Nope. As others have said, its pointless reaching over the keyboard to tap the wobbly screen.
Leave the touch screen to the iPad.
Leave the touch screen to the iPad.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
would you want a touchscreen on your laptop?
- Thread starter ghanwani
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Modified yes. Only if the OS and app software supported it. That is, touch icons in Dock, screen and in software built for that purpose - think iOS - and not trying to accomplish touch-screen with tiny icons and controls, difficult to choose and use with all but smallest finger tips.
Nope. I even use a mouse on my iPad Pro most of the time 😉. If I get the iPad mini, than I would use touch screen exclusively.
Not just slapped on to an existing Mac as an afterthought, no.
However, M1 Macs can now run iOS apps, but if you look at the reviews it turns out (to the surprise of nobody who actually thought it through) that apps designed for touch or pencil input don’t always work too well with a keyboard and mouse.
So maybe the time for a 2-in-1/convertible MacBook - something that most of Apple’s competitors in the laptop market offer - has come.
Then there are those few apps that do work better with touch or stylus. Drawing, writing and even things like mixers and virtual instruments in Logic. ...and while you could use an iPad, a 16” or larger canvas would be even better. E.g. look at the MS Surface Studio - gorgeous idea (shame about the lousy CPU/GPU specs and the price that makes Apple look cheap).
Remember, just because a touchscreen is there doesn't mean you have to use it all the time, and it’s a very common feature on higher-spec PC laptops. If nothing else it would be useful for web developers to check that web apps in Edge, Firefox etc. were going to work on touchscreen PCs.
However, M1 Macs can now run iOS apps, but if you look at the reviews it turns out (to the surprise of nobody who actually thought it through) that apps designed for touch or pencil input don’t always work too well with a keyboard and mouse.
So maybe the time for a 2-in-1/convertible MacBook - something that most of Apple’s competitors in the laptop market offer - has come.
Then there are those few apps that do work better with touch or stylus. Drawing, writing and even things like mixers and virtual instruments in Logic. ...and while you could use an iPad, a 16” or larger canvas would be even better. E.g. look at the MS Surface Studio - gorgeous idea (shame about the lousy CPU/GPU specs and the price that makes Apple look cheap).
Remember, just because a touchscreen is there doesn't mean you have to use it all the time, and it’s a very common feature on higher-spec PC laptops. If nothing else it would be useful for web developers to check that web apps in Edge, Firefox etc. were going to work on touchscreen PCs.
There is absolutely no downside to having a touch screen as long as the OS allows the user not to use it. Not being facetious either. I personally probably would not use it much; however, some people may like to have that functionality. I am old school -- mouse and keyboard. I use touchpad when necessary -- especially when traveling. Big Sur seems to be moving in that direction anyway if you ask me. And, truth be told, I would prefer a touch screen to the monstrosity that is the touch bar.
Absolutely would never use a touchscreen laptop, that is what my iPad is for! On the flip side, even though I have a MX Keys keyboard paired to my iPP I almost never use it. For me it just boils down to 2 different workflows that I just don't see converging.
Doubt it. A touch screen renders the Touch Bar superfluous. There's cost savings right there.
In that specific light agreed but a touch panel is still going to add cost over a non-touch. I'm not object to a touch panel being an option but I hope the day never comes where it is forced on us.
I've had a touchscreen laptop since 2014 or so, and that's exactly the use case I always come back to.
For 95% of work, it's pointless. But sometimes it's just really practical to interact with the screen directly, or easier to poke at the screen than trying to figure out where the mouse is to dismiss some sort of notification. With Windows' notifications appearing in the bottom right of the screen, it's really easy to go from typing to dismissing the notification on the touchscreen, and right back to typing.
Voted a definite no 
All those paw prints on my screen? No thank you.
It's hard enough to keep the screen clean as it is!
All those paw prints on my screen? No thank you.
It's hard enough to keep the screen clean as it is!
Screen protector or privacy filter.Voted a definite no
All those paw prints on my screen? No thank you.
It's hard enough to keep the screen clean as it is!
just so: all that grubbiness!Voted a definite no
All those paw prints on my screen? No thank you.
It's hard enough to keep the screen clean as it is!
Nope. The Trackpad is a representation of the screen. I touch and gesture on that, it is where my fingers are.
I do however, use my iPad and touch the hell out of that.
I do however, use my iPad and touch the hell out of that.
I voted no because, rounded up, about zero out of all-of-them developers have the skills to understand how to ergonomically incorporate it right in their software; so for now it'd just end up being a pain to use, and I would just end up have to disable it anyways (to force the software to use their non-touch fallback designs, if any).
Nope, the day when Apple introduces touch to Macs is the day I'm moving my work back to Linux.
Odd claim, since (a) a large proportion of Mac developers also have experience of writing touch-driven apps for iOS and (b) M1 Macs can now run selected iOS apps which often don’t work well without a touchscreen.
Thing about a touch-screen is: you don’t have to use it (and that means - for all the Howard Hughes types here - you won’t get fingerprints on it). Cost-wise, many PC laptops effectively “throw one in” with the 4K screen option and I doubt it would cost much more than the touch bar (which was a whole extra display and controlling computer) - and wouldn’t involve removing anything (like the function keys).
Ergonomically speaking there's a difference between designing software for touch devices, and for a keyboard-first device with an added touchscreen. So there's nothing odd about my claim.
Last edited: