- #TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC FULL#
- #TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC PRO#
- #TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC SOFTWARE#
- #TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC WINDOWS#
#TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC FULL#
It is a hobbled touchscreen Mac experience thanks to Apple’s reluctance to go full steam ahead. There are no menu bars, no full Mac apps, and more limited window management tools than you would find on your desktop or laptop. Let’s not get carried away here, it is still not a full desktop experience. And then there’s QuickNote, which is yet another way of having a second overlaid “window” open for multitasking. Split View is now more useful, letting you view an email in a pop-up window without breaking the Split View arrangement, for example.
#TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC WINDOWS#
It also introduced some new multitasking features on iPadOS that it claims will make the operating system much more powerful for serious users.įor instance, you can now minimize apps to a shelf, much like how on MacOS your app windows are minimized to the Dock. The real touchscreen MacĪpple did not just reveal this in isolation. If you were holding out for a touchscreen Mac, this is pretty damn close. And one of the major barriers to using your Mac with a touchscreen panel has also been swept asunder. Sure, it is not running MacOS and it doesn’t have full window control yet, but one of the major barriers to standing it on an equal footing with the Mac has just been eliminated. The only difference is you now have a touchscreen at your disposal. With Universal Control, you can work on your Mac, then move that work to the iPad and continue with your Mac’s keyboard and mouse without skipping a beat. The iPad has been elevated from a junior understudy to a full partner in the company.Īnd what does the iPad bring that the Mac still lacks? Why yes, a touchscreen. Whereas before Apple’s Sidecar system allowed you to draw on an iPad and see it reflected on your Mac, Universal Control is a two-way system. In other words, the differences between the Mac and the iPad have never been smaller. It even works on three or more devices at the same time, letting you move a file from an iPad, across a MacBook, and onto an iMac, all without taking a break. You can swipe between iPad apps using your Mac’s trackpad gestures. You can drag and drop files from your iPad onto your Mac in one smooth motion. No fiddly set-up process or wires to connect, it just happens automatically (thankfully, Apple’s Craig Federighi resisted the urge to call it “automagic”).īut Universal Control means you can do more than just control multiple screens. With this feature, you can simply plonk an iPad down next to a Mac and then move your pointer from one device to the other. Yet there was one MacOS feature that was beyond exciting: Universal Control. It was a “point five” version compared to last year’s major release.
#TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC SOFTWARE#
WWDC 2021 was a mixed bag, with plenty of great software ideas but with hardware conspicuous by its absence. And that is what is giving us a sort of halfway-house touchscreen Mac. Instead, it is channeling its energies into the software. It is not building touchscreen panels into its Macs. The new MacOS Monterey even looks a bit like iPadOS.īut here’s the thing: By making these devices and their accompanying operating systems more like each other, Apple is not focusing on the hardware. And speaking of Apple’s computers, the MacOS operating system has been able to run iPad apps for a couple of years now. You can use a keyboard and a mouse with an iPad, which now has a Dock just like the Mac.
It is likely that that kind of touchscreen Mac is never going to happen.Īt the same time, Apple has been moving its operating systems closer and closer together. But Apple has always said it thinks this sort of device is bad for your posture and makes your arms ache with prolonged use. Lots of companies already do that, and they make some pretty great devices.
#TOUCH SCREENS FOR MAC PRO#
When most people envision a touchscreen Mac, they think of the standard MacBook Pro or iMac, but with touch controls built in.