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I'm not a fan of touchscreen laptops but ergonomics is no longer a justification for why laptops should not have touch screens.

Some windows laptops with touchscreens have proven that it can work. It might not work for your work flow, but it will for others.

It's time to embrace touchscreens on MacBooks, it's inevitable.
 
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I have a Surface Laptop, with a touch screen. I have owned the machine for two years. In those two years I have touched the screen twice. Once to confirm it worked. Second and last time was an accident while pointing out something to someone, such touch causing an accidental and undesired response.

Touch screen works great on my tablet and iPhone. I don't want a touch screen on a device that already has the necessary inputs; keyboard and trackpad.

Touch screens on a laptop are a gimmick and those vendors that have them are just being "me too". I don't want the additional expense and complications in a touch screen laptop. If I want to touch a screen, I have my iPad.
 
I would have to hold out judgment until I can try it. What has the response and sales been for touch based pcs? I can definitely understand having to hold my finger up to the screen all the time could be fatiguing, but for occasional tasks like rotating a picture it could be more efficient. I imagine I would still use my mouse or trackpad the majority of the time.

What I really think would be useful is an ipad that mirrors my macs screen so I can input using my pencil. I was hoping sidecar would give me this functionality, but sadly it doesn't. Apple would also have to add a button or two to the pencil so it could replace my mouse for this. Maybe apple has prototyped something like this, but didn't like the results??

And of course, the added cost for this also plays a role in determining its desirability. Might not be worth the expense if it's too much.
 
What's the issue with offering it for people who want it?
I don't get it.
You don't like it, don't touch.
This is bad thinking on the part of Apple and some superfans.
Steve Jobs was incredible, but he was not a god for all times.
You're wrong. Everything about modern computing, is because of Jobs. Yes, he didn't invent any of it, but he implemented it all, made all of it successful in the market. All of it. Mouse, capacitive touch screens, modern GUI, track pads, the Powerbook 100, Tablet, modern smartphone. Exactly zero new has happened in the computer world since he passed. Only ever more agressive marketing hellish bullpoo. What he would have come up with next cannot even be imagined. He was the Beethoven of computers. There will never be another.

I am NOT a Jobs fan. I think he was a prick. I wouldn't give him the time of day if he were still alive. He was such a prick he even selfishly took a liver from someone who could have truly benefitted, knowing full well it wouldn't help him live much longer than a few weeks to months.


But I cannot deny the truth, that every Linux, windows, and Android device are just implementations of how Jobs envisioned computers, and their role in the world, should be.

One slight exception was Amiga. But that is long gone.
 
In the Educational sphere the Chromebook is king. The majority of K-12 schools in the USA use Chromebooks. They are touchscreen. The next generation are growing up with everything as touchscreen as normal. Apple obviously know this and realise that if they don't release a computer with a touchscreen in the coming years they could lose sales.

Well, that's my theory anyway.
Unfortunately…you are probably correct. Apple is a business and must look to the future also to continue going forward.

“If” they eventually put out a touch screen, I hope they keep a non-screen option.

But if touch screens are on the horizon, Apple will have to modify the experience drastically of macOS to accommodate finger selection, which makes no sense or is a need to do since iPad is available. Unless Apple plans on just moving to iOS only.

The “kids” would rather have an attachable touch screen instead of an all-in-one laptop. Apple is better trying to serve the kids now with a lower priced iPad with keyboard to compete with chrome books, instead of modifying macOS. That would condition the next generation to Apple’s ecosystem and later the kids can graduate to more expensive Apple options.
 


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.

Apple-MacBook-Pro-M2-Feature-Blue-Green.jpg

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.

macbook-pro-cyber.jpg

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.

samsung-galaxy-book3-2.jpg

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

Two words: finger prints.....

Just say, "NO!".

After having downgraded to an iPhone, that is what I miss the most from my Blackberry - I did not have to touch the screen.
 
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Come on! help Tim Cook out to get his $50 Million Dollar compensation this year. 😫😩

Its not even that, its just knowing, Apple is is gonna drip drop functionality in a touch based Mac until feels like a mature product. Just looking at how even Apple Silicon got better and better with each revision. I think Touch support is gonna be so rudimentary on the first rev it will come across underwhelming. Yeah, tap an icon on the dock, move around windows, swipe to scroll in windows and Safari. Rev 2. You will be able to have Apple pencil support. Rev 3. You will be able to use the new Apple Pencil with Touch Pad support.
 
can't stand this feature. Not only does it make the screen full of finger prints but every time I have used it I hated it more and more. I am sure someone out there has a use for it and loves it but I would take more RAM/CPU/Storage over this anyway.
I constantly wipe my black keyboard on MacBook Pro and MacBook of fingerprints. My screen cannot have one spec of dust on it nor any ounce of finger smug..absolutely nothing.

