Would you buy/want a Macbook Pro with a touchscreen?

Would you want a Macbook Pro with a touchscreen?

  • Total voters
    118
paulCC said:
The only reason Apple is not making a 2-in-1 is to protect the iPad and MacBook markets - a decent Apple 2-in-1 based on MacOS would cannibalize the iPad market.
So I believe there are no technical or UI design obstacles - Apple just wants us to buy Macbooks and iPads.

While I am still going along with this blackmail, I have to admit - the HP x360 machines are really tempting.
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Those are my thoughts too.....they can do it but they are afraid of hurting other products they offer.
 
If apple made a touch screen Mac then people would be crying about how macOS sucks for touch on their touch screen Mac 😆
 
Want to RUIN a retina display quickly? With the fragile sprayed-on anti-glare coating?

Then... keep TOUCHING IT all the time.
 
I'd love to see an Apple take on the Microsoft Surface Book. I think it would be great if, when you detach the screen, it runs iPadOS instead of OSX.

And I personally think the current iPad + keyboard case seems pretty awful, as it lacks a touchpad, so you are limited in what you can do with it.
 
MacOS is not ready for touch in any way. It would be terrible, and that's why we got that stupid touchbar instead.

I personally don't want a touchscreen laptop. I used one and it's not for me. I use an iPad or similar devices for stuff like that.
 
jamezr said:
Those are my thoughts too.....they can do it but they are afraid of hurting other products they offer.
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Apple made their thought on touchscreens very clear: touch UI and mouse-based UI are two completely different beats from the perspective of user interaction patterns and making one platform that plays well with both is exceedingly difficult. Which is why Windows 2-in-1 UI is a mess.
 
leman said:
Apple made their thought on touchscreens very clear: touch UI and mouse-based UI are two completely different beats from the perspective of user interaction patterns and making one platform that plays well with both is exceedingly difficult. Which is why Windows 2-in-1 UI is a mess.
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This is also why porting iPad apps to MacOS with Catalyst feels like an alpha at the moment...
 
Is it possible that at least part of the reason Apple doesn't have a laptop with a touchscreen is that the braintrust there went on record a few years ago denigrating its usefulness and now doesn't want to recant, instead introducing the Touch Bar (whose usefulness is questioned by a lot of people)?
 
mac_in_tosh said:
Is it possible that at least part of the reason Apple doesn't have a laptop with a touchscreen is that the braintrust there went on record a few years ago denigrating its usefulness and now doesn't want to recant, instead introducing the Touch Bar (whose usefulness is questioned by a lot of people)?
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I personally think they thought out the Touchbar, because they needed something on the spec sheets. MS won a lot of people with the whole touch interface shift in Windows 10. Especially the convertibles didn't have any competition at all in the apple ecosystem.

I think the Touchbar is a solution for a problem that doesn't exist, and is only driving me nuts every day because the wanted something that looks nice for marketing. But that's just my opinion, of course.
 
leman said:
Apple made their thought on touchscreens very clear: touch UI and mouse-based UI are two completely different beats from the perspective of user interaction patterns and making one platform that plays well with both is exceedingly difficult. Which is why Windows 2-in-1 UI is a mess.
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but not all Windows laptops are 2-in1s...some function pretty well. But then isn't Apple marketing the iPad Pro as a laptop/PC replacement in a lot of ads? So in effect they are promoting a touch based laptop anyway.
 
mac_in_tosh said:
Is it possible that at least part of the reason Apple doesn't have a laptop with a touchscreen is that the braintrust there went on record a few years ago denigrating its usefulness and now doesn't want to recant, instead introducing the Touch Bar (whose usefulness is questioned by a lot of people)?
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Didn't Steve Jobs say at one time that we wouldn't have real apps at all on the iPhone.. that developers could created web apps? Apple seems to have recanted that.
 
Sure. It would be a great addition for a Mac. It would mean that Apple would have to cave in to Microsoft, acknowledging that Microsoft was more inventive in this case than they were. Humbling for Apple with their touchbar stupidity.
 
Saturn1217 said:
We all know how Apple operates. They don't provide options. They make a decision and then all their products kind of switch gears to follow that direction. IF Apple released a touchscreen laptop: a) it is highly likely that their high end laptops (ie MBPs) would ONLY be available with a touchscreen. It wouldn't be an option and it would be stupidly expensive. b) mac OS would change FOR EVERYONE to be touchscreen friendly which would make macOS worse for users who decided to hold onto their old non-touchscreen laptops.
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Exactly. There won't be two versions of MacOS, one for touch and one for desktop. The changes to accommodate touchscreens will apply to everyone, and MacOS will be no different from Windows 10 - optimized for both desktop and touch use, but ideal for neither one.
 
It wouldn’t cause me to upgrade but I also wouldn’t avoid it. If the next MBP I buy in 5-7 years has a touchscreen, cool. If it doesn’t, also cool.
 
MacBooks have very thin monitors, a history of loose hinges, malfunctioning video flex cables, and screen coating issues. If Apple tried to apply a touchscreen it would undoubtedly be disastrous.
 
