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Apple's Work on Touchscreen Macs: What We Know So Far
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Oh, agreed. I'm just saying it would be good FOR ME; i.e., I'd be happy with this device, since now I travel with 1) an iPad running iPadOS and 2) a laptop running macOS. A single, separable device running touch-enabled macOS would make me very happy.
I always thought this was unnecessary, but recently I've seen my partner extensively writing hand written notes all over documents using a stylus and windows convertible, and I have to say, I'm sold.
Yep my same issue for my MacBook Pro apps I use ipad same way but spending money on single touch MacBook Pro with 1 TB or more memory and 1 to 2 TB flash drive of some kind would be best and I would pay more to get it but less than updating my 4-5 year old iPad Pro and macbook 15 inch pro. So for me would simplify my devices I use a touch MacBook Pro and my iphone pro max/ultra or whatever it ends up being ;-)
I prefer trackpads in most cases to mouse use. I do not get the carpel tunnel effect of holding mouse with trackpad but while I am in minority here I want a touch screen MacBook Pro with track pad and keyboard that I can use all my professional apps on, also do surfin and video streaming apps like Apple TV, netflix, HBO Now, Amazon Prime as well (not in the safari browser prefee the apps iOS has. I am sitting here on my old 4 plus year old 12.9 gen 3 iPad Pro typing on the 300 dollar keyboard (hate the screen keyboard ), viewing videos and typing and viewing this thread with ipad on pillow on lap and the distance to touch the screen when I do not want to use keyboard and trackpad is not far. I would be happy with touch macbook that did this for me and I would use same way here but in major typing work the keyboard. Both important to me. But given i am in minority wonder if apple will ever do it LOL
Below a view of me reclining on couch, with ipad in lap not major issue to reach the screen for touch when I want to….
Precisely my problem with my ipad I like on couch for surfin, video viewing but the apps compared to professional versions on my MacBook Pro are indeed crippleware. I would love to have them a ll on one device I can use like MacBook Pro when I want or like iOS iPad Pro when I want in one modernized new MacOS. Seeing that I am in minority I wonder though if apple will ever do it and they can sell me the two devices — I have resisted 4 plus years on my gen 3 iPad Pro and my late 2018 MacBook Pro though so far. And when away from home I use my 14 Pro Max iphone mostly as a mini tablet/computer so one home laptop with combined features of my ipad and macbook would be ideal for how I use it. Obviously I am a minor component of that interest although LOL
Precisely how I use macbook and iPad Pro it does depend on position I am at desktop vs kitchen table vs on couch where I use computing the most (see photo below). If I could get a touch 16 inch macbook (I am 72 and need larger screen these days for my eyes LOL) that I could move to these places relative position it would be great rather than spend a few thousand to get the lates iPad Pro 12.9 and latest 16 inch Mx MacBook Pro. Say if the two were 4 thousand but i could get said touch MacBook Pro for 3 thousand I would be saving at least a grand in the forever market of upgrading two devices.
Your last sentence is spot on I use iPad Pro on couch reclining or at breakfast table with coffee in that manner with its 300 dollar keyboard case just as you describe so if I could have a MacBook Pro I could use that way and have all my full level professional apps in any of those locations it would be perfect for how I work at home (retired)
I hear you on the eyes! My Surface Pro was becoming a bit blurry so instead of getting a new SP9 I ended up getting a LG 16" 2-in-1 which is absolutely incredible. It's not as nice as a tablet because the keyboard isn't detachable, and it's 3 lbs., but it still does the job and is a great laptop. That's what I mean about mixed use that a lot of laptop users don't get. If I'm just browsing the internet, watching youtube, etc for research or maybe just for fun then a 2-in-1 or a tablet can just have the keyboard swung out of the way, putting the screen closer to my eyes and giving me a much better view and letting me easily keep my elbows on the table while using the touchscreen (yeah kind of a like an iPad, go figure). Its paradigm changers like this which open people's eyes sometimes.
I understand all the arguments here in both ways pro and con, but the way I do my computing is as follows I hope explains how I would love to have my iPad Pro combined into a 16 inch MacBook touch pro with latest apple silicon and lots of memory and flash drive space also:
1). Most of time I use 5 year old gen 3 iPad Pro in two locations. Kitchen table at breakfast as you have seen in photos with my coffee cup and mainly as now ( see first photo below) on lap reclined on recliner couch with pillow on lap and iPad Pro with its Magic Keyboard case. In all the cases with ipad I use it for video streaming of my netflix, HBO now, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and facebook videos. And also with browser, facebook app to surf the web and such. Probably 90 percent of daily larger screen computing.
In that first photo my hands/arms are not far from screen when I use probably split use 50/50 screen vs keyboard and touch pad. So for most of my computing a touchscreen does not have the problems of the lap or desktop being 3 feet back from keyboard and mouse or touchpad for how I use things. My macbook in last two photos probably when sitting there is more keyboard and trackpad use of course.
2) Iphone 14 Pro Max is probably second in use. Same things as ipad.
