Do We Really Need Touch On Laptops?

[exfileme]

The traditional clamshell laptop may not have touch in 2015.

Do We Really Need Touch On Laptops? : Read more

 

[SteelCity1981]

touch screens on laptops were another technology fad, much like 3d is on TV's.

 

[ubercake]

I really think traditional laptops will phase out as things like Surface 3s and Yoga-type devices start overtaking the market.
(note... I didn't buy into it before, but I do like 3D on TVs now that it is much more affordable/mainstream just as I like going to the 3D version of any movie at the show.)

 

[dave10]

> now that the Windows platform is more desktop focused, the need for touch just really isn't there anymore

The way you stated this is backwards, methinks. For me, it was never there to begin with. Not with a clamshell laptop, anyway.

> What users can do with a finger can be done a bit more easily with a mouse and keyboard, especially in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Just like how they did it on Windows 7? And all desktop operating systems previous?

Bleh, I really don't like touchscreens tacked onto devices that I would otherwise use a keyboard and mouse/trackpad with.

 

[junkeymonkey]

its not a matter of what you need its what they feel you need and force it on you weather you like it or not

 

[fkr]

as a person who really dislikes touch pads i like the touch screen. I am also a lazy typist who inadvertently hits the touch pad with the palm of his hand while typing so that y add to it.

 

[ultameca]

Just think, with a touch screen they could have removed the crappy touch input below the keyboard.

Wait something different since 20 years ago pfft who would want that, lets use our computers exactly like we did in 1995 and NEVER change!

 

[ultameca]

Wow Toms you still haven't fixed the double post problem even though I told you what was going on... just wow...

 

[Gnom]

I disagree. I have a 15in Windows 8 laptop, and I use the touchscreen 80% of the time. So much that I touch the screen of my Chrome book and wonder why nothing is happening. It saves time compared to moving the cursor around via touchpad.
The only problem is that the features on the standard web browsers and Windows Explorer are so small that I hit the wrong item 20% of the time.

 

[fkr]

I disagree. I have a 15in Windows 8 laptop, and I use the touchscreen 80% of the time. So much that I touch the screen of my Chrome book and wonder why nothing is happening. It saves time compared to moving the cursor around via touchpad.
The only problem is that the features on the standard web browsers and Windows Explorer are so small that I hit the wrong item 20% of the time.

they need to do that thing like on android where if you touch a spot that has more than one option in proximity it auto-loads a magnifying glass in that immediate area so that you can select the appropriate option.

 

[10tacle]

No, we do not. Most of us still like the familiar tactile feedback of a keyboard no matter if it is a desktop or laptop. Touch screen is handy for smaller devices like tablets and smart phones/phablets. Even more to the point, most of us only use tablets as supplemental computing devices in our households and not the primary devices.

For nearly 30 years futurist "experts" have been saying the keyboard and mouse are dead technology. If there are any doubts to that, I submit to you this Scotty quote from the 1986 Star Trek Movie "The Voyage Home" where they go back in time to 1986:

"A keyboard. How quaint."

 

[DRosencraft]

Touch for replacing keyboards has just never been well implemented. For most people (non gamers) the tactile response from a keyboard is inconsequential. However, on PCs there has been, in every case I've seen, a buggy interface or recognition of input. You either have serious lag, or it can't keep up with typing speed, or some permutation of those issues.

As a pointing device (again, more so for non-gamers) touch is a lot simpler than a mouse. How it is that moving an object set off to the side to move a cursor on a screen to a given spot on that screen can be deemed simpler than just touching that spot is beyond me, but I guess for some that ingrained practice of moving a mouse has been too hard to break. I will note that again implementation can be a factor here too as I know of cases where some basic functions, like dragging to move or re-size windows, is beyond some touch applications' capabilities, or where the area of the screen is too cluttered for the precision of a finger.

