Touchscreen on a laptops - are they a gimmick?

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

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I'm looking at a 15" laptop. It has touchscreen and non touchscreen options. It also has a super dense resolution using the new IGZO screens. My questions are:

1. How often do you use touchscreen on a laptop? I can't imagine the screen is a natural angle which will enable you to touch it regularly.

2. Are super dense pixel resolution screens worth it on a 15" monitor? E.g. 3200 x 1800 vs 1920 x 1080? Can you even see anything on a 3200 x 1800 resolution? Wouldn't text be super tiny?


Thank you
 
I have the sony vaio pro 13 with the touch screen option.

I must say I use it loads when browsing or doing office documents etc. In effect anything to do with scrolling, it just makes it so much easier. Its not 100 percent accurate on smaller icons maybe that's due to the 13.3 inch screen and 1920 x 1080, so a 15+ inch screen should work better there.
 
IMO the touchscreens are only of any real use when used in conjunction with Windows 8 as it does make using the system more intuitive that just the touchpad.

However if its going to have a windows 7 OS on there then I really see no point in it unless it has the wacom touchscreen with stylus and you do graphic design.
 
unless you are buying a laptop to run a specific application that requires such a high res then i think its crazy to get super resolutions on such a small screen. you can't read anything!
if using win 8 then a touchscreen is useful but not essential. i went for the best of both worlds, a 13.3" display, touchscreen but the screen folds a complete 180 to the keyboard to become a tablet (lenovo yoga). i find the touchscreen great in tablet mode but in normal laptop position don't use it that much.
 
In my brief time with the xps 12 I used it more than I expected I would, even when not in tablet mode. Usually when it was a simple action and I couldn't be bothered to navigate the mouse, so hitting links, scrolling.
Whatever I do end up with, it will definitely have a touchscreen.
 
Like the poster above you'll probably use it more than you'd think for web browsing stuff especially links and scrolling but probably use it less than you might think for anything else.

Quite often I will pickup my tablet for certain amounts of web browsing just due to it being more convenient to use the touchscreen for navigation.
 
Zbornak said:
On Windows 8 can you "pinch zoom" like you would on an iPhone?
Click to expand...

Sometimes. I use the touchscreen more than I thought I would, but the imntegration into desktop apps doesn't always work as well as it could. Things like google maps aren't that intuitive either! It mostly gets used for the windows 8 gestures (turned them off on the touchpad as I kept doing them by accident!) scrolling and using the metro start screen.

Mine is a 13.3" 1080p screen on a standard laptop.
 
Hi Guys,

From what I have seen a learnt over the last few months is that touch screen is going to be the future, and programs, web pages and "apps" are increasingly being geared towards that aspect.

Hence my frustration at not being able to find a high end gaming touch screen laptop! (but that’s a whole different story)

Good luck with your choices

Matt
 
Zbornak said:
On Windows 8 can you "pinch zoom" like you would on an iPhone?
Click to expand...

yes you can, but you don't need a touchscreen, it'll work on a trackpad as well. as with 2 finger swipe for scrolling [i use this feature constantly even without touchscreen]

what i'd like to see is a feature to replace third button pressing [i use this constantly with mice when internet browsing as well as middle click to close] for example 2 finger tap

this may already be a thing, if it is someone please tell me and i shall be eternally grateful.
 
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