To Touch, or not to Touch?

Hey duders and dudettes (duderettes??)! I'm thinking of getting a laptop, and I'm wondering, touch screen or no touch screen. From what I've seen, Windows 8 really stresses touch capability, and it seems that it's basically the best thing between a tablet and a computer, and it seems like the experience with Windows 8 is better with touch capabilities (maybe?). I was wondering whether I should go with a touch screen laptop or with a standard laptop. Those of you who have windows 8, do you think a laptop with a touchscreen would be better or a regular one (which would be cheaper)? Would a touchscreen enhance the experience, would it make things faster/easier?

Go touchscreen, develop a shoulder-touching sim, go down in GB history.

Serious answer: I don't see any major benefits. 8 works just fine with a mouse, and anything touch adds would probably be negligible. Touch certainly won't HURT, so whatever you prefer, I guess.

I haven't used Windows 8 but I have heard similar things. I've also heard that Windows 8 is far less powerful than Windows 7 so maybe just go with Windows 7?

I hate touch-pads when it comes to using the mouse, so a touch-screen is more of a God-send to me than it is a technical improvement. Simply put, if you have the money for a touch screen, get it. It's more about the ease of accessibility; which I've come to know that Laptops are generally for. I wouldn't say that the ability to use touch over the pad will significantly improve your experience, but if you're like me, the simple ability to refuse use of the shitty touch-pad (mouse) is well worth the extra cost.

Maybe look into the Microsoft Surface Pro? Seems like something you might be interested in.

EDIT: Nevermind actually. After thinking about it, I don't think this is necessarily what you were getting at.

Her shoulder? Yes.

Screens? No. Because fingerprints.

@ShaggE said:

Go touchscreen, develop a shoulder-touching sim, go down in GB history.

Serious answer: I don't see any major benefits. 8 works just fine with a mouse, and anything touch adds would probably be negligible. Touch certainly won't HURT, so whatever you prefer, I guess.

It's too bad I dont know how I would begin to develop a shoulder-touching sim, if I could, well....that would be awesome. I think that while a touchscreen would be cool, saving a few hundred dollars is a lot cooler. It might be faster to do somethings with a touchscreen, but keyboard shortcuts can probably fix that issue.@ck1nd said:

I hate touch-pads when it comes to using the mouse, so a touch-screen is more of a God-send to me than it is a technical improvement.

I hate touch-pads too, so I will end up buying a mouse with it, what's good for under $50?

@HarlequinRiot said:

Maybe look into the Microsoft Surface Pro? Seems like something you might be interested in.

EDIT: Nevermind actually. After thinking about it, I don't think this is necessarily what you were getting at.

I really want a Surface Pro, but I'm going to get a new phone soon (HTC 8x, maybe?), and that with the laptop will not leave me with a lot of extra money.

Are there any good labtops with touch screens yet? I have literally heard nothing of them yet. I would do my homework if you go down that road, it would suck to get a shitty first gen touch labtop with a crap panel or something along those lines.

Don't go with touch screen. You can find a cheaper laptop that can potentially do more. Since I haven't seen much "powerful" touchscreen laptops.

Keep touch screen as the absolute last thing you care about. Once you have found the laptop that has the right specs for the price you are looking for, then look into touch screen. If you can get the exact same PC for about the same price, I would personally say $50 is a good number for a throw away gimmick like touch screen, then go ahead and get it. But don't go spending $200-$300 more for one that has touch. It's dumb.

@ManU_Fan10ne: If you just want cheap mice/keyboards/headsets, I suggest the generic Microsoft branded ones. They are solid and rugged little beasts but they are far from flashy or feature rich.

I guess if there is an "app" (or what is it called on windows?) that you would actually use screen touch heavily (or be integral part of it) then sure .... but I dunno if theres any that could justify the extra cash you would spend. Granted Im heavily anti touch devices biased so , not too fair from my part :/

Damn! I was absolutely certain that this would be about shoulders and whether or not to touch them.

And there I thought this is a topic about women.

...

Glad I was wrong though :D

@Morrow said:

And there I thought this is a topic about women.

...

Glad I was wrong though :D

So you are a toucher?

Back to the topic, I do not believe that touch added anything to desktop systems and I still don't see how touch adds anything to laptops. On the other hand if we are talking about an ultrabook style system then that means you can "convert it" to a tablet form factor which touch is necessary but the issue is that many applications are not crafted to handle both modes correctly and compromises happen.

@EXTomar said:

@Morrow said:

And there I thought this is a topic about women.

...

Glad I was wrong though :D

So you are a toucher?

Back to the topic, I do not believe that touch added anything to desktop systems and I still don't see how touch adds anything to laptops. On the other hand if we are talking about an ultrabook style system then that means you can "convert it" to a tablet form factor which touch is necessary but the issue is that many applications are not crafted to handle both modes correctly and compromises happen.

No, I'm one of those shoulders :D

No idea where this whole "touch her shoulder" meme originated from, but I know it's a common joke here.

@ManU_Fan10ne: If you're okay with a full-sized mouse, I've been using the generic HP mouse for $10 you find at Wal-Mart. I've always been a mouse-esseur, but when hard-times came knocking, I was forced into this purchase. It's a solid mouse and for some reason I enjoy the fact that it's corded. There is a cordless version for $25 that is just as good, as well.

Thought this would be a masturbation thread. Suffice to say, it hardly met my expectations.

And I'd go with non-touchscreen. Touchscreen computers seem stupid.

Sorry for the title thing, I knew that a lot of people were expecting it not to be about anything to do with touchscreen...lol.

I think I'm going to go for a non-touchscreen, and with cyber-monday, there are some pretty good deals out right now.

I would just go with a regular laptop, the touch capabilities in Windows 8 are hyped up but not all that helpful to productivity.