5 ms·

I agree to a point. Windows 8 works without touch, but it doesn't have the same wow factor. With that said, I cannot imagine buying a new device without touch

I agree to a point. Windows 8 works without touch, but it doesn't have the same wow factor. With that said, I cannot imagine buying a new device without touch.

ori_b 14y ago
I can't imagine getting real work done on a touch device. Touch device implies it's screen is small enough to hold in one hand. In other words, the screen is too small to spread a few browser windows on. Touch implies discouraging the use of a mouse. Fingers are fuzzy and annoying for precise selection, and onscreen keyboards suck. By the time you've gotten an external keyboard and mouse to work around this, you no longer have a touch device. I can't imagine buying a touch device for work. I wouldn't object to getting one to watch movies or read books on.
- jules 14y ago
  There are larger touch devices out there, e.g. Thinkpads. I don't see why a screen has to be small to have touch.
  - ori_b 14y ago
    You're right. It can be clunky instead.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I guess this is why hybrid devices like surface exist. The question is whether the future is to have a single "do everything" device like a Surface laptop or several discreet pieces of hardware for different jobs. People with high disposable incomes don't seem to have any problem owning a PC/Mac desktop , a laptop , a tablet , a smartphone as well as several games consoles and other gadgets. Assuming you already have an iPad I don't see any huge benefit to having a Windows 8 laptop over a Windows 7 one. I know people who bought touchscreen monitors to run Windows 7, in combination to keyboard and mice. They found these a novelty for the first few days but they never really use the touch functionality.
- cooldeal 14y ago
  >Touch device implies it's screen is small enough to hold in one hand That's a very mistaken assumption for Windows 8 devices. There are going to be a lot of form factors with touch which are not small. Eg. IdeaPad Yoga. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHKFYngqOM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHKFYngqOM Acer All in One http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-announces-windows-8-all-in-one-u-series-at-computex-2012/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-announces-windows-8-... Even an 80 inch computer. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/05/25/microsoft-sell-80-inch-windows-8-tablet/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/05/25/microsoft-sell-80-in...
  - ori_b 14y ago
    Anything that size will give me arm fatigue using the touch in any meaningful way. For occasional interaction, it's fine, but standing in front of it all day, the touch will mostly get ignored.
    - jpxxx 14y ago
      After wrangling with some HP TouchSmarts, I agree. The hitboxes suck, the on-screen keyboard is fatiguing after a few sentences, and playing a game with touch only sounds like work. Eventually you forget that your PC has a touchscreen. Even when you do remember that you can just jab something with your finger, your internal context-switching brain-lobe-thing tells you to not bother because the next few micro-tasks will involve the keyboard and mouse anyway.
      - stcredzero 14y ago
        Basically, to get the benefit of touch, you have to make it the physical desktop.
        jpxxx 14y ago
        I think so. Maybe it all works well on wall-sized touchscreens where you're standing up, but it does not work with vertical glass sitting down.
lawn 14y ago
I personally can't stand typing on a touch screen at all, even a small sms can make me upset let alone doing some actual work with it. Touch is for media consumption, not when you need to get something done.
- madoublet 14y ago
  I completely agree. But, I also think it is just as odd to have to choose your device based on what you want to do with it. To me, this is why the Surface is so cool. Attach the keyboard, you have a work device. Detach it, you have a consumption device. To be fair, the iPad (and Android tablets) with a keyboard provides similar flexibility, but I think the desktop paradigm is what is missing.
  - alttab 14y ago
    I came here looking for this comment. I have an iPad3 with a Zagg keyboard and I freaking love it. Imagine the same level of flexibility with access to legacy Excel/Word/IE apps when you need it, but also access to newer more friendly replacements as time allows! My wife needs a new laptop, but only because she requires access to these legacy apps. Going into "legacy" mode for this, but providing the mobile consumption experience and productivity of a convienent keyboard is a killer combo. I'm actually fairly impressed with the promise of the Surface. I might go as far to say this will be what people will be carrying in 5 years or less.
- tomkarlo 14y ago
  I can understand you may not like typing on a touch screen, but it's pretty clear that for a fairly large portion of the market (70%? 80%?), typing on a glass screen is fairly acceptable. Otherwise you wouldn't see such dominance of keyboardless phones over those with hardware keyboards. I carried a blackberry for 5 years (and sent dozens of emails a day from it) but I've never particularly found that switching to a glass screen on iPhone and now on Android impacts my ability to compose messages. Most of the folks I hear complaining about screen keyboards are still using hardware keyboards and haven't used both methods for any extended period of time.

