You can pinch to zoom with a trackpad.
I too assume touch based Macs are coming at some point. But I expect them to live alongside conventional laptops for as long as people continue to buy them. Whenever I’ve tried different kind of convertibles they’ve felt like compromises. The tablet and the laptop seem like the best version of each.
Not everyone can use a trackpad.
I’m curious: when would someone be able to use a touchscreen to pinch to zoom, but not be able to use a trackpad to make the same gesture? Is this an accessibility issue or just a question of what hardware is present?
“It’s a useless feature in search of a use-case”
Sometimes it’s going to be easier to pinch to zoom, for example, than do the same thing with a keyboard or mouse.
Touch is no longer an expensive feature to add, so it makes sense to add it for certain use cases.
Also imagine a Mac being used in a kiosk situation where an iPad isn’t big enough.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually get a Mac that is essentially a giant iPad in form factor which can operate in both modes. On a stand to act like a desktop, or on the table, to act as a giant iPad. It would make little sense to disable touch when in upright mode.