Apple Needs a Touch-Screen MacBook

After my triple bypass in 2012, I cut back on travel, but last month I found myself on the road every week. To avoid long waits at baggage claim, I packed light, meaning I had to streamline the number of tech products I took with me on each trip.

The two workhorses I chose were the new MacBook and the new iPad Pro. Both are light and small computers in their own right, but for long writing projects, I used the MacBook; all other tasks were done on the iPad. In fact, I was surprised how important the iPad was on this trip. It probably handled at least 85 percent of all productivity tasks I had to do. The MacBook largely remained in my hotel room and was used rather sparingly.

But moving between the two caused a bit of a brain freeze at times. I found myself touching the MacBook screen as I might on the iPad Pro ($765.46 at Amazon) —often enough that it became rather annoying.

In the PC world, Microsoft and its partners have pretty much made touch screens the de facto standard on mid- to high-end laptops and all-in-ones. Only low-end laptops and cheap all-in-ones default to the old non-touch screens of the past.

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Apple's approach to touch on the Mac was the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar ( at Amazon) . When I started using the Touch Bar on a MacBook Pro at the office, I had trouble getting used to it and defaulted to the mouse most of the time. But as I became more familiar with the TouchBar, I liked how easy it was to navigate through all types of apps and programs that supported it.

However, there is little room for a Touch Bar on the super-slim MacBook. To date, Apple has resisted putting touch screens on anything but its iOS devices, and from what I can tell, it has little interest in deviating from this approach. I would urge Apple to reconsider. Most MacBook users like its small size and portability and do not use a mouse. The TouchPad works fine, but I would prefer the ease of use I get with the iPad touch screen, not to mention a seamless transition between laptop and tablet.

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I have discussed this with Apple officials, and they believe wholeheartedly that the Touch Bar is the best way to add touch to Mac. But while I've warmed to the idea of the Touch Bar, many road warriors and students might not be as enthusiastic.

I do know Apple has heard this message, and it's committed to offering a seamless experience across its product lineup. So a touch-screen Mac laptop might one day become a reality; I just don't see how it can add a Touch Bar to MacBook without a total redesign that would affect its weight and size. We'll have to wait and see.

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