I was kind of in favour of this until I had the misfortune to spend some time using a Windows 10 tablet recently. After a few days of using touch input with an OS which was never designed for touch, I could have thrown it in the bin. It was so frustrating to try and use - very quickly you understand exactly why iPadOS is designed the way it is from a UI perspective.

The laptop/computer form factor, touch devices and all, has been refined over many years get it to the point where it is now. And while its great to innovate, I'm very pleased to be able to work on a Mac which runs macOS and has traditional input devices.

Having tried to switch to an iPad for a lot of things (with some success), the main thing which always sees me going back to the Mac is the frequency with which I'd have to touch the screen whilst using a keyboard. I never want to have to do that on the Mac.

Could you have it as an option? Sure, but I'm not convinced I'd ever prefer to do it over using the trackpad to be honest.
 
revmacian said:
Absolutely not. Putting a Touch Screen on a Mac would require the macOS UI to change in order to avoid activating the wrong item on screen. Some screen elements would have to be enlarged and/or moved further away from neighboring elements. The macOS UI is already ugly enough, now that everything is flat and there is so much pointless translucency all over the place, we don't really need it getting worse. We don't need more silly features driving up the price.

Just my $0.02
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No it wouldn't? You can have a keyboard and mouse first OS which also supports touch input as an additional way of interacting with your content. i.e. what Windows does perfectly well. Maybe the utility of this is of limited value, sure, but it's not the dichotomy Apple's painted it as. I think a pen-centric device like the various windows 2in1 models could be quite appealing to digital artists and the like. It's just Apple would rather sell them a MacBook and an iPad ;)
 
jamezr said:
Like the title says...would you want Apple to release a Macbook Pro with a touchscreen?
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It depends on the configuration. If by "Macbook Pro" we mean a traditional laptop form factor, then no. It's pointless.

However, if Apple were to make a fully capable "macbook Pro", but in a tablet computer form factor, then 100%, no brainer it needs a touch screen. And I would carry a mechanical keyboard for sit-down work sessions.




I would buy the second option if it were available... Some might say it is available, but it really isn't. I already tried an ipad pro to use as a hybrid computer/ tablet, but the OS is really holding it back. Some might be offended by this, but those people don't have the same expectation for a computer that I do, apparently.

Probably the biggest reason the iPad failed in the prospective role is that iOS is designed to entertain. Every part is trying to be pretty, and everything it does is a mini performance. I mean, even a simple radio button dances a little jig, and a second radio button can't be hit until the first one finishes...and develpers are not allowed to cut this stuff out! I found that it constantly got in my way, slowing me down....which is the last thing I want from a Computer. Why would I accept always following grandma down mainstreet at 12mph...when I know the speed limit is 30mph? It's okay on occasion, but I don't pay a premium for the experience! Thing is, I had an old and really out dated android tablet, which performed better and faster for my use...
 
Falhófnir said:
No it wouldn't? You can have a keyboard and mouse first OS which also supports touch input as an additional way of interacting with your content. i.e. what Windows does perfectly well. Maybe the utility of this is of limited value, sure, but it's not the dichotomy Apple's painted it as. I think a pen-centric device like the various windows 2in1 models could be quite appealing to digital artists and the like. It's just Apple would rather sell them a MacBook and an iPad ;)
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Yes, I totally agree that you can, but my experience with Windows was that it was a perfect example of why you shouldn't.

Sitting in front of my Mac just now, I can only imagine how fiddly it would be to use my finger to try and select something like bluetooth preferences from the top menu bar. Windows 10 was a nightmare for this sort of thing.

You're right though, something pen-centric might be the best experience without re-doing the UI. Or something which has a different UI if you switch from desktop to tablet mode?
 
revmacian said:
[...] The macOS UI is already ugly enough, now that everything is flat and there is so much pointless translucency all over the place, we don't really need it getting worse. We don't need more silly features driving up the price.
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Then turn translucency off. It's the first thing I do when installing macOS.
System Preferences –> Accessibility –>Display –> Reduce Transparency
 
I would like it the other way, running macOS on an iPad (with or without Smart KB), I lost count of the times where I loath to run something quick or do data management on an iPad sized device when I am on the go.

For a proper laptop that is a 13" or even bigger MBP, I most def will run it on a desk sitting properly, where the need of touching the screen is close to zero.

I don't know how much macOS needs to change or compromised in its UI to enable touch at all, if Windows 8-10 is a reference point then I would rather the macOS UI remains the same. The most useful touch gestures are like swipping between pages, or pinch and zoom and rotate an image/document. For pinpoint selection even with the Pencil is still much worse than having a cursor based UI.
 
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||\|| said:
MacBooks have very thin monitors, a history of loose hinges, malfunctioning video flex cables, and screen coating issues. If Apple tried to apply a touchscreen it would undoubtedly be disastrous.
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Yeah. They have no experience and are pretty awful in the touchscreen market right now as it is....
 
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