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Why do you want to touch your Mac screen so badly?
- trynewideas 4y ago> Not a touchscreen Mac, but a Surface-like 2‑in‑1 device running Mac OS with an added ‘tablet mode’ that would adjust Mac OS’s UI to be operated by touch when you’re running Mac-only apps THAT'S A TOUCHSCREEN MAC THOUGH
- dylan604 4y agoMake it a 2fer. In laptop mode, it runs macOS. In tablet mode it runs iPadOS. They can have their fast user switching animation to go back and forth. It'll be perfect! /s
- walrus01 4y ago> Why do you want to touch your Mac screen so badly? I don't, and I don't want random third parties trying to do it either. GTFO with your greasy fingers away from my nice clean Macbook Air screen.
- helsontaveras18 4y agoI absolutely hate it when people touch my screen. I can never imagine putting my fingers on my screen over using my mouse / keyboard
- justsomehnguy 4y agoJobs himself would come to you and force you to touch your screen with your greasy fingers. /s
- dylan604 4y agoYou do you need a pen? You have 10 of them on the end of your hands. or whatever the quote is in the movie. Is that actually what Steve said about the Newton? is Steve twisting in his grave because of the apple pencil?
- akubera 4y agoI'm not sure to which movie you're referring, but the "we're going to use a pointing device we're all born with" is from the iPhone announcement: https://youtu.be/X1SyRElYGoM?t=1710 https://youtu.be/X1SyRElYGoM?t=1710 Apple pencil isn't required for interaction with the device, unlike old resistive touchscreen devices of the Palm Pilot era, so I doubt that's the reason he's spinning.
- dylan604 4y agoI was referring the the movie “Steve Jobs”: Steve Jobs : It was the stylus, John. John Sculley : What? Steve Jobs : I killed the Newton because of the stylus. If you're holding a stylus, you can't use the other five that are attached to your wrist. [Holds up hand, smiles] Steve Jobs : The things we could've done together. [Walks out of the room] John Sculley : [as the door closes] God, the things we could've done.
- jchw 4y agoI'm not sure why people find it so confusing to be honest. On my laptop, which is a laptop and not a two-in-one, I touch the screen all the time. It's not about performance; if I'm optimizing for that, then I use keyboard only. But like, if I want to read some long document in a PDF reader, good GOD is it nice to be able to reach over and naturally drag, pinch, or even rotate in some situations. I do it all the time to zoom in on something to show someone who is in close proximity something on my screen. A screen with pen input is even more useful; it's a tad awkward to use on a lap that way, but on a desk it's pretty good.
- dhosek 4y agoThe Mac trackpad gestures let me do all that without having to reach up to the screen to do it.
- jchw 4y agoYeah sure, I have a multi touch trackpad. Hell, I have a 2022 MacBook Pro even. Honestly though it's no comparison to using a touchscreen for me in terms of feeling natural, it's just not even close.
- lostlogin 4y agoI supposed it’s quite personal, but for me the benefits of not covering the content, not dirtying the screen, the reduced need to reach (side swipe, pinch to zoom), and the close proximity to the keypad are quite compelling.
- deafpolygon 4y agoEven my Lenovo laptop can do this just almost as well as a modern Macbook these days.
- jchw 4y agoThough to be fair, for a long time, it was actually hard to get decent multitouch on PCs. I recall using modded Synaptics drivers. It wasn't until Microsoft Precision Touchpad drivers came around that it really felt similar to Mac for me. Now even libinput on Linux does a pretty OK job with typical PC trackpads, so things have definitely changed. I recall hearing patents played a role in how slow this was to come to PCs, but I have no source.
- deafpolygon 4y ago> But the Apple equivalent of Microsoft’s Surface Pro? That would make much more sense, in my opinion. Isn't that what an iPad Pro purports to be? I mean, that's why Apple gave us the $400 Magic Keyboard(tm) and support only for the latest Magic Mouse 2 (no support for Magic Mouse 1, because Apple...?). And of course, you can use any Bluetooth mice with it. I think the convergence will not happen on the Mac side, but on the iPadOS side - with MacOS eventually subsumed by the iPadOS. Apple is just getting you comfortable.. frog in a pot of water and all.
- hnndg 4y agoYes and the fun part is this debate always goes the same way. Scenario 1 Someone says "I wish I could use my iPad to do more things, the hardware is clearly powerful enough" and an 'apple enthusiast' always replies "Why would you want to do that? Just get a Macbook!" Scenario 2 Someone says "I wish my Macbook had touch controls" and an 'apple enthusiast' always replies "Why would you want to do that? Just get an iPad!" And before someone gets upset because it also happens every time. I'm not saying all apple users/fans but there is very common type who refuses to possibly acknowledge that others might want to use their devices differently than they do.
- taneq 4y ago“Why don’t you buy both?” Ugh I’m not made of money.
- Joeri 4y agoBut I have a theory as to why the idea of a touchscreen Mac makes me shrug — I’m a longtime Mac user This is the truth. Someone who hasn’t used a touchscreen laptop extensively can’t really opine on the use of such a device. I’ve spent a number of years with an assortment of windows laptops with touch screens and now I use a macbook. My personal take away is that touch screens are useful as an additional input device on laptops (quick dismissal of dialogs, easy zooming and panning, snappy reshuffling of windows), but this advantage exists more on windows than on the mac because windows laptop trackpads are so inferior. The macbook’s trackpad is almost good enough that I never miss a touch screen, but every once in a while it would be convenient. But I don’t see apple doing a simple straight macbook with trackpad + touchscreen as add-on feature. It is too obvious. I think it is more likely they would release something like this: https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-home/zenbook/zenbook-17-fold-oled-ux9702/ https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-home/zenbook/zenbook-17-fol...
