Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Testing Touchscreen Panels for Future iMac?

Would be great to control Front Row like that. Hm, a Dashboard that just has apps all over it, that would make sense, strangely.

Don't think we're going to see this as a replacement for a mouse, but some specific control overlays could be great for the Pro Apps.
 
I love how everybody is an expert of product development for Apple in this thread.
I'm convinced the concept is going to work; obviously, there will be a transition period.
My 2 years old daughter who is used to touch interfaces often tries to touch on my iMac's screen already.
 
Morod said:
No touchscreens for desktop computers. It's just silly!
Click to expand...

Interesting to see all the comments along the lines of 'this won't work'. (Such people whined when Jobs took away their floppy drives, too.) Actually, it's brilliant. Apple needs to work out some ergonomic issues, but essentially, Apple sees the keyboard and mouse as legacies of a now-bygone age.

Your keyboard is arranged in the 'QWERTY' style to keep non-existent striker keys from being entangled. And the mouse was a solution forced upon us because touchscreens were strictly science-fiction.

Apple sees the acceptance of the new user-interface paradigm it has pioneered and is now seeking a way to bring that to mainstream computers. It's a gutsy move. If Apple can make it fly, mouse and keyboard users will look like dinosaurs.

Unlike the floppy, I don't think mice and keyboards will vanish. Heavy users (especially the sort that needs Mac Pros) will continue to find utility in them. But their use will differentiate the Heavy Computer User from the lighter user who has a different approach and different needs. They'll embrace this sort of device - but only if Apple does its homework and really implements this thing properly.

Most people, I suppose, think there'll always be a keyboard and mouse because there has always BEEN a keyboard and mouse. But things are evolving, and Apple gets it. They've seen the computers in films like Minority Report, where there's not a keyboard in sight. They've seen how people have embraced the keyboardless, mouseless iPad. They know which way the wind is blowing.
 
The iMac in the patent drawing must have a really heavy base. otherwise that whole thing is going to tip over as soon as the user applies any pressure to the panel.
 
All I can say it I go nuts when someone touches my screen and leaves fingerprints. Seriously, I'm a fingerprint Nazi.
 
This is going to be awesome

Im totally in favor of this. Who wouldnt want to bastardize their OSX experience with a touch interface? Also, I sure know my beautiful iMac would look that much better with tons of fingerprints...kinda like a display unit at Best Buy. This is going to be revolutionary, and its not like Apple has other touch screen devices to choose from either. *Dont drink the :apple:-juice people
 
Morod said:
No touchscreens for desktop computers. It's just silly!
Click to expand...

I know. Right?

Just what I want to do is to stand over my computer all the time to be able to operate it. If anyone can tell me how operating a desktop computer like this would be easier then using a mouse I'm all ears.

Even though I love my iPad the fingerprints drive me crazy. Imagine the fingerprints all over an iMac that has to be ran by touch?!?!?

This is silly and the only reason why they would do it is to try and sell a few with that initial "Gee whiz" factor. That's it!
 
rmwebs said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Love Apple - Hate Steve's stupid idea of a touchscreen mac.

Lets face it - he's had his day and should move on.

Touchscreen Mac === MAJORLY IDIOTIC.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Its like there's this 'sense' by some people (Steve Jobs?) that there 'must' be somthing better than a mouse, since it was 'invented' 4 decades ago. Thats so OLD. But then, we've been using steering wheels in the cars we drive, and that was a control method designed centuries ago! Its not like we're also sitting here thinking there 'must' be a better, more modern way to control our cars. Why do we insist on thinking that way with our computers. Maybe, just maybe, the mouse IS the best way to do it?
 
It would work if the touch interface was intuitive enough for business use.
I use Keynote on my iPad to whip up flow charts in transit on the train to and from work then offload them into Powerpoint to merge with larger projects..
 
If you can can position the screen completely flat (parallel to the table) this + the additional iOS interface layer (like Dashboard) in OS X could be be a great and inexpensive alternative to MS Surface/etc. Why not?
Can see this as a PERFECT addition to my DJ setup. NI bring on Traktor Touch. :D
 
I suspect that, instead of theorizing on message boards, there are people in Apple playing with designs to see if the obvious problems can be overcome and if the possible advantages are worthwhile.

I don't see any evidence that this is anywhere near being a product. How many years were Apple getting samples of stuff to make a tablet? There were rumors for what, five years?
 
It kind of amazes me at how negative the comments on this idea seem to be.

If any company can make us relate to a desktop computer in a different way, it is Apple. Just because it is testing(keep in mind these are just rumors and we have no real way of knowing what is actually happening behind the curtain) a touchscreen iMac does not mean that is where the whole thing will end up.

