It seems like the internet is having very mixed opinions about the touchscreen on the new Macbook Pro. A group of people are saying that it goes against Apple’s own standards, linking to what Steve Jobs said on stage about how a vertical touchscreen doesn’t ergonomically make sense. They also just do not see the point of a touchscreen and do not see themselves using it as they feel like they have been fine without it all these years without one.
My opinion is that the touchscreen isn’t something that’s groundbreaking for the Macbook, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to have it. Sure, MacOS is perfectly fine without touch controls, but having a touchscreen still brings some benefits. I can see the touchscreen being useful for artists as they tilt and move parts around, or having to have some serious precise controls. I also think a touchscreen can be useful when you want to quickly toggle something, rather than having to move the cursor with my trackpad over there to click on it. This is actually also where I just never agreed with Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs’ argument for not including a touchscreen on Macs is that a vertical touchscreen is not ergonomically good, that your arms will get tired after some time using it. However, I feel like for most of what touchscreen is for on laptops, it’s never to be used “after some time.” A touchscreen on a laptop is simply for you to get to something quickly and precisely once in a while, not use it continuously. Just like Steve Jobs said himself about the iPhone, our fingers are the world’s best pointing device. That is why it can be useful to be able to use our fingers sometimes to get to something rather than having to move the cursor over there. That is why I think Steve Jobs’ argument of your arms getting tired after some time of use doesn’t really constitute the lack of a touchscreen on Macbooks.
With all that being said, a touchscreen is still an optional feature. If you don’t like the touchscreen for whatever reason, either that’s that it smudges your screen or it doesn’t ergonomically make sense, you can simply not touch the screen and use your Mac as you would without it. Furthermore, if you really don’t want it and want to save some money without it, you can get the other Macbook Pro without it while being able to get the exact same specs.