Usefullness of a touch screen on a standard laptop?

[k1s23]

I have a laptop and a Surface Pro 3. Not a day goes by when I don't try to touch my laptop's screen, despite its lack of touch input. It's not that I want to touch it, but that it just comes so naturally compared to moving around mouse pointer, at least for simple things like play/pause, scrolling through images or zooming. Even if I'd not use touch on a laptop that often, it'd be less jarring everytime I reach forward and expect something to happen. It's like when I was back with Chrome browser and scrolled, expecting my gaze to be at a certain point after the (laggy) scrolling and it didn't happen. Jarring.

hey there. i only have a macbook pro which is obviously not touch screen but if i had a surface pro like you then i would probably do the same thing. whats your opinion regarding typing on the surface pro? i think typing on a full keyboard screen would bug me.

 

[Strike_1]

Some features are just more intuitive with touch! Like zooming a photo, moving across tabs, flitting pics etc. Especially useful if you are working on drawings.

 

[k1s23]

Some features are just more intuitive with touch! Like zooming a photo, moving across tabs, flitting pics etc. Especially useful if you are working on drawings.

hey strike_1, although i do agree that some features are more intuitive with touch, writing on a surface with a tilt like the surface laptop is unconventional. imagine taking notes in class on that thing, youd have ripped arms by the end of your school year hahaha.

 

[Drael646464]

Its a quick way to do certain things. Such as flipping a page on a book reader, pinch zoom or accessing the swipe from right or left stuff.

It's not something you'd do all the time.

 

[k1s23]

Imo, its only practical on a convertible / 2in 1

hey there, i agree with you. i use a usb mouse with my laptop so having my hands constantly move from keyboard to screen and my right hand move to the mouse is too much unnecessary action for me. since my laptop has multi-touch and gesture capability its easier to just move the mouse then zoom in/out using the touch pad or even the scroll wheel.

 

[ttsoldier]

Its a quick way to do certain things. Such as flipping a page on a book reader, pinch zoom or accessing the swipe from right or left stuff.

It's not something you'd do all the time.

If I have to flip a page on a book reader on my laptop, using my fingers, I would much rather use the track bad. The time it will take me to extend my hand towards the screen (passing the trackpad) to touch the screen..... well.. it just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[k1s23]

If I have to flip a page on a book reader on my laptop, using my fingers, I would much rather use the track bad. The time it will take me to extend my hand towards the screen (passing the trackpad) to touch the screen..... well.. it just doesn't make sense to me.

hey ttsoldier, i agree with you. its easier to keep my hands completely at a lower height, whether im doing things that would benefit from gestures done on a touch screen or not.

 

[ttsoldier]

hey ttsoldier, i agree with you. its easier to keep my hands completely at a lower height, whether im doing things that would benefit from gestures done on a touch screen or not.

Agreed.

I really wish they had put a 360 screen on the laptop. I would have bought it for sure!

 

[k1s23]

Agreed.

I really wish they had put a 360 screen on the laptop. I would have bought it for sure!

hey there. ah so youre not going to buy the surface laptop? i can definitely see the appeal for the 2 in 1 form but i noticed there are still manufacturers that make traditional style laptops so i guess they are still in demand.

 

[ttsoldier]

hey there. ah so youre not going to buy the surface laptop? i can definitely see the appeal for the 2 in 1 form but i noticed there are still manufacturers that make traditional style laptops so i guess they are still in demand.

Still deciding

 

[k1s23]

Still deciding

haha cool. its nice to support microsoft by buying products from the surface line, but its good to know there are options out there to fit your 2-in-1 want.

 

[Surapathi_121-0]

It won't be much fun when the laptop has low specs and when it sucks in performance.

 

[Firstkings]

I didn't think I would get used to touching a laptop screen, put now I am used to touching all screens! Can't help but try to touch navigate on a laptop, especially someone else's! Rapidly losing MacBook friends!

 

[k1s23]

I didn't think I would get used to touching a laptop screen, put now I am used to touching all screens! Can't help but try to touch navigate on a laptop, especially someone else's! Rapidly losing MacBook friends!

hey firstkings. haha i would get so irritated when people poked at my macbook pro screen. nowadays the OEMs other than apple encourage touching the screens so ill try it once in a while if i get the surface laptop.

 

[k1s23]

It won't be much fun when the laptop has low specs and when it sucks in performance.

hey there. true, but thankfully the surface laptop is not a low specification laptop. its not as good as writing on the other surface devices but it sure wont lag badly.

 

[lanakaryatna]

More usefull than touchbar, but more useless than 360 degree

 

[meattray]

I like having touch capability on everything now. I constantly find myself trying to touch and swipe on my additional monitors.

 

[Josiah23]

I find touch screen laptops very useful. They make things a bit easier for me with texture work like Photoshop and Mudbox/Blender

I although don't really care for touch screen while doing basic tasks that can easily be done with the trackpad.

 

[kaktus1389]

I although don't really care for touch screen while doing basic tasks that can easily be done with the trackpad.

I can't help myself to not use the touchscreen on my 2-in-1, I just don't know why would I spend 5 more seconds to navigate where I want to with the trackpad (it's because it's plasticky cheap feel and performance) so I just touch it, even if it's just launching an app or refreshing a website.

 

[Josiah23]

I can't help myself to not use the touchscreen on my 2-in-1, I just don't know why would I spend 5 more seconds to navigate where I want to with the trackpad (it's because it's plasticky cheap feel and performance) so I just touch it, even if it's just launching an app or refreshing a website.

Yeah, I don't know why but it feels a bit off for using touch screen on certain task, maybe I don't use it enough.