Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…
What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!
I am with Alex on the touch screen Macs, I’ve had many touch screen PCs over the years, from an HP 150, back in the 80’s through Surface Pro, Samsung Ativ, HP Spectre X360 and similar designs and, to be hones, I never really used the touch. It was a fun gimmick, but most of the time I never used it. I dropped the Spectre for a desktop, then a Mac mini and now an MBP and I have never missed touch.
The one thing I do use touch for is signing documents with my Apple Pencil, and I extend the Mac’s screen to the iPad for that, then turn it off again.
I don’t have the physical reaction that Alex does to foldable displays, but I can’t unsee the crease, once I have seen it, which ruins the experience, which is certainly not what I want, when I have payed over 2,000€ for the experience.
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I want a touch screen Mac(more important on a work device, than a personal one. but I digress). But it wouldn’t compel me to spend more money on a higher end SKU. I want my next Macbook (anything) to have touch.
Touch is great for babysitting a machine. It takes more fine motorskills to use the touchpad to navigate to a new Teams chat compared to just tapping the screen.
I don’t really care about OLED that much outside of phones & televisions. Ever since my iPhone 15 Pro Max had OLED burn in, now i am just waiting for the shoe to drop on my iPad. I know when it happens: apple will be more than happy not to repair my next iPad. or repair your Mac for a heavy fee. I used to love OLED until I got burned by burn-in. I keep a lot of static elements on my displays screens.
I get a bit annoyed every time Leo talks about how great the OLED screen on the iPad Pros are. I really don’t find it that big of a deal compared to the mini LED display of the generation past. I wouldn’t consider the OLED display as a reason I went Pro over the Air on the iPad. I know I’m in the minority. I just don’t get it
A folding 18” iPad would start to rival some of people bedroom CRTs in the 2000s. I had a 20” CRT in my bedroom in 2003. The iPad is a 4:3 aspect ratio device so I always think of the iPad as an old handheld television you carry around (specially because I love to watch old 4:3 TV shows). On that note, I would say the iPad has actually been my own personal TV ever since I got one. I grew up on an iPad for the most part. I don’t watch anything on a TV unless I’m with other people. Sometimes (mostly on vacations) I have fond memories of being close to someone watching video on the couch off an iPad together
I think watching things (alone) on your TV is an old person thing. I think people 30 and below watch things on their iPads or phones. Maybe I’m just projecting. I cannot imagine putting YouTube on my TV. Even during the pandemic I have a memory of me watching the entirity of How I Met Your Mother on an iPad while I played games on my TV. Some of those games were on Switch which could’ve been the reverse (TV show on TV, and game on the handheld) but really, watching stuff on a smaller screen that I can pickup and move with me anywhere I go is appealing.
One of the biggest problems with touch on a laptop is the keyboard. Touch is something that needs to be close. With a phone or tablet, you can access the screen comfortably, on a laptop, unless it has a 360° hinge, the keyboard is always in the way. You might use the touch now and then, but the inconvenience will mean you never get your money’s worth from it. I certainly wouldn’t pay extra to have a touch version, after years of experience with laptops with touch.
Now and then is fine. I use the webcam now and then, I use the microphone now and then. I do not need my work laptop to be close to me. I am a human I can reach across my desk. The screen is a bigger target than the trackpad and mouse pointer on the screen. I don’t want to “pay extra”. I want it just baked in to the cost. Apple can do it, they just have dug their heels in so deep it’s take longer to undig them. I never had a 360 degree hinge and I have found touch useful.
The issue is: I’m not not buying a Mac because it lacks touch. Therefore Apple doesn’t give a heck. It’s not really costing them sales. It’s just kind of annoying. It’s like when Nintendo does something annoying & questionable. But they get away with it because it’s Nintendo and people will just put up with it.
Also I take issue with people against touch screens on laptops implying I having to reach across the desk. If you’re typing on the laptop, and using the trackpad, you are close enough to touch the screen. Nobody is lfting their suspended in the air touching the device. your arm is on the table, or elbow on the table and you touch it. We’re not robots just putting our arm out 90 degrees from the body mid air and pawing as a display. I don’t consider the keyboard in the way. I’m not computing exclusively on the screen via touch. I’m using touch because I saw a Teams chat become unread in the corner of my eye while I’m playing a game on my iPad, or using my desktop computer. It’s a quick motion. When it’s a secondary thing, specailly while playing a game / preoccupied on another device: it’s much each to just tap the screen than use a keyboard & trackpad.
The keyboard isn’t in the way
Apple should’ve given us a touch screen Mac when they did the touchbar. Maybe even instead of the touchbar. Just to get people like me to shut the front door.
