Which would also suck. There's already a touch-screen keyboard on an iPad, and Apple specifically makes a hardware keyboard so you don't have to use it any more than necessary.
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Apple's Work on Touchscreen Macs: What We Know So Far
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I have no use for an iPad running MacOS, but I hope they make one instead of ***** up the Mac with a fat-finger touch UI and an expensive multitouch screen I'll never use.
Actually, not true, touchscreen laptops are everywhere. Bestbuy.com shows 361 touchscreen laptops available. The only ones that aren't tend to br gaming laptops, which have high refresh rate screens, 300HZ and up.
Considering they added keyboard/mouse support to the iPads, which were meant to be touch only, I doubt they would remove mouse/keyboard from Macs.
I wish people would stop saying "Steve Jobs is rolling over in his grave" or "Steve Jobs would never..." Steve Jobs thought a pencil sticking out of the bottom of an iPad to charge it was OK. He had all sorts of bad ideas, a lot worse than touchscreen laptops.
I have a very nice maxed out Dell XPS 15 inch laptop with a touch screen for work really about the closest thing you'll find to a MBP in the Intel world (including price) I find I almost never use the touch screen. The only time I do is to enlarge photos on screen.
1992 Apple Penlite prototype (basically a Duo tablet) from the 90s Which became the Freestyle tabletView attachment 2171881
New Pen-Based 'Modbook Pro' Tablet Launching in Early Fall
Five and a half years ago, a company by the name of Axiotron unveiled the Modbook, a MacBook that had been converted into a pen-based tablet by...www.macrumors.com
SJ died four years before the Pencil 1.
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Lots of people referencing windows 8 and the way microsoft and others have implemented touchscreens on computers, but apple is likely to do this differently.
Something to ponder. Would a MacTablet which lets you easily hot-swap between iPadOS and MacOS feel the same as Windows8’s separate tablet and desktop modes which enough users didnt like so Microsoft combined them.
Some Apple fans have long wanted Apple to combine the functionality of the iPad with the Mac, and it appears that it's finally going to happen. Apple is rumored to be working on touchscreen Mac technology, and we could see the first touchscreen Mac in just a couple of years.
This guide highlights everything that we know so far about Apple's work on a touchscreen Mac.
Possible Models
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple engineers are "actively engaged" in the development of a Mac with a touchscreen, and one of the first Macs with a touchscreen could be an OLED version of the MacBook Pro.
How Touchscreen Macs Will Work
The first touchscreen Mac is expected to continue to feature a traditional laptop design, complete with a trackpad and a keyboard.
While a standard notebook design will continue to be used, the machine will feature a display that supports touch input like an iPhone or an iPad.
Operating System
Gurman says that the first touchscreen Macs are likely to use macOS, the operating system that runs on the Mac. Apple is not looking to combine iPadOS and macOS at this time, though the lines have blurred between the operating systems with the launch of Apple silicon Macs.
iPhone and iPad apps are already able to run on Macs with Apple silicon chips, unless a developer opts out of the cross platform functionality.
Touchscreen Mac History
Apple executives have said many times over the years that Apple does not have plans to release a touchscreen Mac. In 2021, for example, Apple hardware engineering chief John Ternus said that the best touch computer is an iPad, with the Mac "totally optimized for indirect input" rather than touch. "We haven't really felt a reason to change that," he said.
Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi in 2020 said that Apple believed Mac ergonomics require the hands to be rested on a surface, claiming that "lifting your arm up to poke a screen" is "fatiguing." Touchscreen laptops from other companies were also not compelling to Apple. "I don't think we've ever looked at any of the other guys to date and said, how fast can we get there?"
Later in 2020, Federighi said that a touch-based interface was not considered for the Mac and that Apple had no secret plans to change the way the Mac works. Apple has been dismissing claims of a touchscreen Mac for almost a decade at this point.
The Competition
Almost all PC manufacturers make some kind of touch-based tablet/laptop hybrid device, many of which are positioned as all-in-one or convertible machines.
HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Microsoft, Google, and Samsung all have notebook options with touch displays. Major Apple competitor Samsung, for example, offers the Galaxy Book, which has a traditional keyboard and trackpad paired with a touchscreen.
Release Date
The first touchscreen Mac could come out as soon as 2025, but there is time for Apple to change its plans.
Article Link: Apple's Work on Touchscreen Macs: What We Know So Far
A lot of folks will cite that Windows devices have had touch screens for year. But remember that these were designed around Windows 8, which was a weird tablet mode interface that everyone loathed as a desktop OS. Under Windows 10 & 11, Tablet mode still exists and is a better option when using the touch interface. The "traditional" Windows interface is still kludgey with touch. Drop down menus are not exactly touch friendly. But tablet mode is handy when traveling and offers a touch friendly UX.
