Thoughts on the new touchscreen OLED screen MacBook Pro? Steve Jobs once said this is ergonomically horrible, and if you put a touchscreen on it, you blew it. Clearly the new regime thinks different.
ASKED BY · Alexander Knight · PORT COQUITLAM, BC, CANADA · 30 OCT 2026 · ▶ 00:06:19
Notes Apple Pencil support is missing, which would make the device more compelling; points out users naturally attempt touch gestures due to growing up with touchscreen devices.
Disagrees with touchscreen implementation citing ergonomic issues, fingerprints, and poor viewing distance for laptop use; questions Apple's design rationale.
Despite initial skepticism about touchscreens on laptops, actual use shows the feature is helpful for scrolling and custom applications like touch-based camera control interfaces.
Touchscreen proximity to keyboard makes it less problematic than reaching across a desk; direct touch is often faster than trackpad navigation for web browsing and selection.
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From the transcript.
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6:14Steve Jobs once said that it is ergonomically horrible, and if you put a touchscreen on it, you blew it. clearly the new regime thinks different. Ah, here in the land of the toaster fridge, Chris Sabato. So I don't have any opinions on the Mac itself, but I have my current laptop. I just got a new laptop a couple months ago and it came with a touchscreen. I didn't ask for a touchscreen.
6:39It just happened. The model that I wanted came with one. And I have been surprised how often and I actually use it. I didn't think I would use it a ton, but I definitely find myself reaching and touching some things here and there, especially for scrolling. I use it a lot for scrolling. I use it a lot for things where, and I talked a little bit about this on Tuesday,
7:03is that I built an RCP app for my cameras. And when I was building it, I was like, oh, I have a touch laptop. I can design it specifically for that instance. And so I can just reach up and slide faders up and down. So it's one of those things where like you may not think you like it, but once you have it, I'm guessing you will use it more than you thought you would.
7:27Fenwick? I, on this thing, I completely agree with the late, great Steve Jobs. I think, I think optimum viewing distance, and maybe it's different for a laptop. I don't use a laptop usually. But one, my screens are too far away to touch. Two, fingerprints are a thing. I used to chew clients out when they'd come over and look over my shoulder and go, can we move this to here?
7:59And I was like, ah, I don't touch the screen. And so – and I think that the – I will say there's a couple shots in the videos from the Apple where they're showing somebody with their wrists cocked up like this trying to play a piano, a software piano on the laptop. I mean has nobody there – I think they're getting ready for a class action lawsuit about carpal tunnel.
8:26It's stupid. It's dumb. Well, if they made a laptop that folded flat like Lenovo and a million other manufacturers, you could play it like a piano. No, I think the Steve Jobs thing was they always gave this excuse, and these are laptops, so Chris, they're not going to have to be reaching out to their screen across the room. It's right there next to your fingers, okay, on the keyboard.
8:57It's on the other side of the keyboard. is, when you think about it, you know, it's a lot more, a lot less problematic than using the touchpad. Because let's say you're on a web page and you see a link or you see an item you want to click to, you have to take your hands off the keyboard, go to the touchpad. Then you got to
9:19find your mouse with your eyes on the screen. Where is that mouse cursor? Where did I leave it? I don't know. And then you got to move it. Oh, there it is. And then you got to move it. You You've got to move it up to the link and then you've got to tap it. With a touchscreen, you just go, ding, and you're gone to the link.
9:33One move. No, your eyes don't have to look somewhere else to find the mouse. It's a lot less brain-intensive interaction than using a touchpad or, you know, if there's a hotkey for clicking that link, yeah, maybe. But how do you get to the link? And like he said, scrolling is cool too and pinch and zoom are, you know, you want to zoom in on a specific item on the screen.
9:58You got to find the mouse, move it to the item, do the zoom thing on the touchpad. So it's a lot more thought and a lot more physical actions without a touchpad than with a touchpad. And it's right there next to your fingers. In fact, a lot of times it's closer to your fingers than the touchpad itself. sabato i just wanted to clarify for fenwick that like this laptop still has a keyboard and mouse
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