not the only one saying it, just look at some of the memes on twitter.

Memes are now a source? WOW!!

HEY GUYS....IT'S TRUE, MEMES ARE SAYING IT!

EDIT:
You won't won't argue with memes....

 

[Zimmy68]

It would be so refreshing to hear Ivy actually say...

To have a touchscreen would mean we would have to completely rewrite Mac OS and we are not in the position to do that when people are still throwing their money at us for old stuff.

I'd probably go out and buy Mac the next day.

 

[macduke]

I want an iPad Pro that, when docked to a keyboard/trackpad base unit with battery and maybe a Thunderbolt 100GB/s (a future version is supposed to be able to go up to that) connection to a more powerful GPU/CPU in the base. Everything would be ARM chips designed by Apple—maybe even a dozen cores all told. Have it fade from touch-based to mouse-based UI when docked. All Mac and iPad apps would be universal binaries. This would probably necessitate a move to the 1.6 aspect ratio like the MacBook Pro uses, which I would be fine with for a Pro iPad. I would being willing to pay embarrassing amounts of money for this device.

 

[tubeexperience]

Nobody here has, and nobody has used that Microsoft touch computer either yet people will tell you that one is better than the other time and time again until they're blue in the face.

Yet they've used neither.

Amazing really.

That's not true.

Microsoft Store have Surface Studio on display if you want to try it.

 

[Jsameds]

That's not true.

Microsoft Store have Surface Studio on display if you want to try it.

I'm willing to put money on 99% of the people in here have not tried it.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Laptops with touchscreens are extremely useful. Ask any Surface Book or any other touchscreen laptop owner. None of them would ever go back to a laptop without touchscreen. And a touchscreen is a hell of a lot more useful than a Touch Bar.

Not many out there to ask though.

 

[2ilent8cho]

This.

It's also a hideous experience to reach up - It made me give up using the iPad Pro with the keyboard straight away - but hey if you like that sort of thing you do have the iPad with a keyboard and you do have the Surface Book - why you'd want it on a non touch optimised OS like macOS for the sake of it I don't know (and for all you whingers, Apple really would be dead to me if they suddenly took Microsoft's lead and redesigned macOS to work for touch going through a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 experience first....no thanks! Just make iOS as good as Windows 10 tablet mode, that'll do nicely)

1000x this! I've tried the iPad with a physical keyboard, hated it. Windows 8's GUI change was the final straw that made me leave Windows after 20 years and get my Mac. I love that MacOS is designed NOT for touch and does trackpad, mouse and keyboard input well, which a desktop class OS should. Windows 10 is not much better, having played with it at work schizophrenic would be a good word to describe it. Apple just need to improve iOS on the iPad which is naturally touch.

A good way for Apple to have pencil support on the Macbook Pros would be to turn the trackpad into an iPhone type screen. Use that for the pencil and a trackpad. Like this picture, but imagine it showing a zoomed in area of the screen for drawing on and not a grey trackpad. I think thats what they will do anyway, hence the trackpads have grown in size on the new Macbook Pro's, its getting us ready for something that large there. This seems more comfortable and natural for drawing when using a notebook. IMO.

 

[yaxomoxay]

See: Windows 10.

Nothing wrong with re-designing something, but to re-design the whole OS for the sake of (and being centered around) graphic designers is some high level BS.

I have never really used Windows 10, so I am not to judge. Only thing I will say is that it's an obvious improvement from the Windows 8 mess.

As for macOS, I would expect Apple to design a good OS that can handle different input styles. Again, 2001->2017 is a long time in computing history. macOS still works decently thanks to the great original design, but it's beginning to show its age. Again, it's a great OS, but Apple better be working on the next (non-incremental) OS.

 

[mschmalenbach]

This.

If you've done the same as dwaltwhit below, you'll know that this is just a crappy way to interact with a touch screen... it was bad enough in the good old days of light pens...

I tried using a friend's touchscreen laptop. After about 3 minutes, my wrist started to hurt. It's not even a matter of aesthetic or design; it just hurts.

I do find myself wanting to pinch/zoom on my Mac after using my iPad, but it takes about 2 seconds to switch mindset, no issues.

I like all the stuff the new MacBook Pros have - I currently have what was the old 15" MBPr, top of the line in all options, as I do some video & eLearning authoring work.

But For the sake of an extra 0.6mm or whatever it is, we are now living in Dongle Land, and I use the SDXC card slot A LOT. I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade - the extra performance is not going to make a huge difference - a lot of the software I have doesn't make full use of the old Mac's video hardware as it is...

The extra $500 price, and no room to go to 32Gb RAM is also a downer.

I'll pass - wait to see if in 2-3 years, the current cycle time it seems for MBPr, they come up with something more compelling.

 

[Dave245]

Memes are now a source? WOW!!

HEY GUYS....IT'S TRUE, MEMES ARE SAYING IT!

I didn't say anything about a source, it's opinion based, but i thought that was already known, i guess not.