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Comment by 422long | Hacker News Reader

Does the average person find touchscreen on a laptop or desktop to be of any value?

Last week I walked into the Microsoft store looking to purchase a new laptop. I couldn't get over the Windows 8 interface and instead went to the Apple store across the hallway and purchased by first Mac laptop.

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I don’t consider myself an average user but I do own an Acer Aspire with a touch screen and I love it. My wife and my granddaughter are both pretty average users and they both prefer the touch screen. I will never buy a laptop without touch screen capabilities until something better comes out.

I recently got a laptop with a decent multi-touch touchpad and was pleasantly surprised at how well the swipe and scroll gestures work with Windows 8. I get around quicker than using a real mouse and keyboard and it's fairly intuitive.

On my dual-monitor desktop though it's terrible and I end up cursing it out seemingly daily.

I like my Thinkpad Carbon X1 Touch. It's kind of like a Macbook Air with a 14-inch touch screen. When sitting down I tend to stay with the keyboard and trackpad. However, when on conference calls I find myself walking around with the notebook cradled in one arm and using the touch screen with the other hand. It's a very nice combination.

On the other hand I spend basically NO time in the start menu and have installed Classic Start, so it's really like an enhanced Windows 8 to me.

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