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Touchscreen Windows 8 Notebooks vs MBP?

augustya

augustya

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
Hey Guys,

I am contemplating about buying a Macbook Pro Retina Display 15 Inches though I am still not decided I am sure about one thing it is time now to upgrade from my Current Windows-Vista Office Sony Vaio Laptop. I am undecided about buying between the current Windows 8 Touchscreen Laptop v/s the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. Though in todays time almost everyone offers the same features as others the key features that draw my attention is the current breed of Windows-8 Touchscreen Laptop, isn't it an amazing thing to have a screen on your Laptop which is also a Touchscreen so you can Pinch to Zoom Text and Image directly on your screen. I was wondering how is this more advantageous against the finger scroll upwards on the Trackpad of the MBP for Zooming Text and Image on the MBP. If this is the feature that attracts most of my attention. ofcourse a Macbook Pro is a league in its own but I cant seem to be able to decide between the Touch screen of the current models of windows 8 Laptops and the MBP Finger Scroll Trackpad.

Guys please help ! :)
 
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After using an XPS 12, its the first machine that made me seriously think about switching back to windows.
 
SimonUK5 said:
After using an XPS 12, its the first machine that made me seriously think about switching back to windows.
Click to expand...

You mean to say a Windows-8 touchscreen enabled laptop right ?

See there you go...isn't it a fantastic thing ??
 
Having switched back and forth a bit between my MacBook(s) and a Windows 7-era multitouch laptop that was recently upgraded to W8, I can honestly say that after the novelty of having a touchscreen and an interface designed for it had worn off I found myself with very few compelling reasons to use the touchscreen regularly. Pinch to zoom on Windows (in Chrome, at least- not sure about IE) is horrible, scrolling with touch was comparable to an Apple trackpad but felt less natural, and almost anything else I did on the touchscreen I wished I was able to do with trackpad gestures as well as on a Mac. It didn't help that the trackpad (it was an HP) was one of the worst I ever used.

The screen was also prone to smudging, as it was lacking in oleophobic coating of any kind, and games that I would want to play in touch interface mode (Civ V for example) were extremely wonky.

There was one circumstance in which touch felt more natural than using a mouse or trackpad, and that was while using the computer in my lap sitting on the couch. In that case the trackpad is uncomfortably close to my midsection and scrolling with the screen is more comfortable. However, the computer ran too hot for any sustained lap use (and it had the hairbrained idea-- like most Windows laptops- to draw air from the bottom) and honestly, an iPad is far and away better for couch use anyway.

Maybe when there are more Metro apps I'll give it another shot, and I don't think I would have any issue trying out the Surface at some point, but for now it's still a novelty in the category of 3D TVs. I am, however, fully aware that my experience was due in large part to the hardware itself more so than the software, so some of my thinking might not be applicable to more current machines.
 
With that said, you guys think apple will have touch in the mac line anytime soon?
 
I don't like that laptops are hybrid touch screens it cant have it both ways either its a tablet or it isn't.
 
fatlardo said:
With that said, you guys think apple will have touch in the mac line anytime soon?
Click to expand...

No the iPad addresses that market. It actually works better than most windoze touch screens. If anything the iPad will be given more performance.

I wouldn't want a touchscreen on my rMPB. The screen would have fingerprints all over it and become a distraction :)

Given the money being made on iPads and the company's focus, I think Apple would drop the macbook line before incorporating touch.
 
I watched someone demoing Windows Blue and constantly reaching up to touch the screen looks exhausting. I like the OS itself but not the implementation.
 
I don't see a single benefit of the touchscreen over the MBP's multitouch trackpad. Its much less ergonomical and also less precise. And it does not offer more functionality. Not to mention the screen smudges.
 
leman said:
And it does not offer more functionality. Not to mention the screen smudges.
Click to expand...
Indeed. In Windows you can Ctrl+wheel and almost always it will zoom in or out from the cursor as if you pinched that area to zoom.
 
trigonometry said:
I watched someone demoing Windows Blue and constantly reaching up to touch the screen looks exhausting. I like the OS itself but not the implementation.
Click to expand...

+1. My favorite configuration is a keyboard and touchstyk mouse (point stick) as is on my HP 2570P. There your hands never had to leave the keyboard. Once accustomed to that I've found using the touchpad on the cMBP to be a bit unnatural. HP Elitebooks, Lenovo Thinkpads and Dell Latitudes/Precision business notebooks all have a touchstyk.

If Apple were to make some changes then I'd prefer that Macbooks incorporate a touchstyk option over say a touch screen. That's based on me using a notebook like a MBP to do 'serious' work. A tablet can have the touch screen. A necessity since it has no keyboard/mouse. Tablets being useful for runaround duties.
 
A lot of people here have talked about getting smudges on the Touchscreen of a Windows 8 Laptop, But isnt that also the case with an iPad. If People can manage with the Smudges on an iPad what's wrong to do that with an Touch enabled screen of an Laptop ?
 
augustya said:
A lot of people here have talked about getting smudges on the Touchscreen of a Windows 8 Laptop, But isnt that also the case with an iPad. If People can manage with the Smudges on an iPad what's wrong to do that with an Touch enabled screen of an Laptop ?
Click to expand...

The key term here is manage. Smudging is not distracting for the kind of apps I run on my iPad and the iPad form factor makes it easy to keep clean when you want a pristine screen to show off photos.

