Do I Need a Touchscreen for Windows 10? (Laptop)

I need to buy a laptop for work and cannot afford to wait for windows 10 to come out.

It seems to me that all the 2015 model laptops without a touchscreen are much lighter in weight and cheaper too (obviously).

Would anyone happen to know if windows 10 is going to be touch centric? Can I survive without a touchscreen, or is it best to have a touchscreen so it is future proof? In other words, do I need a touch screen in order to get the most out of windows 10?

Grateful if someone can shed some light.
Thanks.

Comments

  • +2

    You don't - it's designed to work well with desktops that rarely have touchscreens.

    That said, once you get used to a touchscreen, you can't go back. Tapping on buttons and links even in Windows 7 is much quicker with a touchscreen. Want to tap that OK button? Just tap it - no need to move the mouse cursor and click.

    • Thanks eug. So that means a touchscreen is always a bonus. So it's a question whether or not you want to pay extra for it, isn't it?

      • There are cheap laptops with touch displays. The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 is an example of a machine that's <$400 (if purchasd via outlet) and comes with integrated touch display. It is classed as a 'convertible netbook' though and only comes equipped with either an Atom or i3.

        If you want the best experience with the legacy Windows desktop UI when you're using a touch display, you're going to want to invest in a machine that comes with an active stylus. (well known example — Surface Pro).

        This means you won't be trying to poke at your screen with your fat, inaccurate finger and missing button presses as a result — the stylus lets you hover over a button and see where exactly the mouse cursor is situated, and allow you to also accurately position the cursor to highlight text, for example.

        If you're only going to use windows in the Modern UI, accuracy isn't as important, as the touch targets are much larger and finger-friendly.

  • I suppose it will be like Windows 8 that accommodated both types of uses?
    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows-10/about

    • +1

      Thanks for the link xywolap. That hololens is awesome!

  • No windows OS needs a touchscreen.

  • +1

    I have a win8 laptop with a touch screen. I almost always use the touch pad, but sometimes scroll on the screen when reading a doc or similar.
    This laptop is fairly heavy and thick due to the touch screen.
    I also have a macbook air because it is light and has amazing battery. It does 99.5% of what I want ( failed an Excel compatibility issue).
    In any case, even with a touch screen I find the win8 desktop cumbersome, so I would say, no touch screen is fine.

    • This laptop is fairly heavy and thick due to the touch screen.

      Not really — the inclusion of a touch panel will make a laptop more expensive, but the weight of a laptop is not really affected by the addition of a touch panel. If you have ever broken a phone or a tablet display, you'll find that the touch display has an addition of digitizer panel overlaid on top of the display itself.

      If you crack that digitizer panel and the touch feature stops working.

      • the weight of a laptop is not really affected by the addition of a touch panel

        Don't the touch screen laptops have glass panel which make them heavier? Or is that just the laptop/tablet convertibles?

        • The effect is more pronounced on a larger display, so yes, I suppose the glass will add a little more weight.

          On Dell Inspiron 14 5000, the difference betwee a touch and non touch model is

          Non-Touch Screen
          Height: 0.9” (21.6mm) / Width: 13.5” (342mm) / Depth: 9.7” (246mm)
          Starting at 4.46lbs (2.02 Kg)

          Touch Screen
          Height: 0.9” (22.0mm) / Width: 13.5” (342mm) / Depth: 9.7” (246mm)
          Starting at 4.8lbs (2.16 Kg)

  • My work laptop has a touch screen, the glare from it really annoys me!

    It's a finger print magnet, I found myself changing Windows 8 to be more Windows 7-esque espcially with the start menu.

    Whilst the touch screen has come in handy a few times, I would prefer if my laptop wasn't touch screen.

    On a side note I considering a downgrade to Win7 over waiting for Win10, Win8 not playing nice with my laptop (despite it being only 3 months old).

  • As long as the number of desktops without touchscreen is a significant portion of the Windows user, MS wouldn't be ditch traditional mouse and keyboard users. Looking at how MS changed W8.1 to be more desktop friendly (Reintroduction of "Start menu", being able to start up on desktop mode etc), I assume that Windows 10 would be more of trying to assimilate both parties.

    Though, I think touchscreen does add some values, especially on laptops (I don't really like touchpads, so I am biased). I would assume that since the majority of the users are still mouse/keyboard users and MS did get burnt fairly badly with W8 being touchscreen centric, I am guessing that W10 would not neglect mouse/keyboard users.

  • I have an Acer V3-112P that has a touch screen. Quite light. I hardly touch the screen.

  • Lifting the hand and touching the screen is more physical than leaving it rested on the keyboard and track pad so no you probably won't use it much. Mirror screen plus finger prints is last thing I want on my laptop.

    • To each their own I suppose. I find it much quicker to simply tap on the screen than to spend time moving the cursor to the element and clicking. Scrolling and tapping on things is quicker on a touchscreen than two-finger-scrolling then moving the cursor to click on something too.

      Imagine using your smartphone with a touchpad. Which would be quicker?

  • Thanks to everyone who shared your experience here. Much appreciated.

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