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Is this the "half way there" MacBook Pro?

R

RustyMac

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 21, 2007
76
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After seeing the way computer technology is goiong today, it looks like these new MacBook Pros and MacBooks are the "half way there" models. I saw that HP has brought out a new laptop with a "glass touch screen" and the iPhone technology is the same technology being used by most phones today (touch screen). It looks like these new MBP and MB are the transition to eventually becoming touch screen computers (touch screen is actually old technology). I have been reading most of the comments on here regarding the new MBP and MB and there are lots unsatisfied people with it's "lack of features (features that have been out already and still not used on the new models). Maybe most professional who use MBPs would not want a touch screen but I am sure that if only the MB and iMac were the ones with this technology, MBP people would complain that there computers should have it too. Also, why is the 17" still using the old model design. I feel that these computer are the "half way there" machines and we are in a transition to what is yet to come. "I am not saying we should wait but isn't Apple the leading company in "breaking the norm" when it comes to computers?

I do like the new MBP and MB, they look beautiful.

These are just opinions, please go easy!
 
jobs said that a touch screen hasn't made a lot of sense to them yet .... so i don't think they're working on one. (and that this isn't a half way point)
 
I don't think they are half way at all. It makes no sense to have a touch screen laptop unless it's a tablet (which I have no interest in either). Trying imaging it in your lap and having to hold your arm up to the screen all the time to interact. Very uncomfortable.
 
HP is banking on the touchsmart taking off. But Apple has been reluctant to go touchscreen with an iMac or notebook yet and I think they are smart too. People use their mouse and keyboard a lot. The screen tends to be set back. Reaching out to and iMac screen as an interface can be a real pain more than a great tool. Then add to that that these machines have great screens. Do you really want to put fingerprints all over your computer screen. My wife always points to our iMac screen and can't point without sticking her finger on it, which leaves me to wipe it down. I really don't see that becoming the norm, not quite yet at least.
 
Notebooks are the new desktops
they barely feel portable anymore.

There is a big potential market for a touch screen mac that's smaller than a laptop but bigger than the iphone. And Apple knows it - regardless of what Jobs said at the last event.
 
roland.g said:
HP is banking on the touchsmart taking off. But Apple has been reluctant to go touchscreen with an iMac or notebook yet and I think they are smart too.
Click to expand...

I think you're right - simply adding a touch screen to the current imac or macbook doesn't make much sense. They weren't designed for touch screens. Our whole relationship to these computers is based around the screen being for display only. But a new device designed from the ground up with a touch screen is a completely different story.
 
I don't think that traditional laptops will dominate the market in the future. I think we will see a big push for touchscreen.
 
i think apple wants to revolutionize the industry...again. i expect something totally new in the next 2-3 years from them. and i don't think touchscreen is it. can you imagine all the fingerprints on that nice glossy display? plus it's already been done and serves no real purpose. touchscreen is fine for some devices, but not laptops.
like one of the people above said..."laptops are the new desktops."
 
I tried one of the large external HP touchscreen displays and was really unimpressed. It was awkward to use, and it didn't register clicks very well. And yes, it had lots of fingerprints all over it.
 
I would love to see a multitouch capacitive touchscreen slate.

The only laptop on the market right now that has anything close to that (AFAIK atleast) is the Dell Latitude XT tablet - it combines capacitive touch screen with an active digitizer. I don't think the XT tablet gets enough praise for its technological achievement. It is, however, limited by the OS as Windows is neither optimized for capacitive touch nor multitouch.

First, capacitive touchscreen is great - but the reason why alot of winmo phones and other touchscreen devices don't use capacitive touchscreen (aside from cost) is that it lacks the ability to be "precise". Notice that you can't draw with a pen on the iPhone - and is not an easy task to do with your finger. So the real fallacy of the capacitive touch is the inability to input anything with precision. Not only that, there would need to be an OS overhaul to make everything more capacitive touch friendly - bigger buttons, bigger screen, bigger everything - not to mention optimization to make everything "snappy".

