Multi-Touch is the New Minimum (Premium)

It’s time to wake up and join the 21st century: PC makers should no longer sell portable PCs that do not include a multi-touch display. And PC buyers should likewise demand multi-touch, sending a clear message that this crucial technology is now a baseline requirement.

Don’t agree? It doesn’t matter. And to understand why, consider the possible reactions to this contention.

You agree, because you’ve used multi-touch on a laptop or other portable PC, and you either have come to like it, or you went into this predisposed to liking it.

You disagree, but you’ve never actually used it on your own PC. Obviously, this opinion is of no interest.

You disagree, because you have used it and you just don’t see the value and/or still believe that you will never use it regularly anyway.

That latter case is interesting for a number of reasons, but my opinion is that this will be the minority position. More to the point, having multi-touch capabilities in a screen doesn’t hurt anyone. Those who don’t want multi-touch aren’t harmed by its presence. In other words, this opinion just doesn’t matter: Multi-touch capabilities do not add much cost, thickness, or weight to any PC display.

As for the practicality and use, it’s there. And the way you know this to be true is to use the same logic one might use to determine whether a software or hardware upgrade is meaningful: Do you miss it when you go back to the old version? Or in this case: Do you miss multi-touch when it’s not available?

And the answer, resoundingly, is yes.

This comes up now, as it does so often, because of circumstance: I’m reviewing an excellent Ultrabook right now, and like any PC, there are compromises.

Some, like its 1080p screen, I can live with: It’s still a gorgeous display, and the perfectly adequate for the productivity work in which I engage, and, of course, not pushing 4K pixels helps (in this case dramatically) with battery life. This is the kind of compromise I find easy to make.

Some other compromises are less easy to live with. And others, like the absence of multi-touch, are impossible to live with. I feel so strongly about this that I would never buy this device—no matter how excellent it is otherwise—without multi-touch capabilities. I’d give up a 4K display, even USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, before giving up multi-touch. (No worries, it does utilize USB-C/Thunderbolt 3.)

What this means to me is that multi-touch has become elevated to the same status as keyboard and mouse. It’s not just nice to have. It’s not just a “first-class citizen” for the minority, like a smart pen, which is expensive. No, multi-touch is a necessary component of a modern PC that most users—virtually all users—will appreciate and will use. Daily.

To be clear, I’m not considering form factor here beyond the fact that the PCs I’m discussing are portable PCs. Multi-touch is not essential on desktop PCs, not yet, mostly because most desktop PCs do not lend themselves to this usage. But all portable PCs–including basic laptops—do. All of them.

Being likewise clear, yes, most users will, in fact, use a keyboard and/or mouse more than multi-touch. I get that. Have experienced that.

But when multi-touch is absent, when you reach for the screen and nothing happens, you feel … off. Something is missing, something crucial. Something you used seamlessly and without thinking, without even realizing it. It can be as simple as scrolling through a web page or document you’re reading on a laptop, and it can be as complex as manipulating on-screen widgets or using pinch-to-zoom on a tablet or 2-in-1. It doesn’t matter. When it’s gone, you notice it. It frustrates you. It is missed.

Some may argue that this declaration is pointless, that taking a stand on such an issue doesn’t matter. But I think this is important. The PC’s very legacy is tied to it being one of the most flexible and adaptable electronics products ever made, and its ability—Windows’ ability—to make this leap, to join the 21st century, is what separates it from many also-rans of the past. Multi-touch doesn’t feel tacked-on or additive. It feels natural. And that is, in its own small way, a miracle.

So here’s to multi-touch. You either love it already, or you will.