3) My macbook sits at my desk surrounded by all my fossils I collect (trilobites— last two photos in office), when I need my professional apps (office not iOS cripple ware, my fossil collection database app that is cripple ware view only in iOS, my checkbook software (does not sync with iOS cripple ware version well or at all) My photo editing (I can almost do that on mac or ipad) these days but there is a bit more with mac.
1). Most of time I use 5 year old gen 3 iPad Pro in two locations. Kitchen table at breakfast as you have seen in photos with my coffee cup and mainly as now ( see first photo below) on lap reclined on recliner couch with pillow on lap and iPad Pro with its Magic Keyboard case. In all the cases with ipad I use it for video streaming of my netflix, HBO now, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and facebook videos. And also with browser, facebook app to surf the web and such. Probably 90 percent of daily larger screen computing.
In that first photo my hands/arms are not far from screen when I use probably split use 50/50 screen vs keyboard and touch pad. So for most of my computing a touchscreen does not have the problems of the lap or desktop being 3 feet back from keyboard and mouse or touchpad for how I use things. My macbook in last two photos probably when sitting there is more keyboard and trackpad use of course.
2) Iphone 14 Pro Max is probably second in use. Same things as ipad.
3) My macbook sits at my desk surrounded by all my fossils I collect (trilobites— last two photos in office), when I need my professional apps (office not iOS cripple ware, my fossil collection database app that is cripple ware view only in iOS, my checkbook software (does not sync with iOS cripple ware version well or at all) My photo editing (I can almost do that on mac or ipad) these days but there is a bit more with mac.
I love the collection. Very impressive. I’m always a sucker for nice trilobite.
Thanks I am retired geologist and paleontologist and now have mostly trilobites in collection some 830 so far.
You mean the thing a lot of users also thought sucked, and which Apple no longer puts on its laptops? I do remember it!
Just to further clarify why a touch MacBook Pro would work for me.. much of my daily computing is via iPad Pro on breakfast table but rest of day reclining on couch (see photos below) so a touch screen mac is not a problem in that primary use setting and when the touch MacBook Pro is on office than I would likely use the keyboard and trackpad more.
Still have it on my late 2018 MacBook Pro 15 inches I use it one less mechanical area to break down like the butterfly keyboard I have which so far has not given trouble but then I am on ipad with magic keyboard/case more
Indeed that is the beauty of choice however there's a segment of the market who have no choice. Right now iPad users get to choose to use touch and mouse, even both at the same time with no mode switching.
Yet those on the Mac have absolutely no choice but to use the cursor. It can be controlled by trackpad or mouse but that's still pushing an image around the screen instead of touching the buttons.
I agree entirely. The coming generations are touch native and right now the Mac is the ONLY platform without any option to touch. Either the Mac will have to gain touch or be entirely supplanted. Since Apple hasn't released or even allowed touch on macOS via sidecar they're at least 10 years behind the ball.
OK. Here you go….
Most of us use touchscreen daily and find them useful. We survive a few smudges.
And @Xand&RobyHonesty I feel we are going to be stuck with the Qwerty Keyboard for a long long long time to come.
It's so burned into the fabric of communication, even with graphic representations of it on a screen it's a struggle to see it vanish.
Not unless some amazing speech/thought detection device ever gets built.
We need/like tactile/physical ways to input data and replacing the keyboard as it is now I'd imagine is almost impossible.
Mechanically separating the keyboard physically from the screen would be one path to go down.
But the tech isn't there yet to put a full power machine into something as thin as a MacBook lid/screen.
So many have tried to improve the keyboard but every change has been rejected.
Voice is going to be the key perhaps?
Though No. as people can't control thoughts well enough
But again, Voice in an office environment?
It's a tough idea to dump the keyboard.
Stuck might be a bit harsh but keyboards are here to stay. Typewriters didn't completely kill off writing by hand but did diminish it.
Like you said about voice in an office environment, there will always be a need for quiet method of recording information. At one time the only option was handwriting, now we have keyboards and handwriting.
Even thought detection would amount to "thinking" about "typing" something. Consider how many thoughts we each have while writing. Our streams of consciousness decide what ultimately gets written whereas recording the unfiltered stream would become problematic. It's like motion controlled games that don't account well for users adjusting their grip.
I suspect there's quite a few others out there that use their tech in a similar fashion to you. Artists and app developers would appreciate a two in one device as well I'd think.
I could see Apple making a slicker, thinner version of the MS Surface Studio laptop and then also a display (instead of the all in one MS Surface Studio desktop) that's multi-touch and Pencil friendly. Probably the MacBook Studio would have Air-like tech specs, but Pro-like prices. So it wouldn't be for everyone, but also I don't think Apple would be dumb enough to change the Mac UI and make major concessions to touch considerations. So I hope they go for it. Personally I don't need such a device, but I think it would be well received by enough customers to be worth doing.
I like that large piece of slate with an imprint of what looks like a prehistoric apple 🙂