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points by chakintosh 1 day ago | 0 comments

What's the point of a touch display if the laptop doesn't have a 360 hinge !? The interaction looks very awkward and unless they stiffen the hinge compared to previous model, the thin screen will keep tilting backwards.

[–] at1as 1 day ago

"Touch screens don't want to be vertical" "After an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off" "ergonomically terrible"

- Steve Jobs

Apple: check our new vertical touchscreen!

[–] perbu 1 day ago

Jobs was wrong about a lot of things. Just because he thought an idea was silly, doesn't automatically make so.

[–] ElectroBuffoon 1 day ago

Just thought? No, "we've done tons of user testing" and reached the conclusion "it doesn't work". Watch the full video, not even a minute long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfir0Ide0A

Same conclusion that everyone has reached over the past four decades, at least. It even got a nickname.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen#%22Gorilla_arm%22

Current Apple should show their new tests that demostrate the opposite.

(Edit) The full transcription of the video, faster than watching:

"You know, the first thing you think about is this, right? We thought about this years ago. We've done tons of user testing on this and it turns out it doesn't work. Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical. It gives great demo. But after a short period of time, you start to fatigue and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off. It doesn't work. It's ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal. Hence, pads. For a notebook, that's why we've perfected our multi-touch trackpads over the years." -- Steve Jobs, 2010

[–] mixmastamyk 1 day ago

He was right about this one. Never used the touchscreen on my old Dell except by accident, over the last decade. Shoulder gets tired holding up arms.

[–] andai 1 day ago

If I recall, he originally thought the iPod was silly as well.

[–] ChrisLTD 1 day ago

Jobs died 15 years ago, and since then, Apple has been successfully selling iPads in vertical/laptop like configuration for nearly a decade.

[–] makeitdouble 1 day ago

The crucial part is, iPads can easily be detached from the keyboard when needed. Apple made a point to have very flexible keyboard cases for that.

[–] aucisson_masque 1 day ago

And before he came back, apple was on the verge of bankrupt because people without any vision whatsoever took the lead.

The same kind of people are now doing it again, it will take time but every decision apple has been taking is giving me a bad taste.

even the evolution of macos and IOS. They are much closer to windows and android now.

[–] grvbck 1 day ago

> even the evolution of macos and IOS.

ESPECIALLY the evolution of macos and ios.

[–] chakintosh 23 hours ago

That configuration has trackpad and keyboard sold to you by Apple. It's sold specifically to people who don't want to touch their iPad for work and also want to convenience of a lighweight case.

[–] ChrisLTD 17 hours ago

I've had multiple keyboard cases for iPads from Apple that didn't have trackpads built-in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] crystaln 1 day ago

He also thought people didn’t want big phones and tablets.

[–] ipsum2 1 day ago

I wish I hadn't read this comment, because now I really feel like a 360 hinge is sorely lacking.

[–] rubicon33 1 day ago

My wife sits on the couch, "indian style", with a laptop in her lap angled at about a 45 degree. She holds the edges of it with her arms, and brings the keyboard up to her stomach kinda...

Its hard to describe but its surprisingly comfortable looking and allows her to tap her way through everything without actually having to hold the screen up. If she lets go, the hinge keeps it up. If she needs to type, she just skoots it back back slightly

[–] crystaln 1 day ago

I’m not going to upgrade to get this, however given most devices are touch screen it has become almost expected. Sometimes you just want to move something with your fingers even if it’s not the main input method.

Personally I find I miss touch screen after using my iPad and Magic Keyboard for extended periods and then switching back to the laptop. I mostly use the keyboard but it’s very nice to be able to scroll, position things, etc

[–] teovall 1 day ago

They did stiffen the hinge:

"In addition, a newly designed hinge provides greater stability while using Touch, and advanced video stabilization automatically smooths the camera feed in real time while using Touch on a video call."

[–] chakintosh 23 hours ago

That's a lot of work to avoid just designing a 360 hinge. It's also a missed opportunity to sell more pencils. I can't see how anyone would find it convenient to use a pencil on a vertical screen.

[–] asdff 1 day ago

Macbook hinges always get loose with time too