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submitted 20 hours ago by psion1369@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

I recently acquired one thinking it was going to be a cool and useful feature, and the only time I think to use it is when I brush away a loose cat hair and my cursor goes all over the place. And the tablet mode, I think I used it once as a novelty.

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[-] kuberoot@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 37 minutes ago

I don't have one, but when I was at uni one of the lecturers had this dinky old-looking laptop that apparently had a touchscreen, and he would project the screen and draw on it during lectures, which worked really well to illustrate what he was talking about. Had some software to just draw on top of what he was presenting, to be clear.

[-] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 1 points 53 minutes ago

I bought a cheap 8" tablet on eBay many years ago, and really liked using it for college. Then when my regular laptop broke and I had some money, I went for one of those 13" Yoga thinkpads, thinking it would replace both the tablet and the aging laptop.

In the 7 or so years since I bought it, I can count the number of years that I used it on two hands. I've used the shitty old 2013 dell tablet more than the touch screen / pen input on the laptop. It mostly lives in a docking station on my desk, or gets used as a regular laptop. It's just too big to be used as a tablet, period. Cool concept, wasn't worth the extra money for me.

[-] Alberat@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

i never thought I'd ever use my touchscreen but now I'm touching the screen of my other laptop that doesn't have a touchscreen out of habit...

[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Sometimes it's faster than finding the mouse cursor when clicking a link or a button (and when filling in forms with check boxes), but probably my biggest use is if I'm browsing around Google maps or Earth.

Click-drag click-drag on the trackpad is just slow and frustrating compared to just dragging the on-screen image.

I use a macbook sometimes and it's a bit infuriating when I try to drag the screen.

I don't use it constantly but I'm used to having the choice whenever I decide it's easier.

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 7 points 11 hours ago

Pretty much never. Even if my hands are dry and clean, I get annoying marks on the screen.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

I've had two and the only time I've used it is by accident. Something like the Lenovo Yoga where you can put it into touchscreen/drawing mode would work, but I don't see how it's useful to touch your screen at a weird angle.

[-] leggysnakegirl 3 points 9 hours ago

I use to use mine regularly, it was nice ergonomically to change between the trackpad and touchscreen. My arm needs a rest from being tucked up next to the trackpad. This makes most sense if the laptop is on your actual lap. Can't do it anymore since my laptop broke.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 2 points 9 hours ago

My work computer has a touch screen. It is used about evenly by people pointing at my screen and accidentally touching it and one form I sometimes use where I have to select an option and hit next a bunch of times. It's way faster to do that with a couple fingers than with a track pad or a mouse.

[-] andallthat@lemmy.world 58 points 20 hours ago

Me: so rarely that I keep forgetting it's a touch screen

My wife and daughter: constantly, so my screen is full of their fingerprints

[-] BladeFederation@piefed.social 2 points 10 hours ago

It can be useful for drawing and photo editing without a mouse. Since I don't do that much, it is practically useless

[-] kspes@eviltoast.org 7 points 14 hours ago

Disabled it in BIOS, most useless feature in a laptop. Yoga like laptops that can flip the screen 18 degrees, sure. But a regular laptop - just why?

[-] sculptor0725@sh.itjust.works 7 points 15 hours ago

ITT: people hating on touchscreens

Also ITT: people pointing out really good reasons to have a touch screen.

[-] protogen420 2 points 12 hours ago

the good reasons: none

[-] Melobol@lemmy.ml 5 points 14 hours ago

I don't use it consciously. But I do notice when I'm using a laptop without touchscreen - so I probably use it more than I think.
I mostly use it in tent mode with keyboard and mouse attached tho.

[-] Talaraine@fedia.io 22 points 19 hours ago

I use one for sound recording, as tapping controls on a screen makes far less noise than a keyboard or mouse of any make or model.

[-] BigBoyShuanzee@aussie.zone 3 points 12 hours ago

My work laptop is a touch screen, The only time I've used it is when I accidentally brushed the corner of the screen reaching passed and closed the window I was working on.

[-] Hakuso@scribe.disroot.org 2 points 11 hours ago

I may rarely swipe to scroll, but if it's anything else I'll go hunt down a keyboard to plug into it instead of using the screen. Convertible, by the way, can;t see any reason to do it unless you have it detached from the base and in your hand like a giant phone.

[-] _deleted_@aussie.zone 25 points 20 hours ago

Never. I didn’t realise it had a touch screen when I got it, i disabled it, and I don’t miss it.

[-] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 5 points 20 hours ago

Wait you can disable that shit?

[-] _deleted_@aussie.zone 13 points 20 hours ago

It appears in Gnome and Xfce as a touchpad, turn it off in settings.

[-] klugerama@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago

I have kde, so I disabled it in xorg config

[-] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 5 points 16 hours ago

Ah, now I get it why there are both touchpad and mouse even though no mouse connected! Thanks!