Resistive touchscreen on the other hand, has the ability to be precise and (historically) cheaper than capacitive touch.

Dell's latitude XT is a great technological achievement because it allows for both capacitive touch convenience AND solves the precision issue by implementing an active digitizer.

I'd love to see more systems that implement the same type of technology as the XT.
 
RustyMac said:
Also, why is the 17" still using the old model design.
Click to expand...


the updated 17 inchers will be released presumably at macworld 09... the first run was reported to have some quality control issues, so apple delayed their release. new ones are coming...
 
RustyMac said:
After seeing the way computer technology is goiong today, it looks like these new MacBook Pros and MacBooks are the "half way there" models. I saw that HP has brought out a new laptop with a "glass touch screen" and the iPhone technology is the same technology being used by most phones today (touch screen). It looks like these new MBP and MB are the transition to eventually becoming touch screen computers (touch screen is actually old technology). I have been reading most of the comments on here regarding the new MBP and MB and there are lots unsatisfied people with it's "lack of features (features that have been out already and still not used on the new models). Maybe most professional who use MBPs would not want a touch screen but I am sure that if only the MB and iMac were the ones with this technology, MBP people would complain that there computers should have it too. Also, why is the 17" still using the old model design. I feel that these computer are the "half way there" machines and we are in a transition to what is yet to come. "I am not saying we should wait but isn't Apple the leading company in "breaking the norm" when it comes to computers?

I do like the new MBP and MB, they look beautiful.

These are just opinions, please go easy!
Click to expand...

It's worth clarifying / specifying:
Multi-touch pad, veruss multi-touch display

& also where this is. A multi-touch display doesn't necessarily make ergonomic sense (and the efforts to date haven't been mindblowing either). A main screen that's multitouch makes more sense for a Tablet - and there is already one out, but not manufactured by Apple directly.

It's a big difference between a trackpad come multitouch pad, versus a multitouch display... By having a multitouch pad on the MB and MBP - you don't have to look at it to use it, you can see what it's doing on the screen. They're already multitouch enabled, and through various apps for the Touch/iPhone you can slave the iPhone to be the input for the Mac if you so desire already...

There's always transition in a way, as the future brings change ;)
In terms of bringing more into the Mac equation, it's possible. Microsoft seems to be pushing it a bit, but more the Surface side of things for Windows 7 as per information coming out of Channel 9 and the PDC on at the moment. I'd imagine Apple will announce it just prior to announcing the products' shipping date.

As for glossy monstrosities - least you can clean glass covered screen a bit better than screens of old...
 
roland.g said:
HP is banking on the touchsmart taking off. But Apple has been reluctant to go touchscreen with an iMac or notebook yet and I think they are smart too. People use their mouse and keyboard a lot. The screen tends to be set back. Reaching out to and iMac screen as an interface can be a real pain more than a great tool. Then add to that that these machines have great screens. Do you really want to put fingerprints all over your computer screen. My wife always points to our iMac screen and can't point without sticking her finger on it, which leaves me to wipe it down. I really don't see that becoming the norm, not quite yet at least.
Click to expand...

I recently tried the HP Touchsmart and while it was cool, it was painfully obvious that it's the operating systems that are holding touch screens back. It was running Vista and trying to hit the Windows logo orb at the bottom corner was just not pleasant at all. I would imagine that would be the case with OS X's Dock as well, to a lesser degree.

Even though my experience with the Touchsmart was brief, I felt like I had to strain my hand more than I would using a trackpad or mouse.

IMO the multitouch buttonless trackpad is already a big step forward when it comes to comfortably using a laptop.

The most ridiculous thing I've seen lately is "movable" (note the difference between "movable" and "portable") notebook computers with 19 or 20 inch screens. They look like battlestations or something.
 
Drumjim85 said:
jobs said that a touch screen hasn't made a lot of sense to them yet .... so i don't think they're working on one. (and that this isn't a half way point)
Click to expand...

Well last time he said the iPod wasn't designed for video... only several months before the launch of the iPod video
 
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