WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 There are two types of people in this world, those who have no problem touching a computer screen, 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.640 and those who cannot tolerate it at all. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:26.800 I believe that fingers should stay down on keyboards, but sometimes you don't know until you try. 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:36.880 For over a decade with the launch of the MacBook Air, Apple has resolutely refused to add a touchscreen to the Mac. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:42.160 It's not in an optimal position, you don't feel comfortable. The best way to deliver multi-touch in the notebook 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:46.800 is through the track pad. But in this office, that attitude is deeply confusing 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:52.400 among the many Windows PC users who have touchscreens. They say a touchscreen is useful, essential even, 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:55.280 and that Mac users have no idea what they're missing. 00:00:55.680 --> 00:01:01.360 Well, to find out, we're going to build a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen. 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:20.160 And here it is. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:32.560 It can do everything your touchscreen Windows laptop can do. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:39.520 You can open apps, close apps, zoom, scroll, move the text input cursor, 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:42.960 and even swipe between desktops. How neat. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:49.440 There are drawbacks though. The laptop doesn't close anymore, eliminating some of its portability. 00:01:49.440 --> 00:01:53.040 It's much heavier, which puts a lot of weight on the screen hinge, 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:58.640 so it can't hold it up at certain angles. And this cable is really annoying. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.160 These are things that wouldn't be a problem on a proper TouchMac book. 00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:07.280 But nevertheless, having this $300 espresso screen taped onto the computer 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.160 has fooled me into thinking it was the actual screen. Green tape, not withstanding. 00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:17.040 After using this for a while, I have to say that I rarely reached up to use it. 00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:18.720 And I think I know why. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.320 The arguments for a touchscreen on a laptop seem to circle around convenience. 00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:34.400 It's useful in specific postures, like standing, or walking, or squatting, or sitting on a couch. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.400 These positions can naturally encourage you to hold your laptop in a way that places your fingers 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.960 closer to the screen than the trackpad, making it so much more convenient to navigate around. 00:02:44.160 --> 00:02:47.760 Here's the deal. Apple has a device for these cases and positions, 00:02:47.760 --> 00:02:51.040 with software explicitly designed from the ground up for touch. 00:02:51.920 --> 00:02:55.280 The iPad, which leads me to an argument that needs to be made. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:57.680 And it's one I think Apple's been trying to articulate. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.560 The finger is a blunt instrument, fat and round. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.840 The pointing device, a mouse or trackpad, is a precise instrument. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:09.440 You can see it on the screen how the pointer tapers to a pixel-thin point. 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:14.080 And pixels are very small now. What works well with a mouse doesn't work well with a finger. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:19.680 And what works well with a finger, obviously, it's a mouse. So if you design a device with an interface for touch, 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:24.240 it needs to have big, simplified UI elements, while being light and easy to hold, 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:28.400 like an iPad or an iPhone. That form factor is in fact limiting. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:35.520 But by remaining focused, it's also liberating. Now, I am aware of the addition of mouse and trackpad support on iPadOS, 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:41.760 but I think people are a little confused about it, because I'm quite certain it was purely for the magic keyboard. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.520 Apple believes reaching up from a keyboard to manipulate a screen 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.720 is so inconvenient that they were willing to make the iPad 00:03:48.720 --> 00:03:53.520 more laptop-like just to solve it. It wasn't a convergence of these platforms. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.760 It was a solution to an ergonomic problem brought upon by a keyboard accessory. 00:03:57.760 --> 00:04:00.880 And look at the pointer when using that trackpad on the iPad. 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:06.480 It's round and blunt, like your finger, only transforming when it gets close to something it can manipulate. 00:04:06.480 --> 00:04:10.480 It's abundantly clear that the iPad will always be a touch-first device. 00:04:10.480 --> 00:04:13.840 And so it should remain that the Mac be a pointer-first device. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.960 Remember Windows 8? Microsoft meekly and foolishly thought they could force the industry 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:23.680 towards touch with their start-screen interface. But nobody fully committed to it, not even them. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:28.240 Even their touch-first, ARM-based Surface RT still had a mousey desktop mode, 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:33.600 quite simply because the office team didn't even bother to make a touch version of their productivity suite for it. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:40.000 And that took over two years. And by that time, Microsoft returned to a mouse-centric form with Windows 10. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.920 Oh, and did you know that Windows 10 still has a tablet mode 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:48.240 and that Microsoft Office has a touch mode? Bet you didn't. And I bet you'll never use them either, 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:53.600 because we all know how Windows works, and changing those basic concepts isn't worth the effort of learning them. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:58.880 But let's imagine that Apple thought integrating touch was worth doing. 00:04:58.880 --> 00:05:03.280 Well, you can bet that it would be done in a way that would be very exciting and worth the effort of learning. 00:05:03.280 --> 00:05:07.760 Because let's not forget how beloved and revolutionary the experience on the iPad was. 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:13.200 The release of Big Sur actually got a lot of people speculating that Apple was preparing macOS for the touchscreen. 00:05:13.200 --> 00:05:18.400 There's the additional spacing between items and menus, and the friendly touchability of the new control center. 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:24.800 But I think Apple would have to go further, because touch interfaces are difficult to use when your ARM is suspended in mid-air. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:30.240 The dock would have to be placed on either side of the screen, so you can hold your hand on the side and stabilize it. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:34.160 Yes, you can move the dock there now, but what kind of monster really does that? 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:41.280 And even compared to the way things are on Big Sur, I still think buttons would need to be 20 to 30 to 50% larger. 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:49.920 Or maybe Apple could do something really unusual, and let us swipe, pinch, and do all the multi-touch gestures on the screen, but not tap. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:54.480 This would allow the OS to remain dense and the mouse remain useful, 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:59.360 while still offering the magical, convenient, and collaborative character of natural interfaces. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.000 The reason I'm working so hard to imagine the possibilities of touch 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.200 is because after using this MacBook for a couple of weeks, 00:06:09.200 --> 00:06:14.160 as well as a Dell XPS 2-in-1, I can tell you that I seldom reached up and touched the screen. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:18.400 A scroll here, a tap there, maybe, that was about it. 00:06:18.400 --> 00:06:22.400 And again, maybe that's because this OS isn't made for touch. 00:06:22.400 --> 00:06:25.920 If it didn't take me two taps to close an app in full screen mode, 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:31.920 perhaps taps would be more inviting. As it is, I basically only used it when my hand was near 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.960 an already exposed button or scrolling opportunity. 00:06:34.960 --> 00:06:38.960 But when I'm sitting at a desk writing, that rarely happens. 00:06:38.960 --> 00:06:41.920 And when I'm sitting on a couch lamping, I'll use an iPad. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.160 If Apple releases their next MacBook with a touchscreen option, 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:50.560 everything would be fine. But I still wouldn't understand it, and I definitely wouldn't select it. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:55.360 It would have to be implemented like mouse support on iPad. Convenience, sure, but inessential. 00:06:56.080 --> 00:06:59.840 To me, that convenience is not worth the fingerprints on the screen. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:03.840 Thanks for touching on this Mac Address. 00:07:03.840 --> 00:07:07.040 I've heard all the arguments for adding a touchscreen on the Mac. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:10.320 Comment below what your thoughts on this whole touchscreen conversation is. 00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:12.720 I'm curious if I really am the minority here.