Are Fingerprints the Reason Behind the Touch Bar?

Apologies if this one has been done before…

My initial reaction to this touch bar thing was “neat” until I realized that it was not accompanied by a touch screen. I have a mac but I primarily use a Lenovo Carbon X1 (ohhh yeaaa). I find myself constantly trying to scroll with my fingers on the screen whenever I’m on a mac. To me, the touch screen is intuitive.

BUT I have always hated finger prints on my screens. Even when I was young, I’d see my mom jab her finger on the monitor and I’d cringe. When friends pointed at something on my computer by touching the screen I would passive aggressively wipe the finger prints off. I knew that touch screens would force me to change this behavior, or at least change my tolerances a bit.

The other day I was lounging around with the Lenovo and the sun was coming through the window such that the massive amount of finger prints on my screen meant that I couldn’t actually see what was on the screen behind those finger prints. For a moment I said to myself, “What the hell are all these finger prints?” before realizing that they were obviously me using the touch screen. That’s when it hit me…

Is Apple’s reluctance to get on board with a touch screen as simple and “Apple-pretentious” enough to be an aversion to fingerprints on their “most beautiful display ever”?

Conversation 7 comments

  • 5496

    08 November, 2016 - 10:37 am

    <p>iPhone and iPad gets finger prints. Finger prints can easily be wiped of.</p>

  • 7124

    08 November, 2016 - 1:14 pm

    <p>Lenovo tried the touchpad instead of function keys on the Thinkpad. That lasted almost a year. Then they apologized and put the F keys back in the next round of models.</p>

    • 1

      Premium Member
      08 November, 2016 - 4:02 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#25170">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/jkosborn4">jkosborn4</a><a href="#25170">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Yeah, we had one in the office. It was horrid. It still had a touch screen though.</p>

  • 5027

    09 November, 2016 - 8:39 am

    <p>I think it’s more Apple that realize that to make MacOS support a touchscreen it will require a major overhaul that will cost a lot if time and money. And for now they are betting on iOS, and iPad, problem is that iPad sales are falling year over year. Their users scream about them wanting a touchscreen on their MacBook’s but at this point in time Apple simply can’t deliver that. So a touchbar is all you get</p>

    • 1080

      Premium Member
      13 November, 2016 - 9:30 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#25252">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/JudaZuk">JudaZuk</a><a href="#25252">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I agree with JudaZuk here. MacOS is just not touch compatible. That being said Apple doesn’t have to make every interaction touch friendly since MacOS won’t be on tablets so users will always have a mouse and keyboard for the non touch friendly buttons.</p>

  • 3229

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2016 - 6:22 am

    <p>I talked to someone last night about the new MBP. He was actually looking forward to the touch bar. For him, the USB-C ports were a much bigger deal.</p>

  • Simon Hibbs

    05 March, 2017 - 4:52 am

    <p>Apple have given several reasons for not supporting touch screens on MacOS. Firstly they say the touch targets in the OS would be too small to reliable interact with using fingers. Look back and you'll see Microsoft said exactly the same thing which is why they pushed Metro on the desktop, because it had large touch-friendly interaction targets. Metro failed to get traction though, so the fact Windows has touch input now used with the Classic desktop is a legacy overhang from that strategy. This is not how Microsoft intended things to go. Secondly Apple believe that the strain of raising a hand unsupported up to a vertical screen is bad ergonomics. Finally, they think the touch bar and improved touch pad tech on the horizontal keyboard plane are a better solution for touch input on 'vertical screen' systems.</p><p>I think they are right, but by keeping the iOS interaction model exclusive while also imposing severe restrictions on the system, they are leaving a gap in the market for touch friendly pro computing systems designed for touch. The problem is that nobody else is in a position to fill that gap either. Windows 10 apps are not touch friendly because it's a system designed for precise mouse control, Metro is dead and Android tablets are in a race to the cost and features bottom. Only Apple sells significant numbers of high end tablets, so they're not being challenged by anyone in that arena. Which sucks for me as an iPad Pro 9.7" owner. I really need someone to light a fire under Apple so they are pressured to unlock the full capabilities of this platform.</p>

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