 "4 Reasons why touch-enabled PCs are a failure")
The moment we first laid our eyes on the Windows 8 layout, one thing was certain – this OS was built keeping touch interfaces in mind. Sure enough, when Windows 8 was officially launched last year, not only did we get a new operating system (software), but we were also served a whole bunch of touch-enabled devices (hardware) – tablets and hybrids to even laptops/ultrabooks/all-in-ones with touchscreens. The reasoning behind a touch interface on all these form factors was the arrangement of the tile interface, which according to Microsoft was best used with touch.
Since the launch of Windows 8, we have started to see a lot of laptops, ultrabooks as well as all-in-ones sporting a touchscreen. Some monitor makers have also come out with touchscreen monitors. But is the touch experience on these devices similar to that on, say, a tablet? We think not.
An ergonomic nightmare
Reaching out to touch the screen of your laptop or monitor of your AIO will introduce fatigue on prolonged use
Reaching out to touch the screen on your laptop or your monitor is not as ergonomic as, say, using it on a tablet or a smartphone. After prolonged usage, your arm will feel uncomfortable as it is hanging in the air without any support to your elbow. Fancy names such as the “Gorilla Arm” have been thrown around to describe the pain felt by the arm when it is outstretched to interact with a vertical touchscreen for longer periods of time. There is a certain limited distance between the keyboard and the monitor and comparatively lesser distance between the touchscreen on a laptop and its keyboard. In either case, to use the touchscreen, you have to stretch out your arm to access the screen, which can get annoying for longer durations. If the trackpad of a laptop comes with the Windows 8 gestures baked in, then there is fairly little motivation to move your hands away from the keyboard. Think we are wrong? Try playing Fruit Ninja for over 15 minutes on a touchscreen laptop or monitor and let us know how you feel.
Windows 8’s confusing UI
Microsoft forced the Windows 8 start screen with the tile-interface down every user’s throat in order to pursue its touch-first philosophy. Sure, this screen is great if you just want to access apps such as the news app or just get a quick glimpse of what’s happening in your social networks. But on a laptop or an AIO, it would be fair to assume that a majority of us want to get some work done. When it comes to getting work done, the mouse and the keyboard take over. Regular Windows applications, which may have a short cut on the Windows 8 start screen, still open in the desktop mode. In the desktop mode, the touch interface is pretty much useless unless you are browsing through photographs – where touch has an advantage when it comes to swiping and zooming in or out. Surely, none of you will think of working on office suites using just the touchscreen alongwith the on-board keyboard. In the desktop mode, the size of scroll bars, Windows menus is more optimised for use with a mouse pointer than with your fingers.
Lack of touch-optimised desktop apps
Modern UI apps such as Bing News are great for consuming digital content, but when it comes to getting work done, the mouse and keyboard take over
The Windows Store still lags far behind the more established Android and iOS app stores. Regardless of this, the apps available on these stores are still great for media consumption, which works great on a form factor such as a tablet or a smartphone. Letting a simple app use the entire screen real-estate of your work PC is not really the best way (sure, you can have two apps working simultaneously with the Snap feature). Bottomline is that there are very few productivity apps optimised for touch on a form factor other than tablets or smartphones.
Dismal sales of Windows 8 touchscreen laptops
IDC had predicted that around 17 to 18 percent of the notebooks sold in 2013 would be touch enabled. But in a recent statement, an analyst with IDC has revised those figures from 10 to 15 percent. One of the main reasons for these numbers is the pricing of these touchscreen laptops, which is on the higher side when you compare them with their non-touch counterparts. For a similar pricing, you will get comparatively lower specifications on a touchscreen laptop. That is completely understandable. But when you consider the amount of value addition that a touchscreen will bring to the table, then things can get tricky. Same goes for standalone touchscreen monitors.
With PC sales figures themselves at their worst in years, the issues surrounding touchscreen on your Windows 8 laptops and AIOs aren’t helping. We have suggested four reasons why we think touchscreen PCs are not really the best way forward. We would love to hear from you, if you are truly fans of touch on your laptops or AIOs.
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