Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Craig Federighi Talks Bringing iOS Apps to macOS, Reiterates No Plans for Touchscreen Macs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
On a standard laptop the touchscreen will probably always be supplementary rather than a primary method of interaction, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its uses. I’ve yet to own a touchscreen windows computer, but have had some experience trying them out, and feel they are richer for having more options to interact with content on screen. Of course if you have a digitiser and pen (plus a form factor that allows the screen to lay flat) then it’s a feature that will have great utility to many people.
As for iOS apps on Mac, that seems to me to be the real toaster-refrigerator mashup as you’re retrofitting mouse and keyboard support to something that’s been designed for touch input.
As for iOS apps on Mac, that seems to me to be the real toaster-refrigerator mashup as you’re retrofitting mouse and keyboard support to something that’s been designed for touch input.
I actually like the concept of shared apps, primarily because for many of the simple, single function apps this gives the devs an opportunity to be on both platforms for (hopefully) only a small incremental effort. That said, the devil is always in the details. Many common iOS apps should (IMO) have MacOS counterparts and developers need to make that happen. Hopefully the upcoming changes to the Mac App Store will make it more useable... and thus drive more apps.
That’s true but Apple does market the iPad as a notebook replacement option and it that configuration it’s not physically different from a MacBook.
Apple can't even make new version of its hardware on a regular basis. What makes anyone think they would make a touchscreen mac?
I've known a few people who have touchscreen laptops and they use them fairly often, particularly for drawing notes using a stylus.
That said, it got annoying when one tutor at uni assumed my rMBP has a touchscreen.
Personally, I can live without it although there has been the odd occasion when it would have been useful.
Then add a mouse to the iPad Pro, or even two mice, but stop this nonsense in the Mac product line
no trackpad means the keyboard is closer to the user which also means the ipad is closer to the user. if the touchscreen is close to you, it’s less fatigue.
also, no trackpad or mouse support means you’re not using a trackpad/mouse for navigating simple UI all day. at this point, you’ll rip off the keyboard and let the ipad sit flat on the table to navigate simple UI
[doublepost=1528221465][/doublepost]
may as well buy a macbook if you really need a mouse to use an app.
Gaming AR is a gimmick. Pokémon is the only true success story. It drives me INSANE Apple pours their heart and soul into gaming technologies no one cares about. If Apple cared about gaming on iOS / Apple TV, they would include a controller with every Apple TV that would also work for iOS. If Apple TV became the gaming platform it should have been, iOS gaming would reap the benefits.
Apple always messes up gaming.
Maybe touchscreen macs are a non starter, but iPads with mouse pointing options are long overdue.
To my mind Apple is artificially limiting convergence in order to force users to buy more devices.
To my mind Apple is artificially limiting convergence in order to force users to buy more devices.
Maybe a notebook replacement for someone that doesn't really need a notebook. For the work many people do on a notebook, I need full function apps, multiple pointing devices, and the ability to add larger displays. I get all of that in a Surface Pro and get the benefit of one OS platform to learn.
One of the most ridiculous things in the keynote was touting that they added markup to Preview. And he grabs the image file of a signature and drops it into a document. Really? How did the signature get there? And how do you do "markup" without a pen or touch input? Can we say "awkward". When he went into that segment, I was thinking this was the entry to why touch / pen was needed on a Mac... only to see a signature JPG dropped on a page with a mouse. Whoever planned that segment of the demo should be fired. If I were Microsoft, I'd grab that clip and run it alongside how you do markup and add a signature with a Surface Pro.
Bottom line... Apple wants you to buy two devices instead of one.
Apple can not even make are a useful keyboard anymore. The current MB/MBP line up is the subject of several class action suits because the keyboard quits working after some dirt or dust gets behind the butterfly keys. It is a joke!
The ergonomics are terrible, but it's an accepted compromise because sometimes you really want to use a physical keyboard on the iPad. There are keyboard shortcuts designed to minimize screen contact when in this mode.
I do think MS has become a more out-of-box-thinking place, and a more useful provider of tools for professionals since Nadella took over and moved away from so much proprietary focus and the "Look! Now the world's most widely used OS has a new version!!!"
Apple on the other hand, ever since the iPhone launched and shook up the world, seems to have been moving more and more towards the idea of hey the hardware (particularly the mobile gear) is what sells the software, even though they do still pitch the ease of user interface and the wild variety of uses to which the mobile devices can be put.
