I agree, a touch-screen on a 'pro' laptop (unless it's a 2-in-1) is useless.

Also: Please don't ever, ever touch my laptop's screen.

I had a co-worker who made threats against anyone whose hands came close to his screen. Even pointing at the screen was enough to get a look of death.

I can't stand fingerprints on my monitor, but I don't even notice them on my phone or tablet. Before I got my first touchscreen phone, I was pretty sure the dirty screen would drive me bonkers, but that never happened.

That's probably because phones and tablets usually have oleophobic[1] surfaces.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipophobicity

I seem to have oleophobic-proof fingerprints then. I'm constantly cleaning phone screen (swipe on jeans these days now phone is not spanking-new).

You could easily see my swipe or pin pattern from prints and smudges, even from one use, which never happened with actual keys.

The oleophobic coating does vanish with use over a period of time. That's why you wouldn't see fingerprints and such on a new device, but would on an older and well used one.

My phone screen is smudged, but it doesn't really bother me. If I spot something on my monitor, I can't get any work done until I have it cleaned off.

I am that person.

Randall?

It's usually because of fear of death, extending to the non acceptance of any decay to the objects one uses.

Same kind of people leave the plastic wrap around their remote controls (or worse, car seats).

Is it really? Is there more that I can read about this?

I have a Surface Pro with a touch screen and found it to be very useful and natural to use.

The Surface is plugged into a dock for all my heavy work, so I'm not using the screen anyway. If I am using it as a laptop for more internet-browsing related work, the touchscreen is so useful that I don't need a mouse.

Since I use an iPad on a relatively regular basis, I find myself reaching for the screen on my MacBook when it's on my lap and I'm reading the web. Scrolling through webpages with a touch on the screen is a natural gesture now; having to pull my hands back to the touchpad feels clunky in comparison.

It's a minor wish, but a worthwhile addition, IMO.

It's interesting that I hear these anecdotes, because as a user of touch screen devices pre-dating iOS, and every iOS device from 2nd-gen iPhone onward, not once have I ever caught myself reaching to touch the screen of my laptop or desktop monitor. I dunno, in my mind "handhelds are for touching, things with keyboards are not to have their screens touched under threat of bodily harm."

The article describes a "secondary display" that is a "touch screen strip for function keys"

No indication that the main display is going to be touch-enabled, at least not that I can see.

Especially in a pro Macbook I could see it being really useful - think of all the people developing iOS applications on them. They can now run the simulator on the laptop display and have it pass touch events through to the simulated device.

And in addition to that, they should add an accelerometer for even more fun when testing shake and tilt gestures. ;-)

MacBooks have always had accelerometers, originally it was called the "sudden motion sensor" and was ostensibly used to park the hard drives in the event of a dropped computer.

I'm pretty sure they're still in the modern MacBooks, though Google seems to be mixed on the matter.

That sensor was taken out with the SSD MBPs: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201666 (under Note at the top of the page.

It is not because there is no need to park the HD

The touch screen would be quite an exciting addition to a Macbook. Why? If you are an iOS developer, wouldn't it be great to try your app in the simulator directly on your monitor? You wouldn't have to keep an iOS device right besides you to try it out or use a cursor to simulate touches.