4 ms·

There's just no real replacement for a keyboard and mouse. And if I'm using those, why wouldn't I want a laptop?

cptskippy 9y ago
The opposite is also true. Keyboards and mice are no replacement for a touch screen. I have a laptop with all three and I love it.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  The tie-breaker is this—would you rather have a 'laptop' with no keyboard or mouse but a touchscreen or the other way round.
  - cptskippy 9y ago
    There's no tie to break. They're different overlapping forms of input. They co-sign just fine on a laptop and you don't have to choose one over the other.
    - kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
      There's a tie to break because the discussion was about iPads, which offer a touchscreen but not a KB or Mouse.
- Jare 9y ago
  My touchscreen Chromebook has been the most cost-effective and versatile computer purchase I've ever made. And with a crouton chroot I can do anything I'd do on a regular Ubuntu laptop outside of high performance and games.
- michaelmrose 9y ago
  Actually mice/touchpad are a direct replacement that doesn't require you to hold your hand up awkwardly or get nasty fingerprints on your screen. The only things touch does better is allow gestures which could be input on your touchpad instead of directly on the screen. Of course its useful on convertable tablets that can be used in tablet orientation.
  - delecti 9y ago
    Have you used a laptop with a touchscreen? Because I thought the same way you seem to until I did. A decade of getting used to touchscreen phones and tablets has made it feel really natural to interact directly with a screen. It's not world changing, but that extra input stream is a very pleasant addition, and sometimes it's just more natural to tap the screen directly.
    - 300bps 9y ago
      Have you used a laptop with a touchscreen? I have for about 18 months and I never use the touch screen functionality. In fact the only time it ever gets used is when someone else tries to point at something on my screen and of course that causes a click and they awkwardly say, "Sorry, I didn't know it was a touch screen."
  - cptskippy 9y ago
    > The only things touch does better is allow gestures That's not true at all. There are plenty of Apps that work better with touch than using a mouse or touchpad. When you don't have a 9 Key, such as on a laptop, then touch becomes the preferred method of input for calculator apps or dialers. Media player applications work much better with touch than mouse. There are many apps that don't have keyboard shortcuts and custom UIs that are difficult to navigate with keyboard or mouse. When using a laptop I use to naturally keep my left hand next to the keyboard with thumb on CTRL, index on TAB, and middle finger on ESC. After using a touchscreen laptop for 3+ years I now keep my hand rested next to the screen with for fingers behind the screen and my thumb hovering over it. I can use my thumb to flick the screen or slam the ESC key and change screens with a gesture.
    - michaelmrose 9y ago
      That sounds like an awkward and unhealthy hand placement. Not every laptop has a numpad but they usually have number keys.
      - cptskippy 9y ago
- criddell 9y ago
  I have a Windows laptop because there's a few key pieces of software that I use that's Windows only. There's some interesting iPad Pro software that I think will be useful, so I'm probably going to buy one of those. The software I use has always dictated the hardware I buy.
PKop 9y ago
Exactly. Unless and until the input of text ceases to become a primary function of computing devices, touch screens will never be as effective as a laptop with keyboard. Sure, add on keyboards are an option, but it is a second class citizen and apps aren't primarily designed with them in mind.
- UnoriginalGuy 9y ago
  Second class citizen is right. In my OPINION the add-on keyboard on the Surface Pro 4 is the best attempt, but even that pales in comparison to the Surface Book, and real laptops like last year's MBP and Thinkpads. 3-in-1s might have a legitimate future (e.g. Surface Book). But they have real keyboards, not sketchy addon ones. Real laptops aren't going anywhere for people that actually need to be productive.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    >3-in-1s might have a legitimate future It does seem as if you're going to have two devices with basically the same hardware there ought to be some way to converge them. I agree that Microsoft has probably come closest but no one seems to have fully cracked this yet. OTOH, I often travel with an Asus Flip Chromebook and I find it sufficiently awkward as a tablet that I usually travel with my iPad as well unless I'm going very light in which case I take my Kindle Paperwhite.