@Leo YouTube has for the last 2 years had an options for creators to have youtube auto generated chapters. I don’t know if it’s opt-in or opt-out, but I would love if y’all had that on YouTube for the TWiT shows. Video Chapters - YouTube Help
My preferred method for consuming podcasts is YouTube, and secondary on Apple Podcasts. I actually find I build a stronger connection over YouTube compared to traditional methods. I suppose TWiT is different because I was “forced” (but I’m happy to be here! everyday!) to use a forum, instead of YouTube comments. I really enjoy engaging in the YouTube comments on Upgrade and I read the comments on ATP. Sometimes Jason Snell will even respond to a comment on Upgrade on YouTube (but rarely)
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I meant that you can’t have the laptop in as natural a position as a tablet, so it feels awkward, in comparison to using a tablet, because you always have to reach over the keyboard to get to the screen.
I just don’t find it that bad. For what I use touch for on a laptop, it’s not a big deal. It’s like if I have to grab a pen from somewhere. It’s not already in my hands, I just have to go touch/grab it. I feel like people who are vehemently against touch try to imagine themselves doing nothing but touching the computer and it’s really not that awkward. It’s not a “natural” or ergonomic position. But it’s just a quick tap. I’m not tapping a million things, I’m just quickly tapping the screen to babysit MS Teams of close a dialog box
I know at this point it’s just our different opinions though, I don’t think we wil sway each others opinions.
For the amount of $$$ is costs to put this discussion to bed for good, Apple should just do it. Who cares if literally only 1% of people use it? Just get people like me to shut the f*** up about it. Put the issue to rest. It would cost Apple pennies on the dollar
I use my laptop exactly the same way as my tablet in its keyboard case. I see plenty of people using iPads in keyboard cases and switching between touch and the keyboard/touchpad quite happily.
You tend to use your thumb to scroll. Pinch to zoom. I find it a very natural way of reading documents. Also great for editing text, as moving the cursor is ‘direct access’ rather than tapping the cursor keys.
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We have a Surface Pro in our home, with the keyboard attached, and both my kids and my spouse and I touch the screen to scroll, pinch and zoom both on the screen and using the touchpad. It’s whatever is convenient for us at any given point in time. If Apple can add keyboard/mouses support to an iPad, they should have no problem adding touch to a Mac.
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When I use my iPad in the keyboard case, I tend to use the touchpad most of the time and if I really have something I need to use touch intensively, I undock it. The same for signing documents, I grab the iPad out of the case and sign the document with the Pencil with the iPad in my hand or laying on the desk, then slap it back on the keyboard case.
@iFish I am not vehemently against touch on laptops, I just find it isn’t worth the additional cost to me, so if there is an option without, I’d rather save $100 on the price for a feature I won’t be using. It is like 4G/5G on the Watch and iPad, I don’t need it on those, so I buy the versions without and save some money.
If Apple don’t raise the price, then I’d live with it, but if they add touch and raise the price without the option to buy a model with a normal screen, I think that is unfair.
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I would be pissed if Apple charged $100 for touch on a Mac. It’s not the type of feature they should do that for. It’s not like the extra memory. I would compare adding touch, to the same as adding a webcam, or a microphone. When those were new (and I know touch isn’t new anymore, whatever) you didn’t pay more for Apple to give you a webcam vs a SKU without it. It should just be something the machines have.
Compared to like, the TouchBar which was something you paid more for models to have.
I apologize for putting words in your mouth. Vehemently is probably a lot stronger a word, I was projecting a bit based on people(not people here) being against it. Not exclusively you.
I’m fighting an imaginary Alex in the comments when I defend my opinions online.
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But how would you know if Apple changed $100 for touch? It’s not as if Apple is transparent on how they price they products - and you know they’re going to add their luxury-level markup to whatever they make because they can.
They could blame any markup on tariffs, or China, or sunspot activity, or whatever - if they were so forthcoming as to even offer some form of justification in the first place - and we’d never really know.
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My guess would be prices would go up due to “inflation”, and a higher price makes it harder to see where it all goes. Apple likely would say inflation if they graces us with a reason
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My work allowed us to install MacOS 26.1 today and I did: wow I do not like the new rounder corners. I have an M3 machine and I use corners pretty often. now there is wasted space.
I actually hate it.
For what it’s worth Spotify handles however TWiT distributes video shows quite well. What I like most about Spotify for podcasts is that it’s CDN starts streaming video almost instantly even in sub-par environments. It’ll start in low quality then gradually ramp it up as it sorts out what bandwidth it has. I can then choose audio only if need-be.
From a factual perspective, that’s technically not a podcast, or at least not how they came into existence. The original idea was the consumer would download it all up front, so that they didn’t need an available connection later to enjoy it (say during their commute.) I realize times are changing and more people have more connectivity, but I question whether there’s a better name for that than podcasting.
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