Touchscreen and Pencil support on ARM MacBook

[dogslobber]

People don’t want to use touchscreen on computers. It’s a white elephant.

 

[MevetS]

People don’t want to use touchscreen on computers. It’s a white elephant.

I use the touchscreen on my pocket computer everyday. And on my laptop computer most days as well. And while you seem to be in denial that smartphones and tablets are computers, the people using then have no such misunderstanding.

The success of the iPhone, and the other smartphones, along with the iPad, show that there is clearly a market for touch screen computers. I'm a happy iPhone and iPad user. Just because you don't see the use cases, or because Microsoft did what they do when it comes to hardware, doesn't mean it can't be done.

I would be very surprised if Apple doesn't introduce touchscreen Macs by at least the third generation of ASi systems.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

I use the touchscreen on my pocket computer everyday. And on my laptop computer most days as well. And while you seem to be in denial that smartphones and tablets are computers, the people using then have no such misunderstanding.

The success of the iPhone, and the other smartphones, along with the iPad, show that there is clearly a market for touch screen computers. I'm a happy iPhone and iPad user. Just because you don't see the use cases, or because Microsoft did what they do when it comes to hardware, doesn't mean it can't be done.

I would be very surprised if Apple doesn't introduce touchscreen Macs by at least the third generation of ASi systems.

You're making a semantic argument and its a bit unfair. Computers = laptops and desktops. Or non-handheld computers if you prefer. Touch works beautifully for handheld devices, it works best as an accessory for others, certainly for desktops. If your iMac was touchscreen, you'd get very tired arms and a very filthy screen.

There is a theory that the alignment of buttons and controls in Big Sur that look like the touch controls in iOS are actually a precursor to an AR interface. This makes a lot more sense because you could use it with your elbows bent (without needing to be so close to your screen. If you have a keyboard in play (And with a desktop or laptop you want one because typing much on a touchscreen is not fun) you end up having to straighten your elbows to use the touchscreen.
I think Minority Report which tends to be people's go to example for an AR UI gets this wrong too. The sequences on screen are short so Tom Cruise's arms don't have time to get tired! A more thoughtful one would involve using your hands much closer to your body in a way that you don't need to look too much at what they are doing. Somewhere half way between a physical keyboard and the Minority Report UI.

 

[MevetS]

You're making a semantic argument and its a bit unfair. Computers = laptops and desktops. Or non-handheld computers if you prefer. Touch works beautifully for handheld devices, it works best as an accessory for others, certainly for desktops. If your iMac was touchscreen, you'd get very tired arms and a very filthy screen.

... snip ...

But I am not. A computer is a computer. Touch is an input method. Just because no one has yet produced a good experience for a computer that spends most of its time sitting on a desk doesn't mean it can't or won't be done. I'd be quite surprised if prototypes didn't exist somewhere at Apple (and other companies as well).

The mistake everyone makes is that touch would be the only input method. Of course it wouldn't. Touch as another input method would be useful. I used to work at a place where we had daily scrum meetings with post it notes on a white board, one for each task. We'd move them around by hand. Now imagine that same meeting with a large screen and virtual post it notes that can be moved around by touch. No need to copy the daily configuration back to the project tracking system anymore.

Or imagine playing a game with your toddler where you move the game pieces by touching the screen.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

But I am not. A computer is a computer. T

Dogslobber used the term to mean desktops/laptops and you know that's what (s)he meant.

Touch is an input method. Just because no one has yet produced a good experience for a computer that spends most of its time sitting on a desk doesn't mean it can't or won't be done. I'd be quite surprised if prototypes didn't exist somewhere at Apple (and other companies as well).

The mistake everyone makes is that touch would be the only input method. Of course it wouldn't. Touch as another input method would be useful. I used to work at a place where we had daily scrum meetings with post it notes on a white board, one for each task. We'd move them around by hand. Now imagine that same meeting with a large screen and virtual post it notes that can be moved around by touch. No need to copy the daily configuration back to the project tracking system anymore.

Or imagine playing a game with your toddler where you move the game pieces by touching the screen.

Its not that you're entirely wrong or that Apple never change their minds, but you're still ignoring the practicalities. Once upon a time Apple said no to tablets because the tech wasn't where it needed it to be to be good enough for them. The tech isn't quite the issue when it comes to touch screen computers. Fingerprints are less of an issue for handheld devices because you can make instant subtle adjustments to viewing angles (and hence lighting conditions) so they don't obscure your view. Or you can wipe them on your sleeve because they are already in your hand and small enough and light enough to do that. You don't want to be constantly wiping your iMac or 16" MacBook Pro on your clothing or even with your clothing. The former is a great way to increase the incidence of drops and scratches for a start.
For a mixed input iMac, or laptop on a desk there's still the ergonomics to overcome and the technology of human arms getting tired at full extension is not something evolution is likely to improve any time soon.
The tech we are waiting for is probably the multi-touch analogue of gesture based input. It was good enough to be fun as far back as the Playstation 2 EyeTV (I never used a Kinect) but Apple has great camera tech, particularly its image processors and handy neural engine, plus the fancy FaceID 3D cameras and LiDar in the iPad Pro and presumably iPhone 12 Pro. Apple is also the best in the business when it comes to making UI super intuitive. Then you'll be able to move your virtual post-it notes on the board from 50 feet away.

 

[Kostask]

i have used and own a touch screen Windows machine, the one that I own is a Dell XPS 13. I use the touch screen......never. It works fine, and it is multi-touch. When you have a full, non-virtual keyboard, and a decent touchpad, the need for a touch screen just isn't there. The touch screen is far more clumsy to use, as a finger is far less precise than a touch pad, and Windows 10 (aside from a lot of other defects and questionable design choices) is not well suited to touch screen use, which is also true of MacOS. I have an iPad as well, and because it is designed from the ground up around iOS, which is a touch screen oriented OS, it works just fine. Note that either an iPhone or iPad is usually held much closer to a person than a laptop is, allowing for the "bent elbows" (as one of the posters above called it) hand/arm movement.

I personally don't want a touch screen on a Mac Laptop of any type (AS or Intel). The use case is very limited for it, and I don't want to pay for a touch screen I will never use.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

There was a rumour the other day about a radar based touch screen for the iPhone. This sounds like something that could scale nicely and maybe have its functional range adjusted doesn't it?