- Aperocky 4y agoidk, I have an ipad pro that's about the same size as the air, so touching isn't exactly some unknown UX pattern, but I still don't want to touch my mac.
- pram 4y agoI prefer using a mouse since they added support in iPadOS funnily enough. I can sit further away from the tablet instead of being hunched over it in a weird position. It's probably just because I'm old though.
- Brian_K_White 4y agoHe said he's a Surface Pro user. He perfectly well also uses touch, and touch on a laptop class device.
- carlmr 4y agoI bought a Windows laptop with Touchscreen last time around, I still don't use it 3 years later. I have a keyboard and a trackpad or mouse, there's no reason I want to bend forward to touch the screen for another input method. I also still miss my Blackberry keyboard.
- KingOfCoders 4y agoSlightly OT: When explaining things I'll touch the screen (of MacBooks). When I'm with another coder, I touch their screen to explain things. I once had a developer on my team who didn't want his screen to be touched. I was sorry to touch his screen - and he immediatly wiped it - but couldn't stop. As soon as I was enthusiastic, I touched the screen again.
- dylan604 4y agoI'd be your coworker, except I slap hands away. You touching my screen is just as inappropriate as you touching me. You did not ask nor did you receive permission to touch me or my screen. Just don't do it.
- rocketbop 4y agoYou are framing this almost as an assault. I think if someone slapped me while I was trying show them something at work I’d probably avoid helping that person again.
- theshrike79 4y agoI don't want to spend the time to clean your greasy finger marks off my screen. It's easier for you to not touch. If you REALLY want to poke, use some kind of tool to do it instead of smushing your finger on the screen.
- dylan604 4y agoIf you’re someone that can’t keep their hands to themself, then I probably won’t come to you for assistance. So we’re all in agreement. How would you feel if I came up to you poking at your face? You may not have enough respect for other people’s property to think “it’s just a computer screen”, but the key point is it is just a computer screen that is NOT yours. Keep your hands to yourself, and we’ll get along famously. Put your hands on me and my stuff, and we’ll see how well you and HR get along
- 4y ago
- charlie0 4y agoI had the Surface Laptop and before I bought it, I thought I would be using the touchscreen often. Turns out, I rarely used the touchscreen and only used it under 1 scenario, reading long form content. Best way I can describe it is that I felt like I was replacing a magazine with the large touchscreen and that worked for me. I'm no longer interested in owning large touchscreen and definitely couldn't care about my Mac having that capability. I don't think it's worth the price premium over non-touch.
- Springtime 4y agoIt's a little ironic that 20 years ago Jobs promoted their desktop UI as 'lickable' and now there's pushback over whether desktop displays should even be touchable :p
- nikau 4y agoThe same Jobs that was so pivotal to Apple that ten years after his death the share price has gone up massively since? Perhaps its time we acknowledge he wasn't such a genius and other people can market shiny trinkets just as well.
- Springtime 4y agoApparently one can't quip without a point being missed entirely.
- antonvs 4y ago“The way I’ve always done things is the best way” chapter 5,344.
- laserdancepony 4y agoSo why do you read and comment on an opinion piece in the first place if you dismiss his opinion in the blink of an eye anyway?
- antonvs 4y agoBecause it’s an uninteresting opinion that’s simply a reflection of the author’s unthinking and un-self-aware conservatism. It doesn’t add any value to anyone and there’s no point in posting it on a site like this.
- h0l0cube 4y agoThe only time I’ve ever wanted to use my Mac screen as a touch device is white-boarding in zoom calls. Even then a stylus would be far more practical than touch
- phendrenad2 4y agoI don't think anyone actually wants a touchscreen mac, they're just suffering grass-is-greener syndrome because Windows laptops have it. It's like looking jealously at your neighbor's boat, while your neighbor is silently feeling serious buyer's remorse.
- SiVal 4y agoI don't ever reach for my Mac screen because I'm not used to interacting with a large touchscreen. But I'll bet I would enjoy being able to use a stylus on my laptop screen when doing a few things such as Photoshop editing.
- cat_plus_plus 4y agoHow about because I just like having choices, like a touch screen laptop, or 3D TV, or DSLR camera, or multiple ports and easily swappable batteries on my devices? I am Ok with paying extra, or waiting for made to order shipping, or limited model selection, or added weight / thickness. But this day there is a real push to force everyone into the same tastes rather than have a meaningful market segmentation. As to practical issues, even on a clamshell laptop, it's more convenient to scroll by swiping sides of the screen while lying down rather than being an arm to use trackpad. I read for half an hour before sleep every day, so it's a common use case. Chromebooks are the only laptops that seem to support this reliably.
- theshrike79 4y agoI hate to break this to you: Reading in bed on a laptop while laying down is not a "common use case".
- nostromo 4y agoI really, really don't want a touchscreen Mac, because I know what it'll do to the Mac software ecosystem. Immediately lots of apps will be ported to the Mac Store from the App Store and expect you to use touch, because that's the easiest thing to do. I can't even use touch because I use an external monitor. Over time the platforms will bleed into each other, and Macs will become as unproductive as my iPad is. (And I like my iPad, but for different use cases.) Yes, I know this is already happening to an extent. But to accelerate it would be a disaster.
- nikau 4y agoBoth my windows laptops have touchscreens and the only time I use the touchscreen is when trying to clean the screen.