So I would say the problem isn't with touch, but the way these companies have implemented touch. As a concept, an idea, and a functional practice, when done well it works. But the problem is it's hardly ever done well enough, and certainly not at the cost most consumers are willing to spend.

 

[alidan]

touch on laptop, let the screen bend over and give me a cintiq pen, you know that crap they made for ipads, it uses the touch and puts pressure sensitivity on it...

i can find use for that... it may not be for everyone, but i would rather have that than a full wacom tablet because of cost.

 

[InvalidError]

Just think, with a touch screen they could have removed the crappy touch input below the keyboard.

Touch-screen is a poor replacement for the precision of dedicated pointing devices. Using a trackpad, mouse or stick pointer also eliminates visual obstruction on the screen, fingerprints/smudges on the screen and unnecessary hand movement.

Touch is fine for coarse GUIs like Netflix, Youtube and mobile apps but for more productivity-oriented stuff, it is often horrible at best.

 

[Jordi Agricola]

Disagreed. I have a touch screen laptop, and while it's definitely not a necessity, it's nice to have. I miss it on non-touch PCs.

 

[marclee37]

touch is good, please do not take it away.
as long as the screen is placed within the distance of hand, if it is touchable it provides an alternative way to control.
there are occasions touch is more natural and efficient then mouse clicks.
for example, zoom in/ out of a web page/ images.
notebook has one advantage over tabs, its screen can stand itself.
so again, please keep the note book screen touchable. dont go back. technology should move forward.

 

[User150757]

3 useful things :
1) Touching an app icon in Metro is about the fastest way to start it.
2) Slide finger anywhere on screen to scroll a webpage.
3) Pinch/unpinch to zoom in/out webpage.

 

[LordConrad]

I'd rather not pay the extra price for a laptop touch screen that I'll never use, but as long as I can disable the touch screen in Device Manager, I'm happy.

 

[WilliamChan4]

Touch screen laptops without pen input and palm rejection are useless. Even the iPad, which does not have a dedicated passive/active digitiser system, is totally inadequate for handwriting input which is what touch screen (work) devices should be all about. In this sense, I suppose Bill Gates was ahead of the manufacturers on this one as well.

 

[lordsnake]

The whole Windows 8 release was screwed up, cozz it required touch screen, but the vendors were putting it on systems without touch screens, which made it freaking horrible to use. So that more than anything made everyone hate windows 8 and put them off touch screens.

 

[fuzzion]

I rather they focus the money on better motion gesture capturing systems that are in built into these devices.

 

[Christopher1]

I really think traditional laptops will phase out as things like Surface 3s and Yoga-type devices start overtaking the market.

I don't think that traditional laptops will phase out unless the makers start offering easily upgradeable tablets for purchase or tablets that can hook to a keyboard 'dock' so you have a full-size physical keyboard.

Really, I do not understand why ALL laptops/tablets based on x86 do not come with 8GB's memory at least now and a Core i3 at least and a Core i5 at most.
Just no reason for them to have less than that in them, though a Core i7 according to various people is overkill for a laptop or tablet that is not a gaming-class laptop.

 

[tzagasdog]

we need two in one devices...a 12-13inch tablet with a keyboard dock which will add extra battery and extra storage. That is what I would pay for.

 

[qlum]

I must admit that I am more a desktop guy then a laptop user but personally I find the way a laptop's screen flexes just not very nice on a touch screen. I'd say its either go with a tablet and a keyboard dock or don't go with a touch screen at all. On desltop monitors there is another drawback of touch and that is distance too the screen which also makes touch quite annoying. Still my laptop is 3 years old and runs a e350 so there is not much going on there.

 

[JUICEhunter]

Ordered an i3 15.6in touchscreen more so for the 3130m cpu and sale price vs touchscreen but looking forward to using the touchscreen for simple quick tasks.

A 360 hinge would have been a nice compliment to the touchscreen but like the article states 2in1s are taking over touch, they seem to be smaller screens with slower processors though.