Apple reinvented the MP3 player with the iPod when every other company was just sputtering along. And no one will dispute the change that has meant for how people listen to music.

iPhone, same thing. Every other phone manufacturer was putting out crap. Apple raised the bar like 10,000%. Now smartphones are the norm and most phone makers are just playing catch-up.

People said "who needs a touch-based tablet?". Apparently people are finding huge usability out of the iPad and that is just with the 1st generation, and look at how much more we can do with the iPhone in its latest iterations.

Apple has this uncanny way of bringing technologies together in a synergistic blend to create products that satisfy needs/wants that most people didn't even know they had.

While I can see the concern for the ergonomics of inputing in such a way, overall most of the dismissive comments seem to be myopic and even a bit self-centered.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." -- Henry Ford
 
akadmon said:
....

... Imagine dragging a file from the upper left corner of the screen to the trash on a 27" one of these things, and then multiply this kind of motion by 1000 a day :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

and that is why apple invented automator.... :D
 
Big touch screens are great...

... for specific applications. Typically when a public user interface is needed with limited access to specific information. This would be much better than the devices I've seen around with the winblows blue screen of death. However, there are 3rd party options for things such as this.
 
DakotaGuy said:
I know. Right?

Just what I want to do is to stand over my computer all the time to be able to operate it. If anyone can tell me how operating a desktop computer like this would be easier then using a mouse I'm all ears.
Click to expand...

Simple: stop thinking about it like operating a desktop computer.

I would assume, in the imaginary land where this exists and all Apple patents come to pass, that this computer would typically be used as a standard iMac with mouse and keyboard in an upright position. When you're done and leaving your desk, you could tip it back and it would switch to dashboard/app view and you'd have some stock and weather information, etc. Then say a family member is about to run out to the grocery store and wants to browse/reserve something in the RedBox. They walk over, and instead of having to sit down and play with a mouse and keyboard, they touch the RedBox app and flick around the list of movies.

Seems very potentially-convenient to me. All the people in this thread thinking touch has to be the primary input used in an OS X setting for hours at a time are being very short-sighted in my opinion.
 
RalfTheDog said:
I like the idea of using a second screen for a keyboard and mouse. You could reconfigure the keyboard for the language you are typing in at that moment. You could also use it with a standard keyboard. Just fill up the touch screen with macros.
Click to expand...

As long as it was a choice between touch screen keyboard and physical keyboard (or in otherwords, please no on laptops where you don't have a choice). No touch screen is going to beat a physical keyboard for fast and accurate typing. Having to look at your keyboard to type is not efficient (and with no physical cues whatsoever you will have to look down often to make sure your hands are still aligned. And sorry, even having little tabs like they do on physical keyboards on certain keys to tell you where your hands are really wouldn't change that much as with a touch screen you still wouldn't know if the rest of your fingers are aligned right).

I suppose they could actually shape it in the form of a keyboard so you feel where the keys are, but that would eliminate a lot of versatility of the touch screen (and still wouldn't feel right). Probably be one of those compromises that is the worst of both worlds.

Anyways, I wouldn't say they shouldn't do a touch screen keyboard. I would say they shouldn't force it on people as I know I would be very dead set against it myself (I have no need for different keyboards and much prefer having physical keys so I can easily type without looking at the keyboard).
 
Lesser Evets said:
... The "oh no i need tuh clean" people should a) stop eating greasy crap b) wear wrist bands c) stop sweating like pigs d) quit picking their zits through the day e) learn to be clean and wash their hands a couple times a day. Join the human race.
Click to expand...


Wear wrist bands? How's that extra chromosome 21 working out for you?
 
Touch screen iMac is wrong way to go

What is slightly less awful would be using a wave of the hand in proximity to the "mirror" of glass, obviating dirtying the screen and having to clean it off now and then (preferably now).
But all this is rumor and conjecture; maybe a clever red herring to divert attention to Apple's real goal: "Today, the iPa(od). Tomorrow the iWorld!" to paraphrase an old Nazi promise.... :rolleyes:
 
Stella said:
Touch screen navigation is a lot quicker than mouse.
Click to expand...

Quicker perhaps with large icons/links. But in practice, I've found touch screen nav speed is at best the same if not slower than mouse because of the higher error rate in touch: hitting that link, small icon, etc. Mind you, I'm speaking for myself :rolleyes: Anyone else have an opinion on speed of touch vs mouse?
 
I for one can see it being very handy in applications like iPhoto, being able to point and touch the selected photos, stretch and twist, invert and close them.
Imagine if you have arthritis, the mouse can be a painful thing to use so being able to touch the screen if you so wish would be a big benefit for such people.
You can already buy a kit to turn the iMac into a touch screen so I don't really think it's a far off thing for :apple: to introduce.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back