[-] tmyakal@infosec.pub 18 points 19 hours ago

Mine is a two-in-one where the keyboard can fold fully backwards and it puts the laptop in "tablet mode." I use it constantly for reading comic books, as rotating to a portrait frame and swiping through pages is much easier than scrolling/zooming on each page with mouse and keyboard.

I also occasionally use it for doodling when I'm traveling, but I've got a nicer setup for that on my desktop. So that's a corner case.

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 15 hours ago

all the time. sucks to go back.

[-] III@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

From the first moment I used a touchscreen laptop, every laptop I have encountered is a touchscreen to my unconcious mind... Doesn't matter how old, without thinking I just touch that screen.

[-] amlor@piefed.social 3 points 13 hours ago

When I had one, I used it a couple of times to play Civilization V on an airplane.

[-] toynbee@piefed.social 5 points 15 hours ago

I recently pulled out my previous laptop that I'd used for several years before getting my current one. I don't remember how long I'd had the previous one, but it's been quite a few years.

While working on my project with that laptop I accidentally bumped it and knocked it off my desk. Reflexively, I grabbed for it and managed to catch it by the corner of the screen.

And that's how I found out my laptop had a touchscreen.

[-] TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Very rarely. It’s my work laptop so I always have the mouse available. Occasionally it will sometimes be easier to just reach over and tap something on the screen.

Oh, and I hate the trackpad.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 13 hours ago

I usually don't use it.

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

I honestly forget it had a touchscreen all the time. I grew up before the prevalence of touch screen devices so it never occurs to me that something with a built in physical keyboard could be interacted with that way.

[-] ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago

I had a Surface Pro all through college, and used it for note taking in all my classes (pen on screen), which was fantastic. Haven't really used the touchscreen function since though, and it's been quite a few years.

[-] aloofPenguin@piefed.world 1 points 1 hour ago

same here. I also do some drawing stuff on krita, so the pen comes in handy for that.

[-] onoki@reddthat.com 2 points 15 hours ago

Same here. Couldn't imagine typing math formulas without the pen on screen. And math was part of close to all the courses in one form or another.

[-] Nighed@feddit.uk 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Sometimes, mostly for a quick volume or pause/play press.

Being able to fold it right round can be useful as it uses less space when you are just playing a video or something. (Less chance of damaging it while cooking too!)

I got a fancy one with a pen, but found that trains are really not as smooth as I thought so the plan of learning to draw on the train never happened.

Edit: the pen support has come in useful for electronically signing things multiple times!

[-] josephc@lemmy.ml 4 points 17 hours ago

Every once in a while I accidentally tap and am reminded I have a touch screen.

I have a much older laptop with a stylus interface that I'll use to draw things when I need to.

[-] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 4 points 17 hours ago

I used to note take constantly on the Surface line so all the time. Even now I still use it quite a bit since it became so natural.

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago

Only to answer teams calls because I can hit the notification with my pinkie rather then moving my hand to the mouse.

[-] AcesFullOfKings@feddit.uk 5 points 18 hours ago

occasionally. It's nice to have, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a laptop with one. Sometimes I use it to quickly scroll or tap a button if my hand isn't already near the mouse. Not too often, but saves me a fraction of a second once every few weeks :)

[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

This is me. I use it just often enough that I'll occasionally embarrass myself smudging the screen of a non-TS laptop trying to zoom a map or tap a shutdown icon.

[-] markz@suppo.fi 7 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Mostly simple things. Changing and closing tabs and windows, toggling bluetooth, etc. Anything where the button is visible and big enough hit easily.

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago

Literally never. Never on purpose, at least.

[-] THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

When I had a work laptop with one, I used it daily for quick UI things, browser windows, start menu stuff. I used it a lot. I'd never spend more to own one myself, but the work one I had was nice.

[-] iconic_admin@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Work laptop. I use it when I’m sharing my screen and we’re discussing a map or drawing of something. Pretty useful. Especially the pinch zoom function when whatever app I’m using doesn’t have an intuitive zoom function.

Not work laptop. If I’m reading an article on the couch sometimes I’ll scroll down using the touch screen.

[-] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago

Since the battery in the pen stopped charging, almost never now.

[-] dance_ninja@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Only with the fancy stylus that came with it.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

Often. Easier on the train than using the touchpad. But a x86 tablet with a sliding-over keyboard would be even better.

[-] Snailpope@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

I miss having it, I still occasionally forget I don't have it. I would use it to select tabs, open programs, scroll pages, zoom in and out. I loved it, I'm legit thinking of replacing my current laptop screen with one that is a touch screen.

[-] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

All the time because the Surface keyboard is a piece of shit

[-] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 18 hours ago

I pretty much only use touchscreen for kolourpaint so I can do some math or something

[-] MrWrinkles@leminal.space 3 points 20 hours ago

I put FydeOS on mine and Sketchbook. I use it almost entirely as a tablet and draw with a USI stylus.

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this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
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