With the introduction of Windows 8 to the market, a number of PC manufacturers, in their effort to increase their sales, which as we have emphasized are very low, began to present laptop models that can also be used as tablets since their screen is touch-sensitive and can often even be removed.
Naturally, the question of when we will see something similar from Apple for its Mac models has begun to torment many and make others wait for such an event. My personal opinion is that it is better not to do so, at least soon, if you like to touch the screen then the iPad is the right device for it.
What many people don't know is that Macs with touchscreens have been on the market for many years. Troll Touch is a company that has been creating such Macs for years and launches them on the market to meet specific business needs such as Point Of Sale systems and remote machine management in industries. Modbook (Axiotron) also has the Modbook Pro, a highly customized Macbook Pro whose screen can accept commands using a stylus and is exclusively for designers.
Putting aside the above examples that cater to a specific audience, I don't think Macs are ready to have touch screens yet. OS X in its latest version, Mountain Lion, is a very stable operating system and perhaps the best that Apple has created. It is important that the fantastic customization that has been made to it concerns its interactivity with devices such as the keyboard and mouse exclusively. It should also be emphasized that there are already built-in functions for alternative ways of managing some of its functions such as voice recognition and dictation, as a result of which the integration of the iOS Siri service is not too far away.
Apple has been interested in touchscreens for many years, but unlike Microsoft, it has followed a completely different path. While Microsoft introduced Windows 8 and the Metro UI this year, unifying the functions of a PC and a tablet into one operating system with the well-known disappointing results, Apple has created two different ones to meet the same needs as iOS and OS X. From time to time, iOS features are adapted to OS X and this will continue to happen, but Apple insists on a single operating system for touchscreens, iOS.
This difference in philosophy between the two companies has direct effects on how they are treated by the consumer public, since while Macs have suffered almost no loss in sales, which continue to be high, Microsoft, on the other hand, has created a major disruption with many disappointed Windows 8 customers and a Surface tablet that is seeing completely disappointing sales.
In conclusion, no, I do not rule out the possibility that in the near future we may see Macs with touchscreens, but for this to happen properly and based on Apple standards, iOS and OS X will have to come even closer than they are now. Even then, if you leave aside the impressiveness factor, such Macs with touchscreens will be ergonomically suitable only for a certain portion of professionals and not for everyone.
Dimitrios Georgoulas @ GreekAppleNews
