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Who cares if you don't need it? And again, the point isn't suggesting that Apple do anything ... the point is that it's possible to do in a useable way ... so Phil's comments are silly.

But as I pointed out, the Surface Studio is not the panacea you keep thinking it is. It is a very narrowly targeted device for a small niche market. Outside of that, its elegant design is mostly wasted.
 
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If a Surface is better for you, then get a Surface. Unless the discussion centres around the operating system. Then why can't a third party manufacturer create a touchable screen that folds down to that PERFECT angle, yet connects to a Mac? Why does Apple need to do everything? Contact some screen manufacturers.
And yet again ... the point of people bringing up these products is that it's possible to do it in a useable and productive way. Telling people to go buy a Surface is entirely not the point of any of this and the seems to be the go to argument for people that have nothing to actually talk about.
 
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Phil Schiller and the team are quite right on this topic. It seems quite likely to me that evolution of the Macbooks in particular over coming years will feature a highly developed form of the full electronic keyboard recently written about on this site, (possibly in addition to, or even replacing the new Touch Bar?).

But to be honest, whilst I appreciate we are speculating here which is great, I think there is a lot more with specs and features on the newly released Macbooks for Apple to incrementally develop rather than pursuing what is fashionable with a lot of other manufacturers in the touch screen market.
 
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They said the same thing about iPhones with big screens.

Seriously, I've used touch-screen Windows machines and 99% of the time touch is used for scrolling/navigating. It's actually pretty handy on a laptop, especially when you're trying to show someone something. On the big MS surface thing touch a bit weird because it's flaky, but it was sort of handy as an adjunct to a stylus. Again, it seems to be more nav-oriented.

With Apple, you can't tell if they don't do something because of groupthink about their interaction mechanisms or what. The Magic TouchPad or whatever it's called now does sort of the same thing, except it doesn't.

If anything, that's Apple's biggest weakness: they are unwilling to experiment on the hardware side. They don't have that luxury because their processes won't allow them to. Even the Apply TV is locked into some odd release cadence that's incomprehensible. OTOH, they did release that POS home app, so when it comes to software they're willing to do anything.
 
But as I pointed out, the Surface Studio is not the panacea you keep thinking it is. It is a very narrowly targeted device for a small niche market. Outside of that, its elegant design is mostly wasted.
And again, who cares if it's a niche product? The point is it can be done. We're discussing Phil's comments here. Apple has put a lot of energy into "touch" technology for years with their iPhones. You'd think with Apple's engineering and coding departments they could figure something out. They could rival Microsoft if they wanted to. Or maybe they've just grown so comfortable in what they're doing that they can't innovate like that anymore.
 
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At a company where everything is centered around physical design and Jonny Ive's desires, your not going to see touchscreen until after Jonny Ive quits or retires.

Not sure we can blame Ive this time.

After all, in Jobs' biography he claims he's the one who showed Jobs multi-touch on a conference table top (similar to Jeff Han's TED demo). So it sounds like he has no problem with large arm movements.

I don't agree with every design decision Apple makes, but I do agree with this one. Making the screen the primary form of input on a tablet or phone makes sense.

Nobody here said to make it the PRIMARY input method. That's just Schiller's way of distracting people.
 
Thank you Apple for thinking you know what I want no matter how much I know what I want.

I wanted Final Cut 8, you gave me Final Cut X. You reinvented the wheel and it was square. Never used it, never will.

I wanted a MacPro with versatility and upgradeability, you gave me a black metal trash can that I will never buy.

Oh yeah, and most of all thanks for abandoning your most loyal, core users, the Pro.
 
I couldn't agree more with schiller on this. I don't want finger prints on my screen and just don't like the idea of it. I just can't wait for the magic keyboard with the touchbar included.
 
It doesn't "just work". When you have custom design enterprise apps with mixed metaphors of design, trust me, it is PAINFUL. When you mix things like mouse over and then HAVE to do swipe like gestures and pinch to zoom on a desktop IT IS PAINFUL. Not a LAPTOP but a DESKTOP.

Yes, this is why Apple is very careful about not messing wit the "user interface" (how a user interacts with the hardware and software). This has always been messy on Windows, with apps frequently requiring context menus to do anything. But on a Mac, Apple has adhered to a policy that contextual menus are completely optional. Now they've brought those contextual options to a cool new interface (the Touch Bar), making them even more useful, but still completely optional. Touch directly on the macOS interface just would not work well in its current iteration as people want to believe. And screens would be messy!
 
Thank you Apple for thinking you know what I want no matter how much I know what I want.

I wanted Final Cut 8, you gave me Final Cut X. You reinvented the wheel and it was square. Never used it, never will.

I wanted a MacPro with versatility and upgradeability, you gave me a black metal trash can that I will never buy.

Oh yeah, and most of all thanks for abandoning your most loyal, core users, the Pro.

You'll change your tune once you get your hands on the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. But then again, I suppose that will never happen because you judge before you try. :)
 
How do you charge your iphone?
How do you use all your pro equipment
You forgot;
How do you restore your phone.?
What happens when you’re on site and they tell you radios off\/
What about a Time Machine back up?
What about target display?
 