If touch were ever to come to macOS, it'd have to something similar where "iPad" mode exists along side the traditional macOS UX. It'd be some type of hybrid device. So I agree with those who are suggesting that perhaps this a new iPad Pro variant that is a convertible like the Surface 9 where it can run like an iPad and macOS. I'd have a tough time seeing touch implemented on a MacBook Pro however.
Good point and I agree.
When I use the touchscreen on my Surface Pro I either have the keyboard folded behind the tablet or detached. If/when Apple develops a touchscreen version of a MacBook I truly hope it is either going to be a 360 type folding clamshell or a 2-in-1 like a Surface Pro. Having a standard clamshell MacBook design with touchscreen is of limited use. The article leans towards a clamshell design but doesn’t rule out 360-like foldability. Fingers crossed.
I held out for years waiting for better OS on the iPad and finally gave up for now and got a Surface Pro. I’m still conflicted though and alternate between the Surface and my iPP (I do like the lighter tablet apps for specific tasks). An iPP like device with pencil support and MacOS on it but able to run iOS apps natively will be an instant buy for me in the future.
I’d love to draw on a Mac with the Apple Pencil. If I could ditch the iPad for a Mac, I’d do that. I like to see Apple come up with something better than the Surface Studio.
Touch will affect the user interface and information density will go down.
There is no way to get high information density and touch screen together.
The iPad was in development more than 4 years. But my comment still stands. Steve made a lot of bad decisions to go with his good ones.
Ref: Work on the iPad itself actually traces back to 2004, when designer Jonathan Ive and others crafted a new tablet prototype. The product was originally supposed to ship before the iPhone, but the company came to decide the latter was more important, premiering it in 2007 using similar technologies.
The iPhone development prototype is an iBook G4 touch screen, model 035.
Birth of the iPhone: How Apple turned clunky prototypes into a truly magical device
The world had never seen anything like the iPhone when Apple launched the device on June 29, 2007. But the touchscreen device that blew everyone's minds
www.cultofmac.com
iPad prototype from early 2000s revealed in Jony Ive deposition (updated)
Steve Jobs revealed in his biography that Apple actually started development on what would become the iPad prior to its work on the iPhone — but we’re now getting some details on just how long it was in development.
www.theverge.com
I understand that, by improving technology, from decade to decade, at some point perhaps a solution can become functional (a way of thinking a lot of engineers), but in some respects (ergonomics and use on human specifications) parameters do not change except in geological eras, and hardly a UX born for points will be able to work for fingers (and this, on the other hand, is a very designer way of thinking).
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The iPad with an external keyboard and trackpad already has this functionality; however, it doesn't run macOS, yet. I think Apple will use the M-series chip to merge iPad and the laptop, instead of making the laptop more like an iPad. Would be interesting to see a standalone iPad doing tablet stuff, then take on the personality of a MacBook when connected to an external keyboard, with the latter having touchscreen capabilities.
I like the concept of the 360 type, but I never liked the "mashing keys" part when holding it. It just feels...odd. I prefer a true tablet, like a Surface, and a detachable keyboard.
I still say all the complainers here would go ape*** if Apple released a Surface-like device running MacOS (or iPad ran MacOS). Apple fans always decry another company's innovation or a proposed Apple idea - until it comes out, then they love it.
With SideCar everyone could experiments Mac OS on iPad with external keyboard and mouse.
I’ve tried some hours ago with iPad mini 5 (2019), Pencil (2015), MacBook 12” (2018) , Apple wireless keyboard (2007) and wireless Mighty Mouse (2006), it works, but isn’t something I would use for work, also if the screen was 16~18~22”. If I have to use an external screen then I lose the touch function and I might as well use a Mac.
They are all new tricks for an old dog (macOS), but it works better with the one he already knows.
Apple has been developing a device for virtual/increased reality for years, and is expected to develop a (old) Mac with macOS (old), with an old (touch) technology. It seems to me that ship has sailed for a very long time.
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I've had 2 work laptops with touch screens. The only time I've used them were just to try it out. Useless feature in my opinion.
If you're going to use the touch screen, find a laptop with a matte screen because it won't show fingerprints as much. I know someone who actually uses their touch screen and the filthy glossy screen does not agree with my OCD.
If you're going to use the touch screen, find a laptop with a matte screen because it won't show fingerprints as much. I know someone who actually uses their touch screen and the filthy glossy screen does not agree with my OCD.
Get ready for heavily upgraded, official, Apple Cleaning Cloths in a variety of colors to match you new touch screen Mac. Will they be inexpensive? 🤣 Come on now; we're talkin' Apple here, not Walmart or the old K Mart Blue Light Special of yesteryear!