Touch screen laptops - worth while?

[philv]

My daughter would like one for christmas.

Is a touch screen laptop worthwhile or just a gimmick?

Thanks.

[8.4L 154]

It can be handy, it can be a PITA, If your going to get one though make it a 4 in 1 360 type that can flip into a tablet or else its pretty pointless

[softtop]

I have a Dell laptop and quite like it, when you use a 'normal' laptop you keep wanting to touch the screen

[SystemParanoia]

just taken delivery of a pair of lenovo miix 310's

feel pretty good so far, and snappier than the specs would suggest.

[Zetec-S]

Not quite the same, but a few years ago we bought an all-in-one PC with touch screen. To be honest, we used the touch screen for the first few days, then pretty much never again. Very gimmicky.

To be fair, this was probably back around 2010, so tablets/smartphones were not quite so ingrained as they are now. I imagine for kids these days anything other than touchscreen is hard to imagine?

[schmunk]

I have a 'foldable' Lenovo Yoga laptop, similar to this:



I virtually never fold it into a tablet, but always use the touchscreen in preference to the mouse pad whenever possible.

Edited by schmunk on Thursday 21st September 16:02

[zippy3x]

softtop said:

I have a Dell laptop and quite like it, when you use a 'normal' laptop you keep wanting to touch the screen

This.

It's very difficult to actually quantify when and how much you use them.

you don't use them when typing or have your hands on the keyboard, but sometimes it's just more intuitive to touch the screen.

As above, you only realise how much you use them when you use a non-touch laptop

[parabolica]

I have a HP Spectre X360 and use it in the tablet mode a lot more than I initially thought I would - in fact I probably use it in tablet mode 80% of the time, only using 'normal' laptop mode when I need the physical keyboard (tablet mode has an on-screen keyboard but is fiddly to use). I bought it to replace an aging laptop and a broken ipad and decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. It took a little getting used to as the screen was a lot more sensitive to touch than my old ipad but once you get the hang of it. I understand their more reasonably priced Pavilion x360 is just as good.

[philv]

Has anyone any experience of the dell inspiron touchscreen models?

[GrumpyTwig]

Typing this on a Surface Pro 4, where the touch screen is vital and works great (mostly). Can't imagine it's worth it on something that isn't a tablet or a convertible like the Lenovo (which I also have sat nearby).

[philv]

Thanks for all replies.

The lenovo yoga 910 looks nice.

I was thinking about a dell.
But the xps is expensive and doesn't fully fold into tablet form.
And the inspiron has so so reviews.
Shame as i wanted the on site warranty.

Tricky.

[alorotom]

philv said:

Has anyone any experience of the dell inspiron touchscreen models?

Yes. My works laptop is one ... I hate it, the touch sensitivity is actually proximity so a wave close to the screen activates it as a touch which is a nightmare when typing a lot as it moves the cursor around frequently

Personally I don’t rate them at all, especially for what my company paid for mine!

Battery is great on it though!

[philv]

Possibly a lenovo 720 i7 13 or 15 inch then.
Via John Lewis in tne november black sales.

Though it hurts spending 1000-1200 on electronics that have short warranties that involve sending away to get fixed.
Especially when they typically have a failure rate of over 20%!

[mike9009]

philv said:

Has anyone any experience of the dell inspiron touchscreen models?

I have had touchscreens on my current (Dell Inspiron from dell outlet) and prior an Acer S7-391.

After having a good experience with the Acer, I actively sought another touchscreen because it is so intuitive. I use the laptop for web browsing mainly - and this is ideal.

The dell (two in one) has not been that useful for folding flat - it just feels a little odd with the keyboard on the back whilst using like a tablet. I have used it for watching films for the kids whilst in its upright position. Battery life is good too (at least compared to the Acer) The tablet mode in Windows 10 works well though. It feels sturdy and well built despite being a 'plastic' case. Mine is an i5, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD so is pretty rapid and impressive for the price paid......


Mike