‘An iPad for the Mac Generation’ ↦

At MacStories, Federico Viticci processes his feelings regarding Apple’s new MacBook Pro1, which has a touchscreen: Steve Jobs was right about many things, but I’ve long disagreed with his take on the “terrible” ergonomics of touchscreen laptops. Sure, you don’t want to be forced to interact with a laptop display that sits perpendicular to the keyboard at all times. But for the occasional interaction that benefits from direct manipulation of content – whether that’s zooming on a picture or rotating a 3D object or game character with your fingers – it’s nice to have a secondary input method that does not rely on a UX abstraction such as a trackpad. Think of it as motion controls on a Nintendo Switch: you primarily play games with a controller and physical buttons, but, sometimes, it is nicer – and easier – to rely on the gyroscope for motion controls. One of the great traits of Steve Jobs was that he held on to his opinions lightly, and once convinced he was wrong, he would quickly drop them and shift to the other side. Today touching a screen is second nature to a generation of computer users. Apple needs to support that, but nobody at Apple or elsewhere is saying that you should stop using the keyboard and trackpad and just touch the MacBook Pro’s screen. That’s not what this is about. It’s silly to act as if it’s otherwise just to score points—on a 16-year-old quote from a man who no longer has the luxury to change his mind.