The new touch screen Macbook will be called Macbook Studio with a Surface Laptop Studio style with 4K 18"-inch screen, which has the same pixel density like the Macbook Pro.
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Macbook Studio
- Thread starter zalchi
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edubfromktown
macrumors 65816
Big yawn as that sounds maximally oxymoronic. I have one (2020!) 2-in-1 Chromebook with that functionality... used the touch screen a few times (mostly, accidentally).
DHagan4755
macrumors 68020
The form factor is the key. Apple won't release a touch screen Macbook without a twist, because it has makes no sense, as you said so. It has to be a device with a new form factor, and Surface Laptop Studio is a good solution.
18-inch with 3:2 4K (3840x2560) is exactly the same pixel density as rhe new Macbook Pros have. It can be smaller and lighter (less than 3 kg) than the 17-inch Macbook was.
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I have that Surface for work. It’s a terrible form factor. It converts into the world’s heaviest tablet, with an unoptimized OS and poor battery life. Of the 20 or so people in my team, no one uses it in any other set up than traditional laptop.
I can imagine that Windows (un)optimized for touch screen is a deal breaker, but 2 kg means heavy by now?
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Why are people obessed with a macbook that has a touch screen?
How different will that be from an iPad? Why would apple give consumers even more reasons not to buy an iPad?
How different will that be from an iPad? Why would apple give consumers even more reasons not to buy an iPad?
navaira
macrumors 601
…macOS I guess?
I am not interested either. I used to have a touch MacBook, i.e. my hackintoshed Yoga C930, with the fold-to-form-super-heavy-tablet hinge. I haven’t really found any reasons to use that touchscreen. It was a very good PDF reader, though (I installed an app rotating the screen).
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Perhaps, but with Apple making iPadOS more like macOS and the apps run on both platforms. I don’t see any advantage a touch screen Mac would offer
Alameda
macrumors 68000
There’s no downside to touchscreen functionality except the added cost, right? It wouldn’t surprise me if MacBooks all have touch screens within five years. Not saying they will, just saying that the feature doesn’t take anything from you.
My son had two touchscreen laptops; they both broke. You could flip the screen 180 degrees to make it a tablet but doing so didn’t disable the keyboard, so whenever you held the thing of course you’d press all sorts of keys. To me, this was a shockingly dumb feature.
But for me, I’d love to have MacOS on my iPad. And at this point… yeah, I could care less about the iPad apps and all that, if I could just run MacOS I’d be very happy.
edubfromktown
macrumors 65816
Added cost, probably higher chance of issues/failure and extremely limited functionality for the vast majority of consumers.
Owning a quite snappy i7 16 GB 2-in-1 Chromebook with touchscreen (that cost ~$1600 retail... I paid ~$150 from an IT liquidator) all I can say is that the juice is not worth the squeeze especially at full price!
Simialrly, an S25 Ultra phone is my daily driver. I've used the S-Pen ~5 times to sign an electronic agreement/contract and otherwise do not find it to be something that I could no do without.
Alameda
macrumors 68000
Really? You don’t need a touchscreen on your phone? Okay…
edubfromktown
macrumors 65816
I do not need a PEN to touch the screen. Having touchscren capability on a computer display is 99.8% worthless for me and hordes of others. If Apple wants to charge extra for those that do, go ahead just not for the rest of us
navaira
macrumors 601
My touchscreen Hackintosh disabled the keyboard when I turned it into a tablet. I didn't know I did such a good job. 😉 It still wasn't extremely useful...
Those 2-in-1 convertibles are too heavy to use as a tablet. You need one of those light tablet PCs with detachable keyboard/trackpad. Latitude 5290/7200 as an example.
Agree extremely limited functionality. But hopefully Apple can use their years of experience making tablet touchscreens to minimize issues / failure. Problem I see is that instead of the rigid tablet format, they have the top of the clamshell which flexes more. Wonder if they will sacrifice a bit of device thickness for extra rigidity?
With the Mac Pro being discontinued and essentially replaced by the Mac Studio, and the Pro Display XDR being replaced by the Studio Display XDR, it does make me wonder if Apple has plans for a MacBook Studio (or MacPad Studio?).
