Is touch screen technology necessary for a laptop?

[LHC]

What do you think?

 

[EDIT] Back-story. I've been checking out the market for a new multimedia laptop. Mobility is not a priority, so a desk-top replacement is ok. So I found this nice ASUS N series Window 8 model that has the specs and fits the bill. It appears to be on a run-out pricing also, so looks like a good buy. But SWMBO from the finance ministry retorted that if we are paying over $1000, why does it not come with a touch-screen? I am not a smart man and I couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.    The only thing I could say is that the same model with a touch-screen at a similar price may be 9 -12 months away.

 

Just thinking about it, the arrival of window 8 could be a game-changer. It is early days yet, but could touch-screen be ubiquitous within 2 years? Quite possible if the market reach a tipping point in conjunction with a drop in the price of touch panels. If/when Window 8 takes off and third party software become increasingly touch-centric, then future proofing your laptop purchase with a touch-screen seems like a necessity.    

Edited January 4, 2013 by LHC

[proftournesol]

Touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, voice command are all means to an end, each enables particular ways of interacting with software. None of them I suppose are strictly necessary unless they enable particular applications or features that are useful. Try using Photoshop from a command line interface for instance. If you never could imagine what Photoshop was then a GUI, graphic tablet etc would seem superfluous. I think that it's the same with touch, it enables applications, or features that are less intuitive, or even impossible without it.

[Batty]

Nice to have, but I don't need it. I'm using win 8.

[firefly0071]

Interactive porn sites encourage a touch the screen command approach.

[Telecine]

Pretty useless on a laptop but essential on a Slate. I am yet to see a decent hybrid appear on the market.

[LogicprObe]

In the future?...........Sure!

[sir sanders zingmore]

the physical interaction with a laptop is completely different. It's natural to use a touchscreen on a tablet because of the way you hold it and the way you interact with it. 

Right now I'm sitting with my laptop on my lap and short as the 'stretch' is over the keyboard to touch the screen, it still feels too far away

[proftournesol]

the physical interaction with a laptop is completely different. It's natural to use a touchscreen on a tablet because of the way you hold it and the way you interact with it. 

Right now I'm sitting with my laptop on my lap and short as the 'stretch' is over the keyboard to touch the screen, it still feels too far away

It only feels natural to use a keyboard/trackpad on a laptop because you are already used to it. I find that I often move back from my iPad to my lappy and I'm automatically touching the laptop screen

[LHC]

the physical interaction with a laptop is completely different. It's natural to use a touchscreen on a tablet because of the way you hold it and the way you interact with it. 

Right now I'm sitting with my laptop on my lap and short as the 'stretch' is over the keyboard to touch the screen, it still feels too far away

 

That was Steve Job's reasoning too, and hence no Apple laptops are touch. But I won't bet against them jumping on the bandwagon.

[Guest Muon]

I voted the last one.

 

I can see it might be helpful with an OS directed towards this (Win8), and handy for those graphics types if using a sensor pen, but a touch pad can take care of that.

 

Meh....not for myself, but I can't speak for others.

[emesbee]

I'm undecided as to whether the current trend towards touch screens is a genuine move forward, or just a fashion thing.