When it comes to technology and the tools I use, I've always had a bit of a subconcious rule: every device should be unapologetically good at the thing it was designed to do. Not pretty good at ten different jobs. Great at one. It's something I've been giving a lot more thought to as we fall further and further into "superapp" and "everything device" hell. And a common trend I keep struggling with is touchscreen laptops.
This is a highly opinionated, unserious, article. If you're the type to get easily offended, click away now. Although, I think you'll find I'm pretty restrained.
A Laptop Should Just be a Laptop
So what is a laptop? To me, it's a productivity tool. It's where I edit videos, write code, answer emails, play games, and occasionally doomscroll. Every one of those tasks relies on precision, and that's exactly what keyboards, trackpads, and mice were designed to provide.
If I want to flick through Instagram, zoom a map with my fingers, or absentmindedly scroll Reddit from the couch, I already own the perfect device for that. It's called an iPad. (Or an iPhone. Or a DROID...2. They apparently does.)
What are we doing?
I know how this reads. I'm just another grumpy voice on the internet screaming into the void. But I try to be open about most anything in the tech world. Hell, I recently completely changed my tune on folding phones. Still, there's something about this fad/trend I just can't get behind. I'm not sure if I ever will.
Maybe it's because of the work I do, or the relationships, and boundaries, I establish with each of my devices, but I've never once, in my twenty-plus years of owning and using computers, wanted or even wished for a touchscreen on my laptop. Or any computer, for that matter. When I sit down to use my computer, I'm sitting down to get work done. I'm not sitting down to stab at my computer like a caveman and get Cheeto dust on it. That's what my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and countless other devices designed specifically for that purpose, are for.
Somewhere along the way we decided every device should do everything. Phones became cameras. Watches became phones. Tablets became laptops. Now laptops want to become tablets. Sometimes the best product isn't the one that does everything. It's the one that knows exactly what it is.
Nick out.