PCs get touchy ahead of Windows 8 launch PC manufacturers have been busy unveiling their touchscreen laptops at IFA this week in hot anticipation of Microsoft's Windows 8 release. While several firms have opted for Windows 8 tablets which convert into laptops using peripherals - many of which we talked up yesterday - Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba continued the touchy …
Now, not only will I have to invest in screen wipes, but they will have to be anti-bacterial.
It's bad enough finding all sorts of nasties lurking on a keyboard, but what it that nose picker, the one who never washes his hands after going to the toilet, the sneezer, food debris fingers, the cougher etc touches my screen.
Not to mention the RSI I will get having to lean awkwardly over my laptop.
Yuck
Actually, touchscreen laptops for the masses aren't that useful, but for people with visual impairment they are useful since at the moment they struggle to locate the mouse pointer and so being able to simply touch the screen is useful.
A friend was telling me about how he used one for a while, but got screwed by HP who wouldn't repair it then it became victim to the NVidia GPU packaging problem (the same thing happened to my Macbook Pro and I got a free repair).
Correction: prolonged use of vertical screens gives you gorilla arm. Touchscreen use on a Windows 8 laptop should be brief and sporadic, e.g. changing tabs, switching applications, minimising windows, etc. whilst using the keyboard the majority of the time, so gorilla arm shouldn't be an issue. In addition to that a laptop screen (which is where touch is going to be most useful, I doubt anyone will bother on a desktop with a mouse) isn't a vertical screen, it's probably at more like a 70 degree angle, as well as being positioned lower than your shoulder joint.
Yes, I've had a few 'well that was stupid' moments switching between my tablet, laptop, and desktop - touching the screens, nothing happening, and wondering wtf was wrong with the machines before facepalm. Still, even if it were the case that everything had touchscreens, it would be a PIA. Enough precision to navigate, not enough to be fiddly with graphics and other sillyassed stuff I deal with quite a bit. (or how about those damn sites where links are so close together, you can't finger the link you want? First World Issue definitely)
I have inadvertently found a solution for me though - found an HP 8440p Elitebook on craigslist for $300 the other day, has a multi-touch trackpad for pinch-to-zoom etc . EUREKA! Why don't all manufacturers do this? Seems to me to be an elegant solution for an industry that seems lost between Apple and a hard place.
Still, even if it were the case that everything had touchscreens, it would be a PIA. Enough precision to navigate, not enough to be fiddly with graphics and other sillyassed stuff I deal with quite a bit.
I'm not sure why everyone seems to struggle with this concept so much: YOU AREN'T FORCED TO USE TOUCH.
It's like suggesting you can't use your keyboard on XP because you have a mouse plugged in. All the various forms of input are complementary, you can use whichever is most appropriate at the time. And, believe it or not, sometimes having touch (even on a Windows 7 laptop/desktop) is more convenient than having to do everything through a keyboard/mouse interface.
Just use gesture based touchpads???
There are massive positive feedback benefits from using a direct-touch interface as opposed to doing it indirectly via gestures on a touchpad. Not to mention that it enables you to do things like "click" directly on a button, rather than having to guide a pointer in place first. Note that Windows 8 also supports multi touch gestures on a touchpad too, so if that's what you prefer...
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