Like my computers clean…makes for a clean hour(s) long work day and night. Good for the mind.

I see people with pcs…food crumbs and dirty laptops. Dusty keyboards and murk all over it. When I was a tech some years ago and had to work on pcs…I always had to clean clients laptops first of their filthy and sloppy habits before working on it…no thanks.

MacBook Pro has a beautiful clean expensive mirror screen..imagine finger prints on a mirror every time you use and close the lid…no thanks.
 
I'm reasonably certain this is a misdirecton. Something to distract/satiate a specific set of users to buy iPadOS more time.
 
Why not if it’s done in a clever way
A versatile Macpad with detachable keyboard or iMacpad that can control the angle to draw on it …
Everything possible
That's just an iPad + Magic Keyboard. Yes, you don't get macOS, but you do get an OS with a UX/UI that is actually designed around touch, and when touchscreens are involved, that's kind of actually important...
 
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Say no to touch screens, hey say no to screens, let’s go back to punched cards. I use touchscreens at my workplace and find the very useful, I caught myself touching my stupid macbook. Just give me a touchscreen device like one of my surfaces pro with macOS and take my money. Everyone is crying about how limited are our ipads pro due the OS and now you complain about macOS and touch screens . F**ck if I understand you mates!
 
Don’t forget Commodore 64 and especially Palm that jobs just modified their ideas/direction and put out iPhone.
The Commadore engineers would have transformed the computing world into a far, far better place than where we are now. They were obliterated by selfish, stupid management. Which is now the norm. Even at Apple.
 
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I have a Surface Laptop, with a touch screen. I have owned the machine for two years. In those two years I have touched the screen twice. Once to confirm it worked. Second and last time was an accident while pointing out something to someone, such touch causing an accidental and undesired response.

Touch screen works great on my tablet and iPhone. I don't want a touch screen on a device that already has the necessary inputs; keyboard and trackpad.

Touch screens on a laptop are a gimmick and those vendors that have them are just being "me too". I don't want the additional expense and complications in a touch screen laptop. If I want to touch a screen, I have my iPad.
I had an early Sony (before they sold the brand) 2012 laptop that was touch screen. Tried touching it for a day to work. Arm and hands get too tired eventually, after the first day, never touch the screen again.

Case closed
 
It’s too gimmicky, too distracting and I don’t like it.

How about we focus on the 16” iPad Ultra? Massive Touch-screen Display!

Today: It’s too gimmicky, too distracting and I don’t like it.

Two years from now: It's awesome, I love it.

Touchscreens on Windows work great in that even though you use trackpad/keyboard 99 percent of the time, there are times - that 1 percent - where you just want to reach out and manipulate something on the screen, where a trackpad or mouse just isn't as good.

For me, I constantly lose track of where the mouse pointer is. A quick touch put the mouse right where you want it.
 
The Commadore engineers would have transformed the computing world into a far, far better place than where we are now. They were obliterated by selfish, stupid management. Which is now the norm. Even at Apple.
Don’t forget Xerox…we would not be calling computers computers, but Xerox’s. They were idiots to let Gates and Jobs view their work…
 
yawn

All the complainers will love it and call it revolutionary once it comes out (like they did with big screen phones and tablet styli - everyone hated on it, then Apple sold millions.)
 
Don’t forget Xerox…we would not be calling computers computers, but Xerox’s. They were idiots to let Gates and Jobs view their work…
Agree, but it was the same situation. Idiot management destroyed the company. They were just so huge it took longer to kill Xerox than Commodore.
 
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If it’s true that it will only run MacOS, then there’s no way it’s detachable or even a 360 flip like display so that it doesn’t conflict with the iPad’s turf. That’s unfortunate because I really do want Apple’s version of the Microsoft Surface Book.
 
That's just an iPad + Magic Keyboard. Yes, you don't get macOS, but you do get an OS with a UX/UI that is actually designed around touch, and when touchscreens are involved, that's kind of actually important...
I didn’t think of that … Thank you … mmm
 
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