Comments on: Touchscreen Ultrabook Usage Examples

By: You Like Dockable Tablets – Report. « Ultrabook News and the Ultrabook Database

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:57:20 +0000

[...] that many of you readers see that a touchscreen can be useful even in table-top mode. I demonstrate fixed touchscreen use cases here. You can get an ASUS X202/S200 for just $499/€549 now so it also shows that retro-fitting a [...]

By: We Like Dockable Tablets – Report. | DailyGadgets

We Like Dockable Tablets – Report. | DailyGadgets — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:22:05 +0000

[...] several of we visitors see a touchscreen is beneficial even inside table-top mode. I demonstrate fixed touchscreen employ instances here. There are an ASUS X202/S200 for simply $ 499/€549 today thus it equally shows which [...]

By: blade

blade — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 23:01:11 +0000

A calculator. Ever tried using that with a mouse?

By: Asus Taichi only has One Touchscreen, Not Two « Ultrabook News and the Ultrabook Database

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:21:47 +0000

[...] in a laptop, tabletop setting is a valid, fast and fun use case in many cases as I demonstrated here. Not having it on such a multi-use device seems like a strange [...]

By: Kalle

Kalle — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 20:17:11 +0000

I’m not convinced either. The ergonomics look horrible in all of those cases. So far I haven’t seen anything that couldn’t be handled more efficiently with mouse gestures and keyboard shortcuts.

By: joe

joe — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:56:17 +0000

I agree, convertible notebooks (twisting screen, sliders, flipping screen, etc) and dockable tablets are more likely to be successful Windows 8 devices than an ultrabook with a touch panel slapped on.

Anyway, this is just a reference design and I’m hoping companies will not just go with adding touchscreens to ultrabooks and calling it a day.

By: James

James — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:15:35 +0000

Depends on the notebook form factor, touch is certainly easier to use on a notebook than a desktop, especially on the smaller notebooks.

While touch can be easily swapped for a touchpad or motion control. Either preventing the need to reach for the screen and extends usefulness to situations like controlling the system from one’s living room couch for example, for those with entertainment setups.

Mind we’re going to be seeing a lot more convertible and hybrids as well and not just systems with touch screens added.

By: hocus

hocus — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:03:28 +0000

The Thinkpad X230t convertible tablet has either a matte or glossy screen. The videos I’ve seen for the 11.6″ Acer S7 showed a matte touchscreen. The 13.3″ S7 had a glossy screen though.

Windows 8 is designed to be used with either a mouse or finger without any special configuration. It seems Microsoft did fairly well in implementing both input methods for their OS. 3rd party software, on the other hand, may or may not be designed as well.

Anyway, I agree that touch is a nice secondary input but certainly not a good primary one in most usage scenarios. Even more so for a notebook form factor.

By: R

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:14:49 +0000

Really not convinced that any of the scenarios make touch look preferable to keyboard and mouse. And on a larger screen the issues with not being able to reach the centre readily would become more pronounced. On a raised desktop PC screen they’d be particularly bad since you’d need to lift your hands.

It looks like a shiny screen on your ultrabook, and the Asus UX21 model with touch (not yet released) also has a shiny screen. Will touch screens remain shiny, or will manufacturers combine touch with the more productive matte screens? In any case fingerprints could be an issue and fingers obstruct your view.

A better design for Windows 8 would have been for it to detect the device type and configure itself for primarily mouse and keyboard or primarily touch, or to offer the user the choice to configure it either way. Touch is a nice addition to any computer but I don’t see it as a good primary means of interaction on productivity machines.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:14:04 +0000

“Hover doesn’t work with touchscreens, etc.”

Well of course it doesn’t work. As well as many other use cases. Why ? Because it’s a fracking notebook, not a tablet. Just because Micro$h!t thought it was a great idea to cramp both UI’s on devices that are not supposed to even have them, doesn’t mean you have to follow their idiotic philosophy and buy their crap.
People need to understand there are 2 different categories. 1 for productivity, 1 for media consumption. You can’t just combine them into an abomination and hope for the best. That’s idiotic.

But if you really want to buy a $800 device and fill its screen up with finger smudges from the first day you buy it, then fine, just go ahead. I find it to be a very stupid idea.