But if they do, I can't figure out if it would more likely be a rebranding of the MacBook Pro without any significant change beyond maybe an aesthetic redesign--the only purpose of the rebrand then being to completely phase out the "Pro" name from the Mac lineup and have a more unified nomenclature with "Studio" being the new Pro--or if it would be a rebranding with a second purpose which would be to introduce the oft-rumored touchscreen on the MacBook. And if it does introduce the touchscreen, I can't figure out if it would undergo a significant form factor change to optimize ergonomics for the touchscreen or if it would remain a traditional clamshell.
I do think if it does undergo a form factor change, then it will not replace the MBP since many people like their traditional clamshell MacBook, especially if the new form factor adds cost. So then I suppose the Pro name would continue on and not be phased out. Unless Apple just wants to keep the MBP around with the belief that most everyone will eventually switch over to the MBS (MacBook Studio).
If I had to bet, I would probably bet there is a MBS on the horizon and that it will be a touchscreen with a new form factor, and it will be offered alongside the MBP. I mostly say this because of the multiple somewhat recent rumors of a touch Mac device, and slightly because of the coincidental timing of the apparent proliferation of the "Studio" name. But (as I've mentioned in other threads) I think the touch functions will be more limited than in Windows touchscreen laptops. I think it will mostly be gestures rather than pointing since Mac apps aren't optimized for touch pointing, and will support an Apple stylus for pointing and drawing/writing. It would probably support full touch for Catalyst iPad apps though. As to the exact new form factor, I really have no idea. I want to at least say it will be some kind of convertible, but there were rumors it would be one big folding screen with I guess a touchscreen keyboard, although that sounds horrible.
But if they do, I can't figure out if it would more likely be a rebranding of the MacBook Pro without any significant change beyond maybe an aesthetic redesign--the only purpose of the rebrand then being to completely phase out the "Pro" name from the Mac lineup and have a more unified nomenclature with "Studio" being the new Pro--or if it would be a rebranding with a second purpose which would be to introduce the oft-rumored touchscreen on the MacBook. And if it does introduce the touchscreen, I can't figure out if it would undergo a significant form factor change to optimize ergonomics for the touchscreen or if it would remain a traditional clamshell.
I do think if it does undergo a form factor change, then it will not replace the MBP since many people like their traditional clamshell MacBook, especially if the new form factor adds cost. So then I suppose the Pro name would continue on and not be phased out. Unless Apple just wants to keep the MBP around with the belief that most everyone will eventually switch over to the MBS (MacBook Studio).
If I had to bet, I would probably bet there is a MBS on the horizon and that it will be a touchscreen with a new form factor, and it will be offered alongside the MBP. I mostly say this because of the multiple somewhat recent rumors of a touch Mac device, and slightly because of the coincidental timing of the apparent proliferation of the "Studio" name. But (as I've mentioned in other threads) I think the touch functions will be more limited than in Windows touchscreen laptops. I think it will mostly be gestures rather than pointing since Mac apps aren't optimized for touch pointing, and will support an Apple stylus for pointing and drawing/writing. It would probably support full touch for Catalyst iPad apps though. As to the exact new form factor, I really have no idea. I want to at least say it will be some kind of convertible, but there were rumors it would be one big folding screen with I guess a touchscreen keyboard, although that sounds horrible.
OP, how did you know my dream device? lol
I've been using a SLS for the last few years for work and the form factor has been an absolute godsend. I draw for work, often on the go, and the software I use is desktop only, and I make heavy use of keyboard shortcuts. I used to use a MacBook Pro with a separate portable drawing display, but having to carry around, connect/disconnect, and find a place to use two somewhat big devices extremely hampered portability. I've also used Surface Pro slates, but even having to use external keyboards while drawing was often awkward or impractical depending on the space/environment I was in (eg. tiny plane seat, tiny table at a coffee shop)--plus I found the screens on the SPs too small and I wanted better performance than a thin slate could give me. The SLS's convertible "floating" screen allows me to draw and simultaneously use the keyboard on a decently performing laptop with a (slightly) bigger screen--all in the most portable package possible. This has enabled me to have a much easier/better/faster experience working on the go these last few years and often in places and times that I never could before. It's been awesome overall, but there are ways I wish it was improved, the main one of course being I wish it ran macOS instead of Windows. So an Apple version of this would be an answer to a (for me) decades-long prayer for a truly portable Mac drawing solution. 18" might be a bit big for me though, I'm thinking 16", maybe 17". But I'm really not sure this form is what's coming, if any new form at all. But I hope.