The opposite is also true. Keyboards and mice are no replacement for a touch screen. I have a laptop with all three and I love it.

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
The tie-breaker is this—would you rather have a 'laptop' with no keyboard or mouse but a touchscreen or the other way round.
- cptskippy 9y ago
  There's no tie to break. They're different overlapping forms of input. They co-sign just fine on a laptop and you don't have to choose one over the other.
  - kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
    There's a tie to break because the discussion was about iPads, which offer a touchscreen but not a KB or Mouse.
Jare 9y ago
My touchscreen Chromebook has been the most cost-effective and versatile computer purchase I've ever made. And with a crouton chroot I can do anything I'd do on a regular Ubuntu laptop outside of high performance and games.
michaelmrose 9y ago
Actually mice/touchpad are a direct replacement that doesn't require you to hold your hand up awkwardly or get nasty fingerprints on your screen. The only things touch does better is allow gestures which could be input on your touchpad instead of directly on the screen. Of course its useful on convertable tablets that can be used in tablet orientation.
- delecti 9y ago
  Have you used a laptop with a touchscreen? Because I thought the same way you seem to until I did. A decade of getting used to touchscreen phones and tablets has made it feel really natural to interact directly with a screen. It's not world changing, but that extra input stream is a very pleasant addition, and sometimes it's just more natural to tap the screen directly.
  - 300bps 9y ago
    Have you used a laptop with a touchscreen? I have for about 18 months and I never use the touch screen functionality. In fact the only time it ever gets used is when someone else tries to point at something on my screen and of course that causes a click and they awkwardly say, "Sorry, I didn't know it was a touch screen."
- cptskippy 9y ago
  > The only things touch does better is allow gestures That's not true at all. There are plenty of Apps that work better with touch than using a mouse or touchpad. When you don't have a 9 Key, such as on a laptop, then touch becomes the preferred method of input for calculator apps or dialers. Media player applications work much better with touch than mouse. There are many apps that don't have keyboard shortcuts and custom UIs that are difficult to navigate with keyboard or mouse. When using a laptop I use to naturally keep my left hand next to the keyboard with thumb on CTRL, index on TAB, and middle finger on ESC. After using a touchscreen laptop for 3+ years I now keep my hand rested next to the screen with for fingers behind the screen and my thumb hovering over it. I can use my thumb to flick the screen or slam the ESC key and change screens with a gesture.
  - michaelmrose 9y ago
    That sounds like an awkward and unhealthy hand placement. Not every laptop has a numpad but they usually have number keys.
    - cptskippy 9y ago
criddell 9y ago
I have a Windows laptop because there's a few key pieces of software that I use that's Windows only. There's some interesting iPad Pro software that I think will be useful, so I'm probably going to buy one of those. The software I use has always dictated the hardware I buy.

PKop 9y ago

Exactly. Unless and until the input of text ceases to become a primary function of computing devices, touch screens will never be as effective as a laptop with keyboard. Sure, add on keyboards are an option, but it is a second class citizen and apps aren't primarily designed with them in mind.

UnoriginalGuy 9y ago
Second class citizen is right. In my OPINION the add-on keyboard on the Surface Pro 4 is the best attempt, but even that pales in comparison to the Surface Book, and real laptops like last year's MBP and Thinkpads. 3-in-1s might have a legitimate future (e.g. Surface Book). But they have real keyboards, not sketchy addon ones. Real laptops aren't going anywhere for people that actually need to be productive.
- ghaff 9y ago
  >3-in-1s might have a legitimate future It does seem as if you're going to have two devices with basically the same hardware there ought to be some way to converge them. I agree that Microsoft has probably come closest but no one seems to have fully cracked this yet. OTOH, I often travel with an Asus Flip Chromebook and I find it sufficiently awkward as a tablet that I usually travel with my iPad as well unless I'm going very light in which case I take my Kindle Paperwhite.