Smudges would be annoying when working the apps I run on the rMBP, distracting when adjusting photos or assembling video for example.

Perhaps if I used my rMBP like I use the iPad it wouldn't matter... but then I could buy five iPads for the price of this rMBP...
 
I can definitely see win8 benefiting from a laptop with a touchscreen but in all honesty how useable is that touchscreen, this is will your arms incur fatique from reaching out?

Will using win8 be an issue, I personally do not like windows 8 so its a non-issue for me.

I personally think a MBP is superior in part thanks to the OS, but that's my personal opinion and YMMV
 
yusukeaoki said:
We wont see a touch screen Mac for quite a while.
Click to expand...
I'd say you'll never see one given the current vertical screen layout for all of Apple's laptops. Maybe if they took the 11" MBA and made the screen flip over the back it could double as a "tablet" but that hybrid has already been done and hasn't quite caught on yet.

But I can't picture the touchscreen being upright and those on the market right now that aren't some kind of hybrid I mentioned will fail. If you want to know what "guerilla-arm" fatigue is like, just use an iPad with a keyboard for a few days. :(
 
maflynn said:
I can definitely see win8 benefiting from a laptop with a touchscreen but in all honesty how useable is that touchscreen, this is will your arms incur fatique from reaching out?
Click to expand...

Agreed and that is one point one seriously needs to consider, how comfortable and ergonomically easy is it going to be using touch screens in Laptops.
 
augustya said:
Hey Guys,

I am contemplating about buying a Macbook Pro Retina Display 15 Inches though I am still not decided I am sure about one thing it is time now to upgrade from my Current Windows-Vista Office Sony Vaio Laptop. I am undecided about buying between the current Windows 8 Touchscreen Laptop v/s the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. Though in todays time almost everyone offers the same features as others the key features that draw my attention is the current breed of Windows-8 Touchscreen Laptop, isn't it an amazing thing to have a screen on your Laptop which is also a Touchscreen so you can Pinch to Zoom Text and Image directly on your screen. I was wondering how is this more advantageous against the finger scroll upwards on the Trackpad of the MBP for Zooming Text and Image on the MBP. If this is the feature that attracts most of my attention. ofcourse a Macbook Pro is a league in its own but I cant seem to be able to decide between the Touch screen of the current models of windows 8 Laptops and the MBP Finger Scroll Trackpad.

Guys please help ! :)
Click to expand...

I've tested some Windows touch-screen laptops myself, and the experience was less than optimal. I've never tried the Dell XPS 12 or the Asus Zenbook Prime Touch, though, but all those that I've tested have their flaws.

The Acer Aspire S7 is a nice piece of laptop, but looks very fragile and unsuitable to be carried around. The keyboard is very flat, with little key travel. And the battery life is said to be poor.

The Asus TaiChi has its external screen with touch capabilities. Although it is an interesting concept, I didn't find it really useful. The keyboard is better than the one in the S7, and the trackpad is OK, but somehow I think I would be better served by a laptop with just one screen. And the battery offers, according to all reports, very poor life.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is perhaps the best of these machines I've tried. I've found the keyboard and the trackpad to be good or at least OK, and I liked the build quality, even though the materials are not premium. However, the display resolution of only 1600x900, although enough for most users, felt too low for me, and I can easily see the pixels on the screen, which annoys me.

None of them hold a candle to the rMBP. Both the 13" and the 15" are way better than all these laptops. They have better materials and the screen look just gorgeous. These Windows laptops always seem to lack something, or have some compromisse. The rMBP looks just perfect in every detail. The only thing it lacks is a touch screen - but then, again, it is not meant to have one.
 
skaertus said:
The rMBP looks just perfect in every detail. The only thing it lacks is a touch screen - but then, again, it is not meant to have one.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the detailed observation.

But Interesting when you say the rMBP is not meant to have a a touch Screen !! Why do you say so ?? Why is not meant to have one ? What is stopping ?
 
augustya said:
Hey thanks for the detailed observation.

But Interesting when you say the rMBP is not meant to have a a touch Screen !! Why do you say so ?? Why is not meant to have one ? What is stopping ?
Click to expand...

If you don't use an iPad regularly, you may think you need a touch screen on a laptop. But the laptop, where you already have an effective keyboard and trackpad, is an awkward form factor for touch.

On a tablet, where you compromise ergonomics by building the keyboard and trackpad into the screen, it works well enough. But bluetooth keypads and trackpads are selling well as folks get tired of the touch panel ergonomics. Touch may also work well on those large presentation screens, where you are using gestures and not typing.

So touch is a gimmick on a laptop, especially one marketed to a pros. Perhaps better suited to those you can pull off the screen and leave the keyboard behind... and then have a way to play your videos.
 
I have been looking at W8 laptops for a client. The 14" Thinkpad X1 Carbon Touch seems to be the best of breed at the moment. Not cheap--$1500 and up.

Screen quality is decent, but resolution is just OK. Touchpad is excellent but not as good as Apple. IMHO, the keyboard is better than Apple's, but not by much.

I have been a Thinkpad user for many years; just don't understand Lenovo's decision to only make IPS screens available on the X230T (standard) and X230 (optional). The X1 Carbon Touch with a HiRes IPS display would be a killer Windows laptop.

Personally, I don't see much value in touchscreen laptops. just passing info along.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/02/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-touch-review/
 
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