Don't get me wrong, I love the iPhone, iPad variants, still have a soft spot for iPod touch. However, somehow the OS has felt in recent iterations like it's taking a back seat to the iOS concepts, and particularly with a few of the Apple desktop apps. Without an expansive and accomodating desktop environment, how are programmers to work at their best? LOL sometimes I think Apple wants the devs to work on mobile devices only and in some back room they're writing code for a desktop simulator that runs on a phone "just in case" there are still some desktop programmers needed in the coming years...
That has made a lot of us who like working on desktops or laptops feel unsettled.. and the feeling didn't vanish for me yesterday. I too am someone who worked hard back in the day to get a company to switch to all-Macs, and felt gratified when it saved the internal tech customer services department a lot of money over time, even given the more expensive hardware platform. It was about the OS user interface and its lesser susceptibility to hackers back then at least, as well as its user-friendliness for working-prototype development and especially for the end user groups.
Now I don't know if I'd be bragging on advantages of Apple OS X vs. other desktop OS or not.
Touch screen on a Mac is useless. I applaud Apple for separating the iPad from the Mac in terms of the user interface. The Mac should be more desktop focused and personally, I don’t want to reach across the keyboard to touch the display only to see my own fingerprints. The iPad serves a totally different purpose in terms of portability and interaction.
For The record, I have tried the whole convertible laptop/tablet function, and I absolutely did not like it and I found that I like the separation.
For The record, I have tried the whole convertible laptop/tablet function, and I absolutely did not like it and I found that I like the separation.
I have surface laptop, a MacBook air, and a ipad 10.5 pro. The surface laptop has touch support, and can use pen as well. I dont use touch on it, nor did I buy the pen for it. My excuse is that I am old 57, so I can type faster than using touch or a pen on a laptop form factor. Even my ipad pro I bought the apple pencil, used it a few times, but not a deal breaker for me if I dont use it. I can understand that millennials like touch, they were raised on it, but for me, a keyboard is much faster.
I disagree with him on touchscreen. Yes, I don't always want to use it, but I want the option. When I switch from using my 12.9 iPad back to my MBP, I always end up touching my screen to do stuff. The iPad has conditioned me to it. And I love the Microsoft Surface Studio. Photo editing and graphics work on that screen that can be put down nearly flat like a drafting table - awesome.
How are you comparing two entirely different types of devices as having solved the ergonomic issue?
My home laptop is 17" touch screen - two things I can't get with a Mac laptop. I don't haul it around much so the size / weight is not a problem. I do use the touch screen a lot. I like it. When I develop Android apps on it I can use my fingers with the emulator so it is much closer to using a real device. I like to scroll web sites with my fingers. Heck even tapping [OK] on dialog boxes is more straight forward with your finger and much easier than shuffling the cursor via track pad or mouse to the position and clicking.
I even set up macOS in a virtual machine and it handles touch screen as well. Fun doing Mac touch screen. Not that the whole UI is usable that way but you can scroll and tap buttons.
If they want to run more iOS apps on macOS then a touch screen is going to be the best user experience. Mouse is a bit of a one touch thing, track pad accepts multiple fingers of course but the mental mapping of I am touching down here on touch pad affecting up here on screen is a disconnect. You can overlay paint multiple touch points on the screen but that is kind of a hack. When you run iOS apps currently you always use your fingers (or toes).
We are all very used to touching our devices screens. Now that I am used to it on my laptop I would not want to go back. When I am doing "brain dead" work such as just scrolling or tapping through dialogs it is much easier and more natural to do it with a finger over a mouse. Not saying this is the right solution for everyone and I was skeptical when I first tried it on my son's laptop but I sure miss it on laptops that don't have it. He and I both randomly finger punch screens on other folks devices.
I even set up macOS in a virtual machine and it handles touch screen as well. Fun doing Mac touch screen. Not that the whole UI is usable that way but you can scroll and tap buttons.
If they want to run more iOS apps on macOS then a touch screen is going to be the best user experience. Mouse is a bit of a one touch thing, track pad accepts multiple fingers of course but the mental mapping of I am touching down here on touch pad affecting up here on screen is a disconnect. You can overlay paint multiple touch points on the screen but that is kind of a hack. When you run iOS apps currently you always use your fingers (or toes).
We are all very used to touching our devices screens. Now that I am used to it on my laptop I would not want to go back. When I am doing "brain dead" work such as just scrolling or tapping through dialogs it is much easier and more natural to do it with a finger over a mouse. Not saying this is the right solution for everyone and I was skeptical when I first tried it on my son's laptop but I sure miss it on laptops that don't have it. He and I both randomly finger punch screens on other folks devices.
I am iOS only currently for my computing needs (work and personal), but I am happy with the direction macOS is heading. I can see myself coming back if they are able to make the experience more iOS-like, with potential new form factors and ARM chips.
