Things are certainly changing in personal computing: laptops are getting smaller and slimmer, tablets are becoming more useful productivity tools, and the whole sector can’t quite reach a consensus over what the future holds. But then Intel drops into the conversation that it firmly believes in the one technology most people have dismissed: clamshell touchscreens.
Speaking to PCWorld, Intel product manager Anand Kajshmanan explained that Intel “fundamentally believe in the concept of touch, and touch on a clamshell”, adding that the firm is “strongly encouraging our partners” to add touchscreens to their ultrabooks.
Well, well. We’ve seen a clamshell tablet from Sony, and it was awful. What’s to make a touchscreen laptop better? Not a lot. Steve Jobs famously dismissed the idea — after Apple had conducted tests of the concept — over the fact that vertical touch surfaces lead to fatigue. Without some startling innovation — which is of course possible, and I’d love to be proved long — that isn’t set to change.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kajshmanan made an interesting comment over Windows versus Mac, too. Windows, he explained, is itself a prime differentiator when it comes to buying a laptop, calling it “the operating system users have come to love”. He has a point. I’m not saying he’s right, but he has a point. [The Verge]
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