The saddest thing about this is that they aren't saying they are opposed to it out of some design principle or other deep reason. Rather, they just couldn't figure out how to do it well. Which is an engineering and design problem, the sort of thing Jobs excelled at. They're basically admitting that they're no longer smart enough to come up with (admittedly difficult!) design solutions to the sorts of complex computer design problems the future will hold. They aren't even saying no one else will solve these problems, or that they are impossible to solve, or that touch isn't the inevitable future. They're just saying they can't figure it out themselves, and are basically just going to wait for someone else to.


That's absurd. The purpose of a computing device is to be useful, not to have a specific feature. Your premise is that they couldn't figure out how to make a touchscreen (a feature) work well in a laptop and desktop. That is certainly NOT how Jobs approached things-- starting with a feature and trying to figure out how to make it work.
 
Wow. You've never used it, yet come to the conclusion it's "in a wrong place," then contradict yourself, conceding there would be "other issues" with that placement. You could have said the same thing in less words by simply stating "I don't know anything about this subject."

You are the troll I was talking about. I know a lot about this subject but the caveat was that I haven't used it yet. And it is not a conclusion - it is an opinion based on a mere observation. I guess all you do is use your computer for p***.
 
Well, considering how much they charge for 0.5" wide touch bar on the latest MBP, I think it's a good thing they didn't put it on the whole screen...
 
It doesn't "just work". When you have custom design enterprise apps with mixed metaphors of design, trust me, it is PAINFUL. When you mix things like mouse over and then HAVE to do swipe like gestures and pinch to zoom on a desktop IT IS PAINFUL. Not a LAPTOP but a DESKTOP.
No it isn’t. I’m a keyboard warrior. People, ( and I’m betting the vast majority), are already used to going from typing into a field using the keyboard then moving hand to the mouse for the next field and then guess what…….typing into a field using the keyboard.

They do this countless times while filling just one form. Wow, yeah, what a deal breaker.
 
What MS did with the new Surface desktop is only going to be usable for those working on graphic or possibly engineering programs (if they're designed for touch), given the drafting-table-style interaction
The saddest thing about this is that they aren't saying they are opposed to it out of some design principle or other deep reason. Rather, they just couldn't figure out how to do it well. Which is an engineering and design problem, the sort of thing Jobs excelled at. They're basically admitting that they're no longer smart enough to come up with (admittedly difficult!) design solutions to the sorts of complex computer design problems the future will hold. They aren't even saying no one else will solve these problems, or that they are impossible to solve, or that touch isn't the inevitable future. They're just saying they can't figure it out themselves, and are basically just going to wait for someone else to.

I'm not sure how you're getting that Apple can't engineer a solution out of what was said. The one big issue that can't be engineered to work without further human evolution, is how we interact with a computer, where the screen is in the vertical axis in front of us, which happens to be exactly where our head and eyes are pointed when in the natural sitting or standing positions, and the keyboard / trackpad / mouse is in the horizontal axis, of which our fingers/hands/arms naturally rest, makes it almost impossible to efficiently physically interact with a screen in the vertical axis.

MS tried to address that issue with the Surface Studio, but the tilted [drafting table-style] screen, while easier to interact with your fingers, then becomes more of an issue for your head/neck/back, as you have to hunch over the screen. And as others have noted, if you are doing anything other than drawing on-screen, and you need to go back to the keyboard or trackpad, you have to change positions to work.

So, until we evolve where our necks elongate and our brains get smaller (and lighter), while our arms, hands and fingers get much thinner, longer (and lighter as well), working on touch screen desktop computers, and to a large part even touchscreen laptops is going to be something no computer company can engineer around.

Really, if you want to move from the keyboard / trackpad input, the best way to interact will be a second screen that is reconfigurable to be a keyboard, trackpad, drawing pad, multi-touch device, that allows your eyes to remain focused naturally in front of you, while your arms rest on the desk and hands/fingers interact with the flat screen in the horizontal axis. That way, there are no fingerprints to look through and your fingers / hands will never be in the way of what you're looking at / working on either.
 
Well, I think we can end the speculation here on whether or not Apple has lost it, because the answer is yes. Refusing and just outright dismissing future innovation possibilities is just absurd. I have a new slogan for apple: We used to think differently, now it's microsoft's turn. I mean come on, where is the ipad pro with osx? Or where is the real pro of iOS that can handle file management and full word processing and excel?
 
That's absurd. The purpose of a computing device is to be useful, not to have a specific feature. Your premise is that they couldn't figure out how to make a touchscreen (a feature) work well in a laptop and desktop. That is certainly NOT how Jobs approached things-- starting with a feature and trying to figure out how to make it work.
No that’s absurd. It’s quite possible that just a single feature could be useful.
 
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I couldn't deal with the fingerprints and smudges. I probably wipe my iPhone down way too many times in a day than I care to admit and my MacBook at least once per day. I am cool with how they have it now. 7 Plus and MacBook is the best combo in my opinion.
 
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