I agree to a point. Windows 8 works without touch, but it doesn't have the same wow factor. With that said, I cannot imagine buying a new device without touch.

ori_b 14y ago

I can't imagine getting real work done on a touch device. Touch device implies it's screen is small enough to hold in one hand. In other words, the screen is too small to spread a few browser windows on. Touch implies discouraging the use of a mouse. Fingers are fuzzy and annoying for precise selection, and onscreen keyboards suck. By the time you've gotten an external keyboard and mouse to work around this, you no longer have a touch device. I can't imagine buying a touch device for work. I wouldn't object to getting one to watch movies or read books on.

jules 14y ago
There are larger touch devices out there, e.g. Thinkpads. I don't see why a screen has to be small to have touch.
- ori_b 14y ago
  You're right. It can be clunky instead.
jiggy2011 14y ago
I guess this is why hybrid devices like surface exist. The question is whether the future is to have a single "do everything" device like a Surface laptop or several discreet pieces of hardware for different jobs. People with high disposable incomes don't seem to have any problem owning a PC/Mac desktop , a laptop , a tablet , a smartphone as well as several games consoles and other gadgets. Assuming you already have an iPad I don't see any huge benefit to having a Windows 8 laptop over a Windows 7 one. I know people who bought touchscreen monitors to run Windows 7, in combination to keyboard and mice. They found these a novelty for the first few days but they never really use the touch functionality.
cooldeal 14y ago
>Touch device implies it's screen is small enough to hold in one hand That's a very mistaken assumption for Windows 8 devices. There are going to be a lot of form factors with touch which are not small. Eg. IdeaPad Yoga. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHKFYngqOM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHKFYngqOM Acer All in One http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-announces-windows-8-all-in-one-u-series-at-computex-2012/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/03/acer-announces-windows-8-... Even an 80 inch computer. http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/05/25/microsoft-sell-80-inch-windows-8-tablet/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/05/25/microsoft-sell-80-in...
- ori_b 14y ago
  Anything that size will give me arm fatigue using the touch in any meaningful way. For occasional interaction, it's fine, but standing in front of it all day, the touch will mostly get ignored.
  - jpxxx 14y ago
    After wrangling with some HP TouchSmarts, I agree. The hitboxes suck, the on-screen keyboard is fatiguing after a few sentences, and playing a game with touch only sounds like work. Eventually you forget that your PC has a touchscreen. Even when you do remember that you can just jab something with your finger, your internal context-switching brain-lobe-thing tells you to not bother because the next few micro-tasks will involve the keyboard and mouse anyway.
    - stcredzero 14y ago
      Basically, to get the benefit of touch, you have to make it the physical desktop.
      - jpxxx 14y ago
        I think so. Maybe it all works well on wall-sized touchscreens where you're standing up, but it does not work with vertical glass sitting down.

lawn 14y ago

I personally can't stand typing on a touch screen at all, even a small sms can make me upset let alone doing some actual work with it. Touch is for media consumption, not when you need to get something done.

madoublet 14y ago
I completely agree. But, I also think it is just as odd to have to choose your device based on what you want to do with it. To me, this is why the Surface is so cool. Attach the keyboard, you have a work device. Detach it, you have a consumption device. To be fair, the iPad (and Android tablets) with a keyboard provides similar flexibility, but I think the desktop paradigm is what is missing.
- alttab 14y ago
  I came here looking for this comment. I have an iPad3 with a Zagg keyboard and I freaking love it. Imagine the same level of flexibility with access to legacy Excel/Word/IE apps when you need it, but also access to newer more friendly replacements as time allows! My wife needs a new laptop, but only because she requires access to these legacy apps. Going into "legacy" mode for this, but providing the mobile consumption experience and productivity of a convienent keyboard is a killer combo. I'm actually fairly impressed with the promise of the Surface. I might go as far to say this will be what people will be carrying in 5 years or less.
tomkarlo 14y ago
I can understand you may not like typing on a touch screen, but it's pretty clear that for a fairly large portion of the market (70%? 80%?), typing on a glass screen is fairly acceptable. Otherwise you wouldn't see such dominance of keyboardless phones over those with hardware keyboards. I carried a blackberry for 5 years (and sent dozens of emails a day from it) but I've never particularly found that switching to a glass screen on iPhone and now on Android impacts my ability to compose messages. Most of the folks I hear complaining about screen keyboards are still using hardware keyboards and haven